Why are we not being vocal about the miracle of weight loss jabs. ?

[AboutVattime]

I started Mountjaro in April at 15 stone 10
I am now 11 stone . Which is my goal weight for my 5'10 frame. I have maintained that for 2 months having started regular exercise that I really enjoy - as well as ZOE healthy eating /cooking which I enjoy equally.

When people say to me 'Wow ! You look amazing (I'm not daft - they mean you don't look fat anymore) .. how have you done it . I am truthful and say 'fat jabs' .. and expand if they don't understand.

However , I have noticed on all the gazillion threads in here about weight loss injections, people are reticent to be honest . .. "my DH knows but haven't told anyone else " .. is a common remark . But WHY ???

Obesity is a life threatening condition. Like Dementia , cancer , liver failure etc etc .. if anyone had one of those conditions and found a drug to help , would they keep quiet or shout it from the bloody roof tops . ?

Or is the old adage true . Fat is a feminist (female) issue ? and we need to pretend it isn't ?

@usernamealreadytaken the issue with bringing up Thalidomide is that it proves the opposite point to the one that you are attempting to make by using it. Thalidomide was the scandal that totally changed how new medicines are developed and tested. Medicines that come onto the market now are researched and tested in multiple stages to demonstrate their safety. They are only approved in the UK for treating specific conditions before being able to be prescribed for them. They are usually not allowed to be used for pregnant or breastfeeding women.

Tirzepatide has been around for over 8 years now, and has been through several large scale multinational trials. Semaglutide has been around for longer than that and is equally well-researched and tested. They, and other similar medicines, continue to be researched and tested due to their apparent positive effects on a number of conditions.

The situation is absolutely nothing like the situation around Thalidomide in the 50s.

Exactly. Bringing it up undermines any point

Tell that to the women still taking sodium valporate when they are pregnant.

@usernamealreadytaken

You mean those taking it against all medical advice? Which has been in place for many years now

www.gov.uk/guidance/valproate-use-by-women-and-girls#:~:text=disorder%20(ADHD).-,Valproate%20should%20not%20be%20used%20in%20pregnancy,need%20to%20avoid%20becoming%20pregnant.

Those women?

It's still being prescribed to pregnant women by medical professionals. Are you victim-blaming because some women trust medical professionals? The Times did a very disturbing report on this very matter recently - some women are receiving their prescriptions not in og packaging. Babies are still being born now suffering the effects.

@usernamealreadytaken then I would suggest that those women contact NICE and start a claim against the prescribers, because the medication is very clearly shown to not be safe for pregnant women and has warnings all over it that it is not for consumption by pregnant women. I would also ask why those women are continuing to take it when it is not for their consumption.

As already mentioned, Mounjaro, Wegovy and other similar medicines are not prescribed to pregnant women or to those who are breastfeeding. It is on all the packaging and on all the consultation information that is given. It is also made very clear that slowing digestive transit can affect the use of contraceptive pills, so not to rely on that alone.

@usernamealreadytaken I would also suggest that this issue has nothing to do with Mounjaro.

Honestly, this thread is ridiculous. This is the current NICE guidance about sodium valproate, that all medical professionals in the UK must follow:

Valproate must not be used in women and girls of childbearing potential (including young girls who are likely to need treatment into their childbearing years), unless other options are unsuitable and the Pregnancy Prevention Programme is in place.

Why would you hunt out an old medical scandal and compare it to tirzepatide (mounjaro)?

Because they think it's a gotcha moment against the disgusting fatties taking it

Yes we do know actually. These drugs are not new… they have been around a long time. It’s just that they have only been used for weight loss recently and formula tweaked. But the GLP-1 receptor agonists have been used for 3 decades now. I think that’s plenty of evidence to be confident about their safety no?

Interesting interview I've just listened to with Dr Louis J Aronne. It's all interesting but when asked to comment on these new drugs, his answer...

“I’ve been doing this for 35 years, I did the first study looking for anti-obesity medications in 1989, more than 60 trials of obesity treatments in my career and it’s pretty clear that these are a breakthrough. And, this is the beginning of the breakthrough, this is not the end, this is just the beginning So, the breakthrough is not only the level of efficacy which it’s clear people find is terrific and enjoyable and changes their lives but also the tolerability of these medications. So, we’ve had medicines that are not quite as effective but they are effective. The problem was in many cases the side effect profile and the risk associated with those medications. But now we have things that are not only effective but easy to use – one shot per week is pretty well tolerated – and I think that this is a pivoting point in the treatment of chronic, metabolic disease. That people are choosing to treat their obesity which is the cause of their diabetes, their hypertension, their high cholesterol, their sleep apnoea, their knee arthritis and the list goes on and on. And lecturing these days I have a slide I made where I characterise treating obesity as the superman of treating metabolic disease. Literally 200 illnesses can occur as a result of increased body weight, and treating obesity makes them all better to a certain extend. It may not cure them all; blood pressure may stay up, cholesterol may not go down, all of those things can occur but there is no treatment for any of the others that treats something else. But by treating obesity, you get them all. It may not go away but it tends to get better. So I see we’re going to see people choosing to treat their weight rather than wait until they develop all these complications.”

But but but thalidomide!!! Cheating!!! CICO!!!

People don't want to hear it, but we are on the cusp of an absolutely huge medical breakthrough

I agree it's huge and it's a breakthrough but I don't think it's only medical, I think it could have far-reaching implications and repercussions.
The reasons that people can be exploited, can be persuaded to act against their own interests are to do with exploiting their tendencies to become addicted to things, to develop compulsions, to be unable to resist cravings.
Here we have something which really can enable people to resist cravings, I think this is HUGE

It makes you wonder, doesn't it @itwasnevermine ?

I am normally pretty medically sceptical but if the studies into this thing keep going and it really can help with things like parkinsons, dementia, addictions, heart attack risk (this last one is confirmed) - this is going to be something else.

I was listening to another obesity scientist the other day that genuinely compared the development of these drugs to the magnitude of discovering penicillin.

The article in the times the other week was eye opening.

Every piece of evidence points towards it being an amazing break through. So wonder why people are so against it.

Surely it's cheating if you don't try to cure your infection with a nice poultice first?

Surely it's cheating if you don't try to cure your infection with a nice poultice first?

A poultice? Can I eat it?

@Wonkypictureframe I wonder if they know how dumb it sounds 🤣

I'm listening to a podcast by someone who says that mounjaro changed her life and I really relate to that.

Also interesting quick fire round of q's as part of the same interview...

If I can’t lose weight despite trying, is it my fault?
No. Never.

Is exercise likely to lead to weight loss?
Exercise rarely causes weight loss.

Can gaining weight trick my body into gaining even more weight?
Yes.

If I am using a weight loss drug can I eat what I want
No.

Mounjaro has changed my life. People are now commenting on how I seem to be a different person. I'm more confident, I'm happier, more relaxed, a better parent. I've lost weight before but not as much as this, and not with the level of certainty I now have that this is me for a good long time to come.

I'm currently listening to this podcast.

Interestingly she says that it was prescribed to her as a lifelong medication. I guess that that's because she's in the US, where these have been used for longer. I'm guessing that'll be the next step in the UK.

not with the level of certainty I now have that this is me for a good long time to come

This actually sounds wonderful. I am towards the start of my journey but this time does really feel different - less like I am walking a tightrope if that makes sense?

I hope to anything it IS different.

@itwasnevermine I've been reading this thread and have been astonished by the level of negative emotion some people clearly have towards a weight loss medication.

People have been trying to work out how best to lose weight for centuries. There are ancient Greek and Italian scrolls about the best way to deal with obesity and there are very clear records in the UK of William Banting's recommendations in his 1863 pamphlet, "Letter on Corpulence", which led to the widespread method of dieting called "Banting". Drugs have also been used for decades with varying degrees of success and risk eg: amphetamines in the 1930s and fenfluramine/phentermine (fen-phen) in the 1990s, to name but two (there are many).

So, I can only conclude that the venom thrown the way of Ozempic and Tirzepatide and those who take it comes from a very negative place in the posters own mind. They either hate fat people, fear the absence of fat people, are medical luddites, are ignorant, are mis-informed or simply just like to have a pop!

Congratulations @AboutVattime on transforming your own health. 🎉🏆

I thought about this on my walk at lunch.

It boils down to people assigning a moral value to our weight. Fat people are failures because we lack discipline to get thin. So therefore, we are "lower" in the hierarchy that skinny people have created for themselves.

Because of that, they then expect us to struggle to lose weight. We must starve, we must sweat for hours in the gym and feel miserable all day, we must have to fight for every single pound we lose. Because inevitably most of us will fail and stay fat. Therefore thin people can use us to make themselves feel better about themselves.

When something comes along that helps that, they're threatened because it means they might lose their special status and the disciplined healthy ones. I imagine that in three years those of us who have started mounjaro in the first few months of it being rolled out in the UK won't be able to be distinguished from those who have always been skinny. So they won't be able to look down on us. It threatens them.