Future of GLP1 prescriptions

[squidgymum]

Theres a very busy thread in AIBU that has shown there are many people abusing the medication, giving false weights in their consultation, people with low BMI using it and apparently someone with anorexia is known to be taking it.

Is it possible that they will stop online prescriptions or will they just put more checks in place when applying/reordering?

No the governing bodies won't stop online prescriptions. There may well be a requirement for more checks to be put in place. In February the guidance to pharmacies from the GPhC was clarified to make it clear the obligations on pharmacists to independently check the information about height/weight that the patient gives. So, that means some kind of interactive visual check, or checking patient NHS records, or a video consult. It's up to each pharmacy to implement what they think meets the requirements and to be able to show that when they are next inspected by the GPhC.

I haven't seen the AIBU thread but assume it is full of misinformation, judgement and dramatising.

There has recently been new guidance given to online pharmacies for prescribing such as id checks, more regular photos, face to face over video, medical history etc some of which most pharmacies did, while some need to tighten up their processes.

Imo no one wants, and no one should want, to stop eligible obese patients getting access to this medication which has so many health benefits for them, what they are looking to do is protect the health of those looking for it for the wrong reasons.

I know about the recent changes, I just wondered if it became more of a problem would they stop online pharmacies from being able to prescribe MJ. I got it legally so not worried about myself but if we start seeing deaths from people who shouldn't be on it then it's worrying.

I think they'll just tighten up and maybe ask for video consults via zoom or WhatsApp. It just means that it'll take longer and cost more.

I don't think the hopping between providers helps either. I've been with Asda from the start and I just upload a set of pics each month as soon as I reorder. That way there's a monthly record. They're not always the cheapest, but they are fast, I can collect in-store and I've never had any issues with them.

"we start seeing deaths"

That is the dramatics I am talking about. There will always be deaths with a medication as contributing factors. For the 500,000 people in the UK using Mounjaro the death rate is very low, you only know about them because of all the hype around this new medication, which will hopefully calm down eventually - asprin and ibuprofen are contributing factors in more deaths each year than Mounjaro.

It would be madness to make the medication inaccessible to obese patients as the benefits of dealing with the obesity epidemic to both the NHS and economy are wider than just the individual, but they do need to put measures in to make sure it is being prescribed correctly and safely.

You can't stop misuse even if putting in more checks. There are always some who will lie about weight, not declare health conditions etc. Hopefully video consultations will help. Its the same with any drug though and recreational drugs and addicts, if someone is desperate for it, they will find a way.

I haven’t seen the thread either. It’s annoying that people are misusing this medication. I remember when Lottie Moss said she injected a massive dose (15mg or something) and unsurprisingly ended up in hospital. These sorts of people will abuse other drugs too though to keep their weight low such as amphetamines. Papers like the Daily Mail don’t help- they can’t make their minds up. One day WLIs are wonderful, the next there’s some “confession” from someone with a low BMI who lies to get it as do all of her friends. It all seems made up. The past week they seem to have published a load of scaremongering stories.
Apparently there’s some documentary coming out next week about “skinny jab scandals” so they will be jumping on the bandwagon 🙄
The thing is it just gives you the willpower to diet - it doesn’t really by itself make you thin unless you take massive doses and don’t eat. Someone with a low BMI is already likely in control of their food intake so doesn’t need this drug.
Also with the deaths thing, the numbers are for people who have died who were being prescribed a GLP-1, not ones where the drug was ruled the cause. I used to take citalopram (an antidepressant). Every year there are about 100 deaths associated with citalopram but that never made me decide not to take it.

That AIBU thread is painful. I need to ignore it really but hard to! So much nonsense being spouted and way too many sanctimonious individuals with the usual ‘well, I weight train, run and eat lots and it works for me’. Well bully for you!

And the usual, ‘everyone who needs the jabs must live on UPFs’, which is the one that really gets my goat.

I’m not worried because I’m not a liar, so it doesn’t affect me.

Re the thread it will be the usual shite, don’t take any notice of it.

My reference to deaths was people who arent obese illegally taking the medication, I also mentioned a person with anorexia taking it. If those people die then you can imagine the headlines.

Unusually for me, I got sucked in and wished I hadn't. I am now ignoring. It's more peaceful that way.

Just off out for a 5k run which, of course, us fatties wouldn't know the first thing about.

Enjoy your run. Gorgeous day for it

But don't forget to walk 10 000 steps after that run, a poster on that thread said that's all she needed.

I got sucked in too! I missed the bit where the anorexic was taking it but I did spot that the OP had a history of anorexia and bulimia and was rightly told that it wouldn’t be prescribed.

It’s not worth worrying about. There’s a definite feeling that fat people should suffer to get thin. Some people can’t bear the fact that there’s an easier way to do it within reasonable margins of safety. The vaping threads are the same, the desperate hoping for awful side effects.

Best just leaving them to it really. There’s no point wasting time wondering why people who don’t need WLI get so het up about them.

We have a pharmacy nearby opening doors who have expanded the business space to enable people to go and buy the medication. You can imagine the remarks from the local newspapers readers ..the rich stealing a diabetics medication crux…but a step in the right direction.

I get long term effects but all drugs are a risk. Are there more people getting diagnosed to early as a diabetic? Is that one of the pending scandals here?

Why in some parts of the country nhs prescribing rules different? The media haven’t helped in who they portray as buying from the black market.

In the documentary I’d recently viewed around 2017 time when obesity surgery was happening much less on the nhs (kind of point of the documentary) people were shamed for needing it in the first place there is no winning now we have something less invasive.

I thought anorexia sufferers may have heart problems just as bigger people can and I’m sure it is equally pushed that the injections reduce cardio problems.

I think all of this is a grey area.

More and more local pharmacies will expand their services into weight loss support. My local pharmacy is offering WLI and has employed a dietitian as well.

Given that more than half of all adults and a third of children, teenagers and young adults around the world are predicted to be overweight or obese by 2050 according to a new study (just out on BBC website) the WLI market is here to stay. The ‘killer’ skinny jabs, and a tablet versions, will hopefully reduce that number.