To think all these weight loss jabs are a bad move?

[Pineconecollector]

I’ve seen so many people recently saying they’re on Mounjaro - someone wrote on Facebook that they were struggling to eat anything at all, hadn't eaten for over 48 hours. Just zero desire to eat anything. Surely that can’t be healthy?

I also know of someone who has lied to an only e pharmacy to get the jab, because her BMI would be considered too low to be prescribed it. She’s wanting to get down to a size 6.

People misusing the drug and lying to get it does not mean that the drug is not a very effective anti obesity tool.

If the NHS got it's finger out and made it properly available to eligible people and sorted out their useless weightloss programs then this wouldn't happen. And the NHS would save millions in obesity related conditions.

For some people the benefit outweighs the risk as they are at risk of diabetes or stroke etc. They should only be taken under doctor supervision in my view. Those who aren’t overweight and don’t eat regularly are putting themselves at risk as if there’s insufficient insulin the body breaks down fat which releases ketones -basically your blood becomes too acidic. My son is type 1 diabetic and it is scary when he has high ketones it can cause DKA which is life threatening and a medical emergency. I heard a doctor on radio 4 saying they are seeing weekly cases in hospital of people who come in looking like they’ve developed type 1 with signs of DKA and it’s because they are using jabs when they shouldn’t be. There needs to be much better awareness about this. If you are type 1 you monitor your insulin and ketone levels all the time but clearly many people have no idea what risks they are taking. There’s been a few celebrities recently reporting they fainted etc after jabs which will be because their insulin is too low.

But that isn't the fault of the jabs.

It's the fault of the people abusing them.

YABU, this has been done to death. Everything is prone to abuse and not every medication works for everyone. If there’s someone that used it and ends up in a hospital, common sense should tell them that it’s not something that’ll work for them. There has been millions of people that this has helped and it’s helping. Just like anything, there’s nothing that’s not prone to abuse, but because a very tiny minority are abusing something does not mean that the majority that it’s helping should be punished.
Obesity kills, the new ones of those jabs are not even those used for diabetes I patients so the argument that this is reducing supply for diabetes patients is just ridiculous. People with diabetes don’t have a higher right than those who are obese. If this medicines work for people, they can use it. People can use their money to buy good health for themselves the way they see fit, not your business to police, it’s not funded by the tax payers.

@BookishType may I ask how you got the prescription? I am in a similar situation weight-wise at bmi 29 I am struggling to diet and exercise due to other health conditions. I have genetic condition that raises my triglycerides but GP won’t consider weight loss jab and insists I must diet without.

Yes the aspects in the OP are concerning and it’s a worry that it’s open to abuse by people with eating disorders. But used correctly I think they can be very beneficial so I hope we don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.

@Pineconecollector you've got a couple of different points confused together.

Illegally acquiring prescription medicine by lying is clearly wrong and stupid. This has nothing to do with people legitimately taking the medication having had it properly prescribed to them.

Mounjaro reduces your appetite. Finding the right level to continue with is sometimes a process that takes a while, and you might find that your appetite is too suppressed which is an indication to either reduce the dose or stay at the same level rather than increase the dose as is the usual process. If you are obese, then not eating for a couple of days is an acceptable part of the process of using weight loss injections to lose weight. It also doesn't happen to the majority and it's up to each individual to decide what's right for them.

The medications have been around for 20 years - they aren't new.

They work by switching on/synthetically replacing the hormone receptors for the GLP1 hormone, which is released by the digestive system which tells the brain when its hungry and when its full. These receptors not working effectively also create the "food noise" even when a person is full, their brain doesn't get the message properly, so they think about the next meal, the next snack, constantly.

They still require will power, good choices, and exercise.

They work for people who have a hormonal imbalance that has contributed to weight gain. It clinical trails, some 9% of people didn't respond. That means that 91% of people do, and they are overweight in part, because they have a hormonal problem.

Obesity IS a disease, its scientifically proven, that this genetic, biological hormone imbalance is a large factor in many peoples weight. These people, in a lot of cases have struggled their entire lives with their weight, have yo yo'd, have tried the age old "eat less move more" society has drummed into us, but hat just doesn't work.

A medication to correct the hormonal imbalance allows a person to be successful, and healthier. It needs to be regulated. Paying privately is not an issue as many people are choosing to make the money available. Prescribing on the NHS is only going to save money long term as in the UK its a relatively cheap drug.

Because of how it work, it is designed to be on for life. Its doesn't cure or reverse the hormonal imbalance, it replaces while using, but if new habits and relationship with food is created whilst on it, a person can continue success off it, but using it for life in order to manage a hormonal imbalance is also an option.

THIS!!! Great post.

I'm not sure I'd inject myself with anything I'd bought off the Internet, but people are very into inhaling unspecified chemical vapours these days so maybe I'm alone in this.

There’s been threads on here with people advising posters how to lie and look fatter in order to gain the medication. It needs medically controlled, and a lot of those people need some mental health help.

I’m on the jabs and am eating normal calories (not actually counting as that’s triggering for me), am having 3 meals a day. It’s just helping me not binge and so my weight is gradually reducing.

personally I think those with total suppression who are struggling to eat are on a slightly too high dose. It’s about finding the right dose that still gives some suppression and additional control without excessive suppression or side effects.

You don't just purchase them from Amazon!

They're from registered pharmacies with registered clinicians working there and registered doctors prescribing them.

This!
You don't crave snacks and high sugar food between meals.
You feel hungry at meal times but not ravenous, you eat your meal but stop eating after a small to normal size portion rather than eating gigantic portions because without the jab, your brain just doesn't get the "full up" signals .
People lose weight steadily. They still use will power, and they have to change their diet. The jab simply helps and makes it easier to sustain.

That's the experience for the vast majority of people.

Yet thread after thread tours opinions based on the screaming headlines about the worse cases scenario, which don't represent the experience of the majority.

I buy Mounjaro from Asda Online Doctor, it's a GPhC regulated pharmacy and the prescription is approved by a doctor. There are probably hundreds of prescription medications that can be bought online via a private prescription, yet it's only the weight loss injections that seem to make people come out with these kinds of ignorant posts. Curious.

Hard disagree

The 'reasons for overeating' are not deep. The food in our society is highly available and processed foods are addictive. The end.

People lost weight on these meds by following a healthy calorie controlled diet

The will highly benefit individuals, and society at large, through eradicating obesity and all its ills.

Anyone who disagrees probably just doesn't like their fat friend getting thin!.

Depends - my friend has gone way too far with her jabs - doesn't eat, feels sick and miserable. And is miserable to be around tbh. Yet still jabs herself. Sad.

I am waiting for the class action attempts by people who leave their thinking to everyone else

What about the sale of paracetamol? Any drug misused can cause harm or injury

For some the desire to punish obesity at all costs is really strong, isn't it? "Found a tool which helps, fat people? You shouldn't have it and don't deserve it!" is what I'm hearing everywhere.

The advice to eat less and move more has been used for ever. Find me an obese person who does not know this. Then show me the success rate of telling people to change their life style to lose significant amounts of weight. Negligible, but the ranting about obesity being a choice continues. Obese people are often successful and very disciplined in other areas of life. Why would their moral failing show in this one area only?

The fact is that many obese people are actually fantastic at losing weight. Unfortunately it's often the same (not enough) weight over and over again getting lost and regained. The amount of willpower used is extreme and not sustainable.

A tool which shoulders some of that will power is fantastic for those who really need it. Of course there are going to need to be maintenance strategies and maybe some people will need to stay on it ife long. As with other drugs there may be side effects too but these need to be balanced against the advantages.

Seems to me though that a lot of people who are very upset about these injections are the same people who are furious about the cost of obesity to the NHS. What do they want exactly? To punish the fatties imo.

Ithink the worry with these is more about people using them improperly, or that they will create an impression among people that there is a kind of quick solution so they don't need to worry about good habits.

The risk benefit trade off is always a factor of course, so significant obesity where the person hasn't made progress with diet changes etc it makes sense.

But if someone isn't willing to make those kinds of changes then they are really not going to benefit from setting up a situation where they are going to go on and off a drug and up and down in their weight.

And it's open to some pretty significant abuse obviously - people trying to get to very low weights, people under pressure to keep their weight low (models, say) people who have eating disorders. I can see in some groups there could also be pressure to use it from outside, dance schools, even boxers.

In general using drugs to modify our behaviour on the regular isn't likely to create a healthy society because it prevents us asking why we want or need to modify behaviour in the first place, and doing something about it.

If it maintains a medical usage, I think that's the right approach but I think there will be a lot of pressure for it to become something else. You can see how many people think, even though they don't really qualify, that they should be entitled to it, because their reasons are just so important.

It's a lazy "easy fix" fashionable thing. Good if it helps people who need it medically, when on balance not taking it would be worst.

Give it some time and sadly, like everything else, people will realise it wasn't as easy and such a miracle drug without consequence.

How many years experience of it are people referring to? Until you have proper data on a large scale, someone happy to have lost weight in a few weeks without any will power is completely irrelevant. Miracle pill or miracle weight loss injection! It was never going to be anything but popular!

Adults can drink, take drug (more or less legally...), it's their decision. They don't need babysitters. It will become a problem when lazy parents will try a quick fix on their kids.

Just marking my place as bookmarking isn't working🤷🏻‍♀️

My doctor says well over a decade and I’d assume globally it must be well into the millions, weight loss is just the most recent thing for it to be approved. These drug types have been in play for a long time,

@Pineconecollector obesity is such a huge and expensive problem. What do you suggest?

The weight loss medications have been approved by NICE in the UK and other regulators around the world to help treat T2 diabetes and obesity. They are very well studied.

I know people who speed on the roads, but I don't think cars or roads should be banned because of that.