Injections when not seriously overweight/obese

[Stripedrugwoodenfloor]

I’m a bit overweight…BMI around 26.5. Late 40s. I do have high blood pressure (genetic - both parents had heart attacks) and my mother also had type 2 diabetes.

I was an overweight child but became quite slim in my teens/twenties - and bar pregnancies, maintained that. Over the past few years the pound have crept on and I’m sick of it.

I don’t actually over-eat but it’s more my body seems stuck here now. I also probably drink a bit too much and know that doesn’t help…my willpower with wine is bad. 😖

I keep reading about slim women who are taking injections to lose even more weight - of course this is done privately. But I wonder if I might qualify on the nhs given my high bp and family history, even though I’m not that overweight? Anyone been in a similar position?

No you wouldn’t qualify. Why would you? You’re not diabetic or overweight/obese with multiple weight related health conditions. Less calories, more steps and less alcohol should do the trick.

No you won’t qualify, private or NHS.

I’m taking them and I am slim - but my BMI started at 37.7.

You definitely won't qualify on the NHS and I don't think you will be able to get it privately either. The criteria for a private prescription is BMI over 30 (or 27 with some other conditions).

For NHS, I believe as well as this you need to have been under weightloss clinch for years, without losing weight on any of their programs, with priority to those with multiple comorbid conditions.

I agree with with@Batbrown100%

I mean you could just sack off the wine, reduce the calories, and up the movement, you’d be back into the BMI healthy range by September.

No definitely not on the NHS, seriously obese people with high BP probably wouldn't get them either. It's also unlikely that a private provider would prescribe either

@Batbrown - i’m overweight with high blood pressure and a family history of diabetes, so…obviously I’m aware that I could lose weight in the traditional way, but it doesn’t seem to shift whatever I do!

I recently read a piece by a very slim female journalist that went ‘on the pen’ to become even slimmer! Obviously that was private and I could look into that route…but are there any health risks to this (ie using it if you’re not overweight - or only slightly)?

Ok, thanks for clarity all!

You need to consider more than just whether you qualify, but you need to consider the long-term risk vs reward. Of course if one is obese, on the brink of diabetes and heart disease, the reward of avoiding these conditions and certainly dying sooner because of them, overcomes the risk that I am about to describe.

However, what is not talked about enough are the risks associated with using GLP1s when you do not fall into that category, but are wanting to use it for vanity reasons more so than health ones.

GLP1s have really only been in use for treating type 2 diabetes for about 20 years, which seems long, but really isn't when you consider that the off-label usage for weight management in somewhat normal populations has been much more recent. There are not enough long-term studies to really say that we won't uncover worse effects associated with their usage besides the gastro ones that some have, as well as increased risk for pancreatitis and gall bladder issues.

To me, the most significant risk is the potential for muscle and bone loss. If you fail to adjust your diet and exercise while using the GLPs it can result in somewhat significant muscle and bone loss, and put you on a pathway of trading a few extra pounds for osteoporosis in the future.

If you cannot exert the will-power right now to limit your consumption of wine . . . which honestly would get you close to losing the weight you want to anyway, while reducing your risk for a whole host of medical issues associated to alcohol, including diabetes and heart disease, then you have to ask yourself whether you will have the will power to eat well and do weight-training to keep your muscle mass. If you cannot, then you may lose more weight on the GLP1s, but you could do so by eventually getting that skinny "old lady", loose skin . . . veiny arms . . . and flabby untoned look, with it.

This is further exacerbated by your age as being more than likely in perimenopause where you are already upping the risk for these things as estrogen and progesterone decline.

Family history is exactly that, it’s not your current health status. You said your BMI is 26.5 so slightly overweight. Many slim people have high blood pressure too. We are telling you that you won’t get it. You also won’t qualify using private online chemists. You can maybe find some blackmarket chemist but do you really want to risk your health when you could just quit the booze?

You don’t even qualify for a private prescription.

The answer to whether there are any health risks at your BMI OP is that it’s not been tested so no one knows for sure. At present it’s only known that benefit outweighs risk for those starting obese. So it’s not approved yet for use by someone of your bmi. I get that may feel unfair as many of us on the WLI injections are now of a similar or lower BMI having ‘only’ been a couple of stone higher when we started.

The expensive private GP that Times journalist went to was prescribing off label, and taking the responsibility/risk, but was seeing her in person to monitor. It’s entirely possible in future it will be available to all but that day is not close. I imagine if you can afford similar it’s not impossible to access legally. But beyond reach for most of us.

No online pharmacy provider will accept you as a new user with a BMI just over normal range. It’s 30 or 27 with a list of conditions or for some ethnicities. They are getting stricter about making you evidence this due to misuse by those who don’t meet these criteria.

The NHS are currently only offering it for weight loss for BMI over 40 plus 4 of a list of conditions. This has been very widely publicised in recent weeks.

@anitarielleliphe - this is actually so helpful in terms of explaining it and why it wouldn’t be right. Guess I better get sensible, cut out the wine and do it the hard way! 😂

Also, being in her late 40's, potentially going through menopause stages, will often have women develop high or higher blood pressure.

You're barely overweight.

I don't understand your motivation for wanting it? Do you think it will reverse your health conditions? Or do you just think you'll look better if you lose weight.

@Comedycook - both! I’d like to look better and thought the injections have a positive effect on lowering blood pressure - but maybe I’m mistaken and it’s just the weight loss that causes the bp to come down?

Exactly. High blood pressure isn’t always caused by obesity.

You probably could get it privately if you want to micro dose - assuming its the Times fashion editor you are referring to. I have it privately at a slightly lower BMI than you. Pricey though as I had to pay for a consultant appointment (£300) on top of the meds. I was very clear with him that I wanted to lose the wieght for various good medical reasons had lost a bit myself and work out with weights and eat healthily already. The max he would prescribe was 2.5 going up to 5.

It’s patently obvious that a lot of slim women are getting WLIs on the black market or by lying to their providers.

So you will likely have to do the same.

You can if you want to. Just edit a photo of yourself and indicate a higher weight. Don't know why you would want to since you're not overeating? It's basically to reduce appetite and you don't need that. Maybe take a white month while walking/swimming and eating healthy and you will get the results.

I mean you could just sack off the wine, reduce the calories, and up the movement, you’d be back into the BMI healthy range by September.

And a few hundred pounds better off.

Guess I better get sensible, cut out the wine and do it the hard way

Hollow laughter.

If you look fat you can get it privately. They go off photos ; you could put any all rubbish into the weight/ height boxes.
I had a BMI of 29. My photos were refused until I sort of let it all go.
It really helped with my snoring. I think the benefits of lowering blood pressure are evidenced although that’s more weight related than age/ genetic issues.

If you've tried losing weight and you find it difficult, then yes I'd say go for it, you can tweak your stats a bit, take unflattering photos might be more difficult in videos, or go really expensive, and have a private consultation with a weight loss consultant to discuss micro dosing, but that would be ££££££. It's a marvellous drug, has helped me enormously, I was a lower bmi than you op, still overweight though, I've lost over two and a half stones and counting, blood pressure normalised, joint issues alleviated, as well as feeling calm and generally more well, I'll carry on with it it's life changing.

If your BMI is 27 and you have high blood pressure then you do qualify for a private prescription. Not NHS, but almost no one does. So I’m not sure why you’re getting so much pushback here. You almost meet the criteria; it depends how precisely ‘about 26.5’ you are.

Although as everyone is saying, if it’s only a question of a few kilos you could probably go dry and exercise more for a few months and you’d be down under 25 and richer.

I'm a few years older than you, but similar in that my weight crept up a bit over time, and I had developed high bp, though I wasn't obese. Went on private injections, weight came down quickly, lost 10 lbs at just a low 2.5 mg dose, and was surprised to have regained 'perfect' bp (per dr) in just 6 weeks.

I have no idea whether the weight loss caused the bp to come down, or if it was a direct result of the injections themselves.

Will mention there has been a bit of research indicating that the injections seem to reduce interest in alcohol as well as food. Personally, for me, the money has been well spent, since I couldn't seem to shake the weight without help from the injections.

On the other hand, the research also indicates that it's unlikely that I will be able to maintain my weight/bp without continuous assistance from the injections. I understand that I will likely be on these injections (and paying for them) for as long as I wish to maintain my weight and bp. I'm comfortable with this since I had previously tried (and tried, and tried) to do it the 'hard way' and failed.