Half a million on weight loss jabs

[Sadteacher]

Front page of The Times today! I wonder if we will be asked more how we have lost our weight now it is becoming more common! My friends still talk about them like they are something only celebrities use.

@ILoveAnnaQuay why would she get it for free if she had a medical condition? Do you mean that the NHS would prescribe it for her?

What the previous poster meant was that you can get a private prescription if your bmi is 27 or over, if you have weight related health conditions or if you are one of a list of certain ethnicities. Unless you know exactly what her BMI is and her full medical history, you won't necessarily know what her circumstances are.

They're not glossed over, they're discussed widely online and also when you apply for them it's mentioned. The main side effects are common with any quick weight loss ie hair loss, gallbladder issues etc. Obviously nausea and digestive side effects are attributable to the medication itself, but again, there are widely discussed. The issue most have is that there's a lot of ignorance and assumptions made which aren't true. Have a look on any of the threads on this forum, or any social media really and plenty mention the side effects!

My real issue is that I am having problems getting my NHS precription filled by pharmacies.

And people are saying that's not an issue with the private prescriptions, nor is it widespread so ask your pharmacist if you can take the script elsewhere.

@Laneylane81 I am sorry you are having difficulty. I listened to a podcast randomly that had a guy from one of the UK pharmacies who supply WLI on it talking to some people in the US who were interested in learning how it works over here.

One of the questions asked to him was if someone was prescribed it on the NHS could they take their NHS prescription to them to be dispensed and he said they could. If you are having problems could you maybe look at contacting some of the online providers rather than a traditional pharmacy ? Just a thought. My friend’s patients are having no issues getting their NHS Ozempic prescriptions dispensed I’m sorry you are having difficulty.

@Laneylane81 As the title of this thread says, half a million people take these injections. If you have problems with your own pharmacy you won’t solve them by posting on a thread a few dozen people will read. Perhaps you need to focus your efforts and get your local newspaper to investigate your pharmacy’s problems.

Well, Hungry Horse are going to be pissed off.

But anywhere decent that emphasises quality of food and presentation over sheer quantity isn't going to be too badly affected.

@Mounjarry I think my comment about ‘glossing’ over the side effects wasn’t put very well. I was agreeing with @Jabtastic that there are probably many people who have tried the jabs and then who have become unwell. They then have just quietly stopped taking them. That was the ‘glossing ‘ over I was meaning.
As these cases are then probably not documented officially. I obviously understand that contraindications are issued with all medicines. I understand people will discuss all manner of side effects on SM and an anonymous forum. It doesn’t count towards official data though.
I don’t understand the comment from you about NHS prescriptions as I haven’t mentioned anything about prescriptions?
As I said in my original post I have no skin in the game as not on them and good luck to you and others that are helped by the jabs.

Most medications have serious side effects, the known serious ones with WLI are fairly uncommon, and there have been a reasonable number of posts on MN or facebook where WLI users have shared their stories of being admitted to hospital and/or have stopped the medication, left the boards.

WLI users who continue to use WLIs are not "glossing" over the side effects, most (not all, but again that is the same for any medication) know there are risks involved.

They need to balance up the very real high risks of ongoing obesity with the risks coming directly from taking a WLI. For me it was clear WLI were the lesser of two evils.

@CombatLingerie the SURPASS clinical trials have measured the incidence of side effects, the most common being gastrointestinal during the initial dosing period. They're not glossed over as this information is critical to a drug being let loose on the population! If you google or use ChatGPT you can find more information on the incidence of side effects and what proportion of participants discontinued due to 'adverse events'.

@Herewegoagainandagainandagain and @85reasons as I said in my last post I was agreeing with a PP about people who take the jab, become unwell and experience side effects that are never officially documented. I was not speaking about the official list of side effects and clinical trials. I am sure that sort of none reporting of side effects happens with many types of medications.
I never once said people on the jabs were ‘glossing’ over their own side effects so as to continue on them @Herewegoagainandagainandagain so you can stick that up your jumper.

@1clavdivs You may need to expand into a series of bingo cards 😂

@CombatLingerie I only mention that as you said the glossing over you're talking about is 'not documented' - it is documented, in the sense that the SURPASS trials concluded that it's expected say 15% of those starting can expect to experience some nausea, which decreases over time.

@85reasons I understand that you mean a certain percentage of people can be be expected to experience certain side effects? So the PP poster I was agreeing with said she just quietly stopped taking it because it made her unwell. She did not report the side effects to any official channel to be documented by anyone. Her personal experience is not officially documented and there will be many more like her out there.
So is she just one of the of the 15% you mention? Fair enough we will have to agree to disagree on that. As presumably the 15% figure relates to a number of patients who took part in a trial who did report side effects. That’s not 15% of everyone currently on the medication. It’s impossible to know the percentage of those people experiencing side effects and stopping if they don’t tell anyone. That’s what I meant by ‘glossing’ over not a deliberate malicious act by anyone at all. It is a completely personal choice as whether to take these drugs, continue with them or stop taking them.
I think I am past caring now and I am never using the word ‘glossing’ ever again on MN😂.
Off to have a lovely big slice of Christmas cake and a cuppa. As I have said twice previously now good luck to those the jabs are helping and have helped. I wish you nothing but the best. As I also said previously the jabs would probably kill me knowing my luck. Good afternoon to all.

This still makes no sense. Side effects that are known don't need to be reported. Why would you need to report nausea and vomiting for example, when it's a known reported common side effects? Do people routinely report known side effects for other medication that they use?

If people really feel they had noteworthy side effects, they can report to the yellow card scheme.

The Surmount-5 research trial is ongoing in the US. The Surmount Real trial has been announced in the UK due to start soon. Other research studies are planned. All of these will be collating fully validated evidence about side effects on a large scale.

So there is nobody using GL1 to slip into a bikini??? They're the ones wjho need to think first, ot people medically at risk.
And if you're so at risk you as you think you are you't be prescribed on the NHS of you're in the UK

nobody shoul ;post anythin g about anything if so few people read it

I think the point of the clinical trials is that you can expect their findings to be replicated in larger populations - that's literally the point of them.. to avoid the need for every individual ever taking a drug to have to report on the experience.

Anyway. 🤪 Far too pedantic for a rainy Sunday afternoon..

@Laneylane81 this idea that the NHS will prescribe is just plain wrong. Factually wrong. They won't even prescribe it in every case for diabetics and some of those people are being advised to try it privately.

Tier 3 weight loss services have long waiting lists if they are accepting referrals at all. Even then, they aren't offering weight loss injections - it's surgery that people are on the list for. The recent announcement about a rollout won't start until the summer at the earliest and then only for people with morbidly obese BMis with 3 or more weight related health conditions.

The entitlement from some obese people on getting this drug just because they have a lack of willpower, in comparison to someone with diabetes or have serious health problem is wild.

@Whatdoido11 the ignorance of people who enjoy taking a kick at obese people is actually wild.

You'll see, described clearly on this thread, that it just isn't true that private prescriptions are preventing diabetics or others from getting their medication. That in fact it is a NHS procurement issue and nothing to do with anything else.

If one of your diabetics who you are deeply concerned about developed type 2 diabetes due to being long term overweight or obese, due to overeating caused by a "lack of willpower" would you be as equally contemptuous of them?

I mean, I wrote all that, but what I actually wanted to write was much shorter and significantly more sweary.

The NHS eligibility criteria is currently extremely high due to lack of funds and resources. The NHS recognises there are many at high risk and will benefit immensely from the medication but they will need to wait until funds and resources allow.

You don't seem to know how the NHS is planning to roll out the medication in the UK.

The NHS is quoting 12 years to get to that stage. I will have been eligible on the NHS.....eventually, but it could be many years. Should people just wait for the NHS and accept the significant risks in the meantime? For some, 12 years will mean becoming disabled, losing their homes if their health means they can no longer work, or even death.

Dread to think what I would look like in a bikini even when I get to a healthy BMI! 👙🤣 Of course there will be a small minority that fall into the cosmetic weight loss area and try to get around the private prescribing governance and rules for prescribing are constantly being tightened up, but they are the minority.

I find it utterly bizarre that I'm meant to feel guilty about getting a private prescription for a drug I meet the criteria for, pay for and there's absolutely no shortage of. My provider sends within 24 hours of my order. Mounjaro is a complete game changer and I'm using it to successfully lose weight before I get any obesity related disorders that would qualify me for NHS treatment, which is presumably saving public resources for people who need them.

Thank you for your patience explaining! I really should fill in the yellow card scheme and it would be good if providers were made to send a link to everyone who stops medication so that it's easy to report side effects. This way there will be a lot more data available. Lots of people will just ignore it as they will simply be switching providers to get better prices.

But it's irritating to see people airily dismissing the side effects because it downplays them and means people are more likely to assume they are very minor. They really weren't for me and there are probably others like me. I still have persistent GERD 6 weeks after stopping Mountjaro though thankfully the other symptoms have vanished.

One of the main causes of gerd is being overweight, same as eating chocolate, spicy food, caffeine booze. So it is difficult to say it is directly due to the drug. As to be on it, you would need to be overweight if not obese. And may have developed it anyway, have you seen a doctor?

Oh give over!