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.

I'm on mounjaro and have been for just over a year. I've gone from BMI 31 to a BMI of 23 and tapering off now. I have a size 8-10 relative with low BMI and a history of disordered eating who is on a different WLI, which she gets from a private clinic, so i do get what the OP is saying. My relative keeps going on about how the medication is getting rid of her 'skinny fat'.

When I started there weren't the stricter controls that there are now, with real time video calls and weigh-ins, but I honestly thought that the providers were looking at the meta-data from photos provided and could check the date it was taken? I know that wouldn't necessarily stop people gaming the system, but my autistic brain just assumed that photo data would be checked thoroughly.

GPs don't have enough appointments for sick people they really don't have time to weigh/measure people who want private prescriptions. And most of them will refuse to do this anyway.

According to Oushk, who recently failed inspection and now does video consultations every 6 months to show photo proof of ID, weight verifications and now also require independent height verifications so they can verify BMI that is required by the GPhC and other providers will have the same issues as they have had once they are inspected. Consent to inform GP is also now mandatory on their order consultation forms.

Irritating to have to do when a genuinely eligible patient, but not a bad thing to ensure all patient safety especially when patients get towards lower BMIs during maintenance.

Agreed. Which is fair enough, since they don't get paid for it.

There could come a point when a sufficiently critical mass of the population are on them that it frees up appointments which would otherwise have been needed for obesity related conditions. But with our ageing population and the problems in general practice, I can't imagine we'll see less pressure on GPs time. Other things will step in to fill up the capacity before we notice it.

Going to be totally honest and get lots of abuse now but I did this too: I have since come to my senses and cancelled it after 2 months. I put my phone on the floor and used the least flattering angle and put gym clothes 2 sizes too small on and pulled my belly over them. I was 9 stone 10 and 5 ft 3 and a size 10. They approved it in about 12 hours.

i have since stopped taking it and actually told them the truth that I lied because I think they should be aware how easy it was. This was Voy

Agree.

My youngest daughter's friend is now in an ambulance because she was taking mounjaro and wasn't aware how it counteracts with even moderate amounts of alcohol.

really? I suspect there is more to that story😊

with only being loaded into the ambulance it seems surprising that a full diagnosis was available! And she was able to not only receive that diagnosis but text it out

What symptoms?

There are a lot of people invested in stopping people from getting weight loss injections. There’s definitely an agenda.

Agree in controls to try and prevent misuse but not obstructing people who genuinely need it.

Surprised and sceptical of all these people who are able to get their hands on it with low bmis.

Anyone interested in how regulation of prescription is being tightened... Here is Oushk's enforcement notice after their failed GPhC inspection this month:

https://inspections.pharmacyregulation.org/pharmacy/enforcement/9012610-2025-07-02-3491.pdf

Curate, MedExpress and Chemist4U have also all recently failed inspections, as GPhC implement the strengthened regulations that came in in February. Clearly requirements should have been more rigorous from the start, but it’s going to be very hard to get a prescription from a legitimate pharmacy fraudulently now. The pharmacies will be worried about potentially losing this cash cow.

I didn’t have to provide a photo.

I was just at the weight threshold (BMI 27 with both PCOS and high cholesterol and they did a real time video call with me standing on scales). But would be easy for someone to have some weights down back of trousers etc.

They wrote to my GP. I send a message to my GP also saying I was going to use it to lose 10kg and then would like another cholesterol check.

I’m not sure what I will do longer term. It will be hard to maintain, will require constant vigilance, but I really do need to as my mum is borderline type 2 diabetic with a BMI not far above what I was at the start.

All that being said if you saw me and knew I was taking would be easy to be judgey also. Especially now I have lost weight and my BMI is now almost normal.

The joke is on them really. Because if they were a healthy weight when they started, and they’re abusing it, ultimately they are going to blow up like a balloon when hunger comes back with a vengeance when they stop. It’s our mum’s yo-yo dieting for the next generation.

sceptical? You honestly don’t think this happens?

Clearly a video call is a step up from providing a photo. It’s more rigorous.

Again, personal responsibility.

There is no shortage of information widely available.

More sceptical of the number people are claiming to know. Agree if people want to get their hands on it there are multiple ways to do so- the wires being via someone they know rather than a prescriber.

Eh? It really doesn’t. I suspect what happened is that she ate nothing and then drank spirits on an empty stomach.

Of all the daft things I've read about WLI, this has to take the biscuit.

I'm not on them, and don't need them, so have no skin in the game either way. But I honestly can't see some of these anti-WLI posters as anything other than a bunch of tricoteuses, loudly exhibiting their shock and faux concern whilst gleefully anticipating disaster.

Unless you live somewhere really rurally, where GP/hospital appointments are already done to video link, then I do think it should be an in-person meeting. It's seen as a wonder medication by many, and while losing weight is definitely a good idea if you are overweight/obese/morbidly obese, it shouldn't be seen as a cheats way to stay slim. If you have to lie about anything in your medical history to get it, including non-disclosure of other conditions or medications, then you really need to ask yourself if you actually have a problem. I get that this drug does change some people's lives, but it also needs to be in a safe and regulated manner.

I do agree that they need to be more tightly controlled, but that is now happening with all the online providers. I am concerned by people who say they can barely eat and yet continue to increase their dose, and there are the occasional photos online that make me wince. I’m sure some people take it when the have an ED, but then again I have known a number of people well who have fought through EDs and they all took a number of very unsafe drugs during their worst points, so that’s nothing very new.

What I don’t like about the conversation is two things. Firstly that they should be the last resort. Why? What scientific evidence for that is there? This feels like a moral judgement that fat people should suffer and be punished in order to be allowed into the hallowed halls of the slim. Secondly that people think regain risk is some sort of killer argument. Of course it’s a problem, as it is on all diets. Astounded to think that people feel it’s less likely if you’re eating nothing but shakes rather than just smaller proper meals on WLI. Fundamentally it’s still a lot easier to use willpower to eat maintenance calories than to maintain a deficit.

It’s not uncommon at all for 4ft 11 - 5ft 1 menopausal women.

Absolutely agree. I have to eat sub 1000 cals to maintain and sub 850 or so to lose. I'm 5ft and 50. I don't do a lot of exercise but even when I did it made little difference to weight loss. I generally exist on smoothies or protein yoghurts, rice cakes with homous, cottage cheese or avocado, nuts, cheese, chicken, eggs and chicken or prawns, plus lots of salad and green veg. A bit of chocolate now and then but rarely fancy it since starting WLI. I'm drinking way less. I feel so much better, no just for being two stone down but just better all over. I'm a low dose and it feels sustainable in a way previous attempts (many) have not.

I suspect the poster was just making it up and is now caught out in her lie😊

@AirborneElephant yes you could well be right. But the fact people are unaware of the potential for ending up in hospital after drinking moderately to me is a sign there's a problem.

Not a lie. Friends daughter is now in hospital