What are the WLI risks that are actually directly caused by WLI?

[lisa7843]

I could google or AI but tbh I just fancied chatting about it!

I was just curious which WLI symptoms are actually symptoms associated with the jabs alone and not just rapid weightloss? So many of the big risks we hear about (pancreatitis, hair loss, slowing metabolism - please correct me if I am wrong for these specifically) seem to be related to any kind of rapid weightloss however you have achieved that; jabs, surgery, or through food restrictions. I’m just trying to cut through some of the hysteria around them I guess.

Gastric symptoms, as GLPs affect your digestive transit, slowing it down. That can cause a variety of digestive issues.

You can find the list of recognised side effects in the patient info leaflet which is available online direct from the manufacturers.

Nausea, indigestion and constipation tbh. All of which can be pretty miserable on a day to day basis

Sorry I think I meant risks instead of symptoms actually! (Sort of the same but not quite, the potential longer term risks as opposed to the immediate side effects)

I will get my title changed

Now I’m confused… you want to discuss the risks of WLI that might only be apparent after long term use? They will also be on the patient info leaflet, and are pretty much what you’ve already listed.

@SilenceInside I literally said at the start of my post that I knew I could Google or AI but I just wanted to chat. And while my title is mismatched I was a bit clearer in my OP. I’m just interested in the fact that so many of the headlines I read about WLI risks seem to be risks related to rapid weightloss as opposed to WLI in themselves.

I’m easily confused, not blaming you for that.

I’ve been taking Mounjaro for 21 months and I have no issues with it. I had some of the previously mentioned short term side effects in the first few months but nothing after that.

I think the main one is pancreatitis- that seems to be from the drug itself, and an increase risk of thyroid cancer (although still very low).

others are temporary side effects (nausea, heartburn etc) caused by slowed digestion.

Others are anecdotal and could be due to rapid weight loss (hair loss, muscle loss) but may be exaggerated by the drug. Others may just be the result of a huge number of people taking the drug and coincidental.

I think it’s my misuse of ‘symptoms’! I’ve been on them a couple of months now and am settling into it, side effects reducing, so I suppose my mind is starting to veer more towards the risks and issues being on them longer term, but when I see the headlines and do a bit of research etc I just think “well that could happen if I was losing weight in other ways?” If that makes sense! I was just curious what is an absolute known risk that is only related to WLI.

I thought pancreatitis was a known side effect of any kind of rapid weight loss though? Something to do with the build up of fat cells in the pancreas because you’re shedding fat faster than the body can handle? (Or something to that effect!)

The thing with pancreatitis is that being obese is itself a risk factor, as is losing weight, so working out your actual risk factor of pancreatitis isn’t straightforward. I am personally happy that by losing weight I have reduced my risk of pancreatitis overall.

Yes I agree, it’s viewing the overall risk. I suppose as well I’m thinking ahead to maintenance, when I am at the healthy weight I want to be, would the risk of staying on WLI then become disproportionate.

No, not compared to the risk of regain, for me anyway. I intend to stay on WLI for a decent length of time now I’m around my target weight in order to stabilise and not risk a significant regain.

I saw my GP this week. She has had no involvement in my WLI. However she congratulated me on my weight loss and said it will be having a wide range of health benefits.

So it’s weighing up the risks. I’m hoping I’ll be able to taper down in a few months and maintain but who knows 🤷🏻‍♀️

It also makes me think about the minimum BMI required, it’s set higher to balance the risk, but as so much of the risk appears to be around rapid weight loss, why are they deemed as too risky for people with lower BMIs? (That’s me worrying about me being able to get it for maintenance in future if things change!)

You see it a lot on threads about “it not being worth the risk” at lower BMIs, but I don’t really understand what the risk is. I could understand people not thinking the side effects are worth it though.

Maybe because people with lower BMIs don’t have the physiological problems which cause obesity which the drugs tackle. So if obesity is caused by our GLP levels, if you’re not obese, you don’t need drug to alter them. If you have been obese, you may still have the underlying issue and therefore need them long term.

Don’t take drugs for conditions you don’t have seems like a good rule.

I thought pancreatitis risk is a direct risk (as well as indirect) as GLP1 directly stimulates the pancreas - something to do with insulin production/inflammation.

@outofofficeagain yeah I see what you’re saying, but I still don’t understand what the risk is, you shouldn’t take something you don’t need because X, but what’s the X exactly. I wonder if WLI could become like Botox where it’s prescribed for vanity reasons (privately) as opposed to medical. There just seems to be a lot of heated discussion around risk but when you drill into it I can’t find very much. I’m just looking for reassurance I guess 😂 especially if I do choose to stay on them long term.

Correct

Most of the risks are linked to weight loss, obesity or diabetes etc rather than the drugs themselves causing a disease. If it did cause a disease it wouldn't have made it past clinical trials. Mind you thalidomide did..but still we are many decades on from back then and animal and human trials are used to ensure safety of a drug. Now even cell clones are used to test a drug in a lab based environment before testing on animal and humans.

One of the risks that I was nervous about was hair loss. And lo and behold it happened to me 4 months in. So far it lasted for 5 weeks, but for the last 3 weeks it's stopped.

I have lost weight before on a 'normal' way of eating a couple of times and have never experienced hair loss. This time, for me, it's been as a direct result of being on Mounjaro. The risk has been worth it though!

@VioletandMauve when I looked into hair loss the information I found was that it is an indirect result of mounjaro, not a direct one. Again due to rapid weightloss and/or due to nutrition deficiencies from a suppressed appetite. I couldn’t find anything that stated it was a direct result of MJ. (The good news is that I read it’s temporary and improves when weight and diet stabilises!)

I get this, but it still puzzles me that previously obese people can continue to be prescribed the drugs until they are well into the mid-range of healthy BMI. Whereas people in the overweight range of BMI, who are maybe a stone or two above that healthy mid-range weight, can't access the WLI. I'd like the option of taking them until I was mid-range BMI but it's not available as I'm only overweight.

@Tonissister there are prescribers who have started giving it out off label from BMI 25+, Voy is one, I want to say MedExpress might be the other but I’m not sure.

Because they are prescribed to treat obesity and you are not obese.

Obese people who get down to an overweight or healthy range still have the underlying condition which will return when the drugs stop. If you take blood pressure medication you don’t necessarily stop taking it when your blood pressure lowers, otherwise it could well ping back up again.