WLI - AIBU to assume my friend is wrong about pharmacies 'selling weight loss injections to people who don't need them.'

[Nancery]

I am not on them but know some people who have been / currently are and have done well on them. Not just for weight loss but for lots of then subsequent benefits (lower blood pressure, for example.)

A friend of mine, J, told me that she has a friend who 'took them even though she clearly didn't need them' and 'it's madness that pharmacies can just sell them without proper checks, it's just about the money and they don't care.'

I saw a photo of her friend and, indeed, she isn't overweight to the extent she'd be considered. I have said that IF she was taking what she claims (Mounjaro) it'd NOT be from a pharmacy. Not a chance!

J is insistent that her friend will have got them from a pharmacy as 'her husband would never let her inject herself with something that wasn't from a pharmacy.'

Those I know on it have had used multiple pharmacies between them, largely due to the price rise, and have had to go through multiple checks each time, and also subsequent checks to make sure they are eating properly etc. Video calls, photo's and video's, copies of previous prescriptions etc. They certainly can't just fudge details.

So, I am asking a bigger circle of people so see what the consensus is:

AIBU to have assumed some pharmacy, somewhere, will sell them

AINBU - to assume her friend got them off the "black market" (for want of a better phrase!)

The majority of providers write to your GP when you get a prescription from them. Your GP would soon realise what was happening.

WLI aren’t inherently harmful though.

The chief risk is for people to drop to a medically unhealthy weight. Being thin and staying thin on them is fine.

Oh I see what you’re saying, yes, of course you can do that, but they will be getting them for themselves,with their own id, and passing them to you.

Yes you could do that,

blimey people really do spend ages obsessing on these meds and thinking of bizzare loopholes.

i really doubt there is many cottage industries of fat people buying the drugs from many agencies and selling them go thin people

I continue to take a maintenance dose now that I am in a healthy weight range.

I no longer lose weight but don’t put any on either.

It prevents the return of food noise and helps me maintain my weight and physical and mental health.

What do you think is wrong with that?

Me too, my weight has been stable for 18 months, I stay on a maintenance dose. My diet is clean snd healthy, I’m in control, I’ve not lost weight since I started maintaining and I don’t gain it either.

I think people don’t understand the meds and think they melt the fat off so if you keep taking gnem you will get thinner and thinner,

now sure some people will, but the overwhelming majority clearly don’t, it will be a tiny percentage with issues, you just have to look at the monthly threads on here or the thousands on Reddit to know people hit a wait they are happy at and stay there.

Yeah but that makes it quite simple for a person to get them despite not having a need for them. Everyone knows someone who is overweight, just ask them to get them.

It will go on their permanent medical record (the WLI prescriber writes to your GP when they give you the prescription) so I doubt many would be willing to do it.

I just went through quite a stringent process (including a blood test) with an online Pharmacy to get the Wegovy pill
I am very overweight but I can see how you could cheat and get it if you weren't

Also, can you imagine the conversation with your friend?
’Listen, I’m too thin to get WLI myself but I really want to lose a couple of stone. You’re obese, can you get them for me?’

They're pharmacies but they're online pharmacies and some are fussier than others on the checks. I said I was 14.5 stone when I was 12.5 - they didn't ask for pics. I was obese but BMI 32 not the 35 they wanted. Then they started asking for my GP (after about a year of being on them) - I'm not registered with one so I made it up and the stuff kept coming. I'm now 10 stone 4 (four more pounds and I'll be BMI 25 (not overweight for the first time ever, early childhood included). I plan to keep it up until I'm 9.5 stone probably, or whatever looks right, then switch to Wegovy tablets for maintenance. I sort of think it's bad but am also glad I can do it, if that makes sense. I think I can understand the risks for myself and make my own choices. In the age of the internet that's just how it is really - if people want to get something, they will.

Why did they wish a bmi of 35? It’s always been 30 or 27 with health conditions, and now it’s 25 with some pharmacies. Who on earth was asking for a bmi of 35? You didn’t need to lie to any legit pharmacy except this weird one.

Her husband wouldn't let her inject something that wasn't from a pharmacy?! Even though it's a medication for a health condition she does not suffer from and therefore is not legitimate use?! He shouldn't be supporting her injecting anything she doesn't need!

Well frankly who cares what he would or wouldn't 'allow'. Yes you can lie and send altered photos.

Look at all the women of Hollywood who take it to get from a size 8 to a size 2. Now normal people see that and want it for themselves. And private profit making businesses are right there waiting to take their money.

Why did you lie about your weight? You’d have qualified with a BMI of 32 anyway.

i was prescribed through a reputable online pharmacy/remote GP. I gave honest answers to all questions and sent real photos. My answers made clear I didn’t meet the “official” criteria for prescription (I had a BMI of about 28 and the guidelines say you should only be prescribed the jabs at that BMI if you have a co-morbidity, which I didn’t). However I was approved. I guess doctors have a discretion to approve even if it’s not within the guidelines. I have no regrets about being approved as it has allowed me to lose weight that I would not have otherwise and I believe I am healthier. However it did leave me with the impression that the pharmacy approves all comers without regard to prescription guidelines. It’s a hugely expensive medicine and I’m sure very profitable for pharmacies, especially as people are expected to be on it long term.

I got mine from a pharmacy and lied. I was only a stone overweight, took the lowest dose for a couple of months, came off it and never regained the weight. No damage done to anyone.

Don’t think people do wish to be a 2.thats a bit hyperbolic.

Yes, some do. My current one doesn't. So there's 2 pens I could order every month and sell one on. It is worrying. I know of several people who I consider way too thin now and they are keeping going, not prepared to think about maintenance. It is not hard to see why some are concerned about access and how to manage it. I have lost 5 stone. I have 5 more to go. If I had to get them from my GP I wouldn't bother. I just don't need that kind of scrutiny and questions in my life. I don’t know the answer but that I can use an online pharmacy works really well for me.

I definitely think that the jabs could be dangerous, particularly for people with historic eating disorders. I take 2.5 and ate on average 800 calories a day for the first 2 months, this last few weeks I have had 850-1000, but to even hit those calories I have 2 cans of coke (278 calories of the 850) - I have zero appetite.

If someone with a propensity for addiction, or a history of anorexia took them I could see it being very easy to starve yourself to dangerous levels because there is no hunger at all for some people when taking the jabs…I’m one of them that can have the lowest dose and then not eat, imagine doing that at about 20 or lower BMI starting point, dangerous.

Being able to buy multiples definitely makes them easier for people who wouldn’t normally qualify to have them prescribed to get hold of them.

a size 2 is a UK 6 btw. When people refer to being a size 2 they mean American 2, this is still extremely thin, but you can be a size 2 without being underweight

Also good job on the 5st, I just did my 3st today, 6 more to go (but I would be happy with 4-5 more)

People with ED do. People who aspire to celebrities do. And lots of women in the public eye on the red carpet are. Sadly it normalises extra small bodies.

There are thousands using backstreet glp1 when they're normal or underweight. You hear about it all the time. People buying it on the black market, through 'beauticians' etc.

It's similar to when people go to non clinical settings to get lip/facial fillers by a person with level 2 in hairdressing and a one hour tutorial.