Has anyone been able to get saxenda or ozempic on NHS.

[Skye85]

Has anyone been able to get saxenda or ozempic on NHS. ?

Im 5'2 and weight 15st10lb. I NEED to lose weight. Ive had high blood pressure since 29 and been on medication for it since then (9years). Its so fucking hard. I crave sweet things all the time. I even wake in the night and go through ti the kitchen to eat food out the cupboards then go back to bed. Blood sugar levels are fine, no diabetes (yet). Im so ashamed but even that cant focus my mind to focus on cutting out the crap.

Ive tried to get reffered to a tier 3 wight loss programm in my local nhs but they say i dont fit the criteria.

Has anyone been able to get it on Nhs ? Specifically scotland? I just cant afford it privatley 😪

@Skye85 oh that's not good.
Sorry to hear you're struggling.

I know people slate slimming world but I found some good friends there ( support) and we all meet up still long after we ditched slimming world

I mean, doctors aren't much help with addiction either and society doesn't exactly think fondly of alcohol or drug addicts so not sure what you "wishing it was seen as an addiction" would get you.

I am a fat , recovering alcoholic and I didn't get help with my alcoholism through the nhs, I had to seek it myself. I go to Alcoholics Anonymous.

There is also Over-eaters anonymous which uses the same kind of principles and program as AA... I have been.. it's good. You could try it out.

On a side note, I actually do think if there are recognised drugs that help people to lose weight that have been thoroughly tested and the benefits out-way the side effects then they should be available on the NHS.

The NHS can't afford it though, hence we pay privately

There isn't enough to go around on private prescriptions let alone for the entire NHS

There is so much new evidence now about the relationship between food/weight and calorie use. The age old mantra of 'eat less move more' has been disproved - eg two groups of workers (miners and office workers) were found SCIENTIFICALLY to have the same metabolic rate as the body adapts to its situation. It's always been a truism that to burn off the calories in a piece of bread one would have to walk xmiles but its not as simple as that.

@Skye85 - have you heard of the book “Why we eat (too much)” by Dr Andrew Jenkinson? It’s really worth a read. It’s not your fault. You are not a failure. Our bodies make it really hard for us to lose weight. Or rather to lose weight and then keep it off. He explains it really well. And WHAT we eat is as important as how much.

There is a lot of talk and information around now about ultra-processed foods. They are manufactured to make us addicted to them. The more you eat of them the more you want. And also there is not a lot of actual nutritional value in a lot of them so our bodies make us think we want more but we actually want nutrients.

Cutting sugar and crap carbs is so important. Bloody hard but worth it.

Ozempic and Saxenda are tools but you still have to put the effort in. They are not a magic solution. Certainly with Ozempic for some people the appetite suppression wears off - mainly because it’s not what the drug is designed for. It’s designed for blood sugar issues.

Yes 6lbs gone from 13.8 to 13.2

I don't want to appear insensitive but 6lbs in a year is way below what any of the programmes have you aiming for.

I had/ have similar issues to the OP. The only diet, or eating lifestyle that ever worked for me is low-carb/higher fat or keto diet. The brilliant thing about low-carb is that it instantly removes hunger, cravings for snacks, and other junk food. I’ve done it twice, lost loads of weight both times, but both times got complacent and ended up putting weight on again.

This time I’m going to stick to it! OP, why not join the Mumsnet Low-carb Bootcamp? It happens twice a year or so, and reg current one has been running less than a week. It’s very supportive and even fun! Check out the preparation thread, link below, and then the Week 1 thread which is still current.

By the way, I’ve tried Sacenda. I know it seems to work for some but many people, me included, didn’t get anywhere with it. I took it for a month. It’s no magic bullet. It’s supposed to suppress appetite but it doesn’t work for everyone. You still have to have the willpower to embark on a calorie-restricted diet. Once I realised it was going to cost me £50 a week to keep going with something that wasn’t working that well, I decided to go back on low-carb. Much much better. 5 days in I’m already feeling much better, physically and mentally. Come and join us! We’d love to help.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/low_carb_bootcamp/4824352-summer-23-boot-camp-the-preparation-thread?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

Hi what does the diet involve exactly ? Any resources I can look at at all ?

Did you check the 2 links I posted?

Ah I just see 1 link to a thread?

@Skye85 - all the information about the low carb Bootcamp is in the thread linked to by @onthecoast. There have been low carb bootcamps running in MN for years now. Very supportive. Very helpful. Eating low carb will definitely help with the constant hunger and sugar cravings you may have with other diets. And it’s a way of eating rather than a diet. There are lots of other ways to follow a low carb way of eating. Have a look at the Freshwell app which is free.