To think weight-loss injections should be prescribed in person only. The scale of abuse must be shocking.

[Thisisdrugabuse]

Hear me out here. I have had 5 friends in their 30s and 40s tell me they're using weight-loss injections from online sources. Fine. Except one is a size 8 and another a size 10. Oh, it's so easy to get, just upload a photo of a day you looked chubbier a few years ago and change your height/ weight a bit. Out of my friends that recently told me they're taking it, the size 8 is on the highest dose. She looks ill. Only 1 is over a size 14 I'd say.

Am I being unreasonable

No-to think these medicines are not licensed for normal sized people. They might be at risk of osteoporosis, liver problems and who knows what else. It all seems dangerous and completely unregulated.

Yes- jog on op. These are important medicines helping lots of people and if people lie, that's their issue.

Maybe we should ask ourselves why people who are a size 10 feel the need to use WLI instead.
What are they chasing and what have we told people about being thin that makes them chase a thinness that isn’t either healthy or achievable…..

It’s easy to blame individuals. You shouldn’t do this or that. But when you dangle what has been portrayed as the most important thing (being thin, very thin, as thin as you can be unless you’re showing bones, esp for women), what do you expect?
See all the first page of women magazine commenting of people’s weight all the time…..

The personal trainer I’m looking into provides meal plans as well, they start by asking your goal and what you want to achieve so for me I want to lose a stone or 2 and tone up so I will need a mixture of meal planning and exercise routines.

my weight has come from birth control, I tend to stick to 2/3 meals a day (don’t often eat lunch) and I don’t have massive portions or snack really but I do have a dreadful sweet tooth

And a lersonal trainer is probably not the best person to guide you re healthy diet…. Not their training agd out if there scope of practice really.

I’m a size 8-10 and have been on Wegovy for months. I live in a country where it can be bought over the counter with zero questions asked, although I take it under the supervision of my doctor (regular blood tests etc)

I have ADHD and even when medicated, struggle massively with impulse control/binge eating/disordered eating.

WLI have given me my sanity back. I eat three meals a day, because that’s the ‘normal’ thing to do, and apart from that, don’t give food a second thought. I stop when I’m full, even if it’s mid forkful and if someone offers me a biscuit or whatever, my default option now is to say no because I genuinely don’t fancy it.

I have a history of disordered eating now mostly resolved and am in peri with an extra 1.5 stone on that is just nudging me into Overweight on a bad day.

I have hidden all the WLI chats as I know if I spend too long reading them I WILL end up getting obsessed, will fake my numbers to get hold of it and will 100% end up very very thin and very very ill.

it needs to be much much better controlled.

Well I’ll have to see how it goes but the close friend that used this one lost weight and toned up and has continued their new eating habits

Yes, but the positive effects still have to be weighed against side-effects before licensing them for new uses.

Whats your business with all of that? The NICE guidelines have given criteria for prescription and people use the NHS BMI guidance to check if they're overweight. All online pharmacies have to comply with guidance in prescribing and assessing people. Being overweight is a disease. They ask for recent photo and most do video calls now!
As a medical person I find this post to be unreasonable and misinformation sorry. But stay in your lane and try to be a supportive not judgemental friend.

Do you keep getting thinner though? That would be my worry. Sorry for not fully understanding how it works.

No you’re don’t @3luckystars
You adjust the dose so that the hunger feeling is still controlled but not so much you’re losing weight.
Thats why, the ‘protocol’ is supposed to be taking WLI until reaching your target weight and stay in it at a much lower dose for life.

The issue is that at £150 a month, for life is unsustainable really. Plus issue with long term use etc….

Yes agree on paper.

My point being that decision on using certain medication is not just based on side effects vs positive etc... It’s also about cost, what is seen as ‘unacceptable’ side effects etc…
See for example the fact that when the male pill was trialled, it was stopped because the side effects were so bad. They were the exact same side effects women experience from the pill. And are told it’s in their head/not that bad/just be happy you have that.p and won’t get pregnant.

And then many drugs are developped for one use and then end up being used for something else. Viagra comes to mind. Or amitriptiline.

they may have their place under strict criteria and should be given under controlled environment but not willy nilly and other things should be tried first, I work with someone who has been doing the NHS weight loss thing with the shakes and then gradually adding in meals with strict calories along side exercise and she has lost loads of weight so it can be done
i am with a nurse and wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole unless I was morbidly obese and had tried everything else

You’re a nurse who clearly knows nothing about these drugs, but you’re happy to quack on with your fact-free opinions?

The only people getting them not under strict criteria are doing so illegally. Comprehensive research shows that it is strongly beneficial to be on them if you have a BMI of 30+, or 27+ with a weight-related comorbidity. Beneficial as in preventing serious illness and death. But you, in your ignorance, would wait until you were morbidly obese. Absolutely your choice, but don’t pretend it’s coming from an informed HCP.

Most people on them have tried everything, lost loads and gradually put it back on again, often more. Their weight issues are often complicated by PCOS, peri/menopause, hypothyroidism, and… diabetes. Oh, you didn’t mention diabetes? As a nurse you’d be aware of the benefits for T2 diabetics? But you compare this breakthrough in healthcare to vaping… 🤦🏻‍♀️

Perhaps have a look at the SURMOUNT trials on safety and efficacy?
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38850440/

Very well said!!

if only solving obesity was diet shakes and exercise..!!

I know a lot of people who have used MJ and it's getting of hand.

One girl has lost 6 stone - absolutely brilliant, but she now has a BMI of 22 and has recently increases her dose again, because she wasnt losing any more weight? The original goal was to get to 23 and maintain, which she was doing but the goalposts seem to have changed and she now wants to lose more, for seemingly no reason?

Most MJ influencers and long term users I know, get so caught up in the high of losing weight that when it stops, they cant seem to accept that.

Its a bit dangerous and going to lead to some eating disorders I think.

I cant get it anyway, as I have a thyroid issue and dont fancy damaging it any more than it already is! So ill just try the old fashioned way.

I agree. An in-person pharmacy can measure your height and weight. Online is just asking for people with eating disorders to find a way to get it.

I think some posters are missing the fact that WL injections are prescribed for maintenance as well as weight loss, so yes, normal sized people will be on it. I have a normal BMI and take it to maintain. I'm in good shape now and am building muscle, have body fat of 20-21%. I had BMI of 30 before and was stopping exercising because I found it difficult.

The medication isn't the issue, it's the person taking it and society's obsession with being super thin.

I think having a more muscular physique as a female is more fashionable now anyway. So many women getting into strength training, especially older women.

My goodness you know a lot about this lady.

I've been on Mounjaro since October, sticking to only 2.5mg and I've hit my goal weight this week. I'm now within the healthy BMI range for the first time in over 10 years. I've lost over 4 stone now.

I don't live in the UK, where I live, you can only get Mounjaro if it is prescribed by a specialist doctor. I have to see my doctor every month before getting my next prescription and I have regular blood tests to make sure all is OK.

I think it should be the same in the UK.

So, if there is a tsunami coming and someone runs to tell you, do you assume they are just jealous of the position of your sunlounger on the beach?

I’m on Mounjaro but I’ve also had a personal trainer for about 8 years. I’ve also recently had about 2 years worth of counselling. Everything together is what I call my whole person approach to my weight loss journey. Mounjaro wasn’t the start of the journey. It’s the end of it. I couldn’t have done what I’ve done without any of the above, and my one pound a week weight loss since last August has been mammoth.

@MtJaro so a very similar set up to the one I have except I do a mix of the prescribing being done where I live but I then purchase my pens in the UK from a pharmacy connected to my health care provider. I could get the pens here from the local pharmacy with my prescription but it would cost the equivalent of 460 pounds a month, no insurance involved, but doing it the way I do they cost 320 pounds. For me one of the most exciting things about being on Mounjaro has been the blood tests every few months and seeing the huge improvements in my health as I’ve gone along. If there’s anything better than knowing you’re healthier it has to be seeing with your own eyes that you are. I’m about 2 weeks away from my target which is 9kgs above my upper BMI and though I did go up to 12.5 for 3 weeks I felt unwell on it and went back down to 10 and have stayed there for months. I’ll start tapering down as soon as I reach my target and hope to be off Mounjaro completely by the 15th of November. Oh and I should be off my BP tablets on the 14th of August, one day before my one year start of Mounjaro anniversary. My cholesterol has also been slashed as has my blood sugar, and I’m no longer prediabetic. Oh and the muscles I had under my fat after alll those years of personal training 🤣

If you don't approve of them, don't take them.
What other people do is none of your business .

Well other than lost weight loss, the drug has dropped my blood pressure to a very healthy level, prior to weight loss occurring.

It has also taken away the pain and hideous swelling in my auto immune disease affected joints in a way that the very toxic immuno suppressant drugs I was given like smarties in never has. The immunosuppressant is so nasty that my blood needed tested every month to see which organ it might be destroying.
I now dont take it , and have normal looking pain free joints after decades of decline. Again within weeks of starting MJ.

I also no longer need the dangerous NSAID drugs I took daily just to keep mobile and manage pain. The list of side effects and dangers of these is much greater than GLPs, yet I could walk into the local chemist to buy them.
Haven't needed these either since a week after first jab, as my pain has gone.

And of course I am now slim and fit.

I am so sick of the dog whistle anti GLP attitude.
There are plenty of dangerous drugs out there , that

"concerned" people don't get hyperbolic and hysterical about.

@ Well said, and congratulations on your new found good health.

It’s patronizing. Assuming people haven’t weighed up the risks and don’t have basic understanding of how medication works.

Do you honestly think you are more intelligent?

so in your scenario - only you have listened to the news and know about this tusami and you are running around screaming at these people who are blissfully sunbathing? You think it’s the same about weigh loss drugs - only you have done the research and fully understand the balance of risks between being obese and taking the medications. All the people taking the medication haven’t bothered to research it but you have?

You are so arrogant it’s unbelievable