Yawn - the Panorama programme on Wegovy

[BrainInAJar]

Was interested to see this after they were sniffing around on here looking for victims, sorry, participants for their programme.

Well as predicted, the vibe of the programme is scare-mongering over the drug. Because it makes you feel sick (so?! no-one died of a little nausea) and you lose lean weight as well as fat (so the same as every other weight loss method then?) If you look at the potential side effects of paracetemol or basically ANY prescription drugs, you would never take anything!

I think people are scared because they assume all drugs you buy on the internet are dodgy and also because it's an injection rather than say a tablet or liquid.

This drug is a miracle for a lot of people and some side-effects pale into insignificance in comparison to an unhealthy, unhappy life and an early death due to obesity.

Hilariously they had a section recommending cutting carbs as a way to lose weight instead of taking these drugs. So that'll be those low carb diets that Panorama and other media vilified and scare-mongered over 20 years ago then and which are now mainstream, just like Wegovy will be in a few years!

At least the programme stopped short of painting folk buying the drug online as evil fat lazy folk stealing drugs from poor sufferers of diabetes as Ch4 did recently.

It doesn't get to the root of why people overeat though
And yep, l would be scared of buying this kind of thing online, l don't mind admitting.

I tried these injections and honestly did find them very scary. They gave me such bad diarrhoea which would always come on in the early hours. I couldn’t hack it, tried for 4 months.

I agree OP, scare mongering because people want fat folk to suffer to lose the weight I expect or stay fat if they can’t manage that.

I think it is important to talk about the side effects of these drug though because nobody can get a word in edgeways between people saying how amazing it is at helping people lose weight.

There are lots of reports coming from the US now where people are suffering complications with their stomach not emptying properly. People have also had problems with their thyroid and pancreas as a result of taking this. I am glad that I know about these side effects now, because as someone with a family history of thyroid and pancreas related illnesses, I don't want to risk any complications.

It does help people and I am someone who it could help. But I, and many others, want to make an informed decision about sometime before using it.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. People need to know all the pros and cons before they decide to take any medication. Just because the side effects, even if rare, are inconvenient doesn't mean that they should be ignored. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

And as @Justrolledmyeyesoutloud said, they don't take the root cause of overeating. Individuals cannot take these medications forever and if you don't deal with the root cause the weight may come back on within a few years.

I am going to watch it . My Rheumatologist has written to my GP suggesting that I might be a candidate for it. We have a history of thyroid problems in the family and I have had issues with my pancreas after taking medication in the past so sounding that it wouldn’t be sensible for me which is good to know.

It is important for people to be aware of the pros and cons so they can make informed decisions I personally feel.

I also think it’s important to have all the facts. I took this drug for months and ended up stopping due to side effects. It isn’t a magic weight loss drug but you see so many people asking the same questions like
‘Ive taken it for a week why have I lost no weight yet’
I also think there will be a huge fall out in a year or 2 from those people who spent £5k on it, stopped and then gained all the weight back because they never dealt with the reasons they over eat and once the medication effects aren’t there, it will just go back to how it was before

Or you could see it that people are so desperate not to be fat they will risk their lives and all their money not to be by taking unlicensed drugs?

Just like most weight loss methods then, which ultimately involve eating less.

Some people are overweight because of 'issues' and the vast majority are overweight (me included) because we like food too much and its available, cheap and tasty. Im a good cook so this adds to the problem, some of us were just in the habit of eating far too much.

It doesn’t need to be this complicated or expensive- drastically reduce carb intake and everything falls in to place. I’ve lost five stone in nine months and am sure every body secretly think it’s fat injections 😂

I’m 50 so it’s not like I am sone young flibbertygbbet losing weight as soon as I miss a meal.

I agree the side effects can be terrible but tend to be downplayed as “just a bit of nausea “. I’m not for Wegovy or against it but it definitely doesn’t suit everyone and lots of people can’t cope with the side effects. And naturally it is concerning about what happens to all those people who do successfully lose weight on it when they can no longer take it? It’s not the solution to obesity it is sometimes portrayed as. But I definitely understand the urge to believe it is as I’ve been there myself.

My side effects were:
-actual vomiting from the delayed gastric emptying
-severe constipation
-gallbladder pains (this is the reason I stopped I had 2 attacks one lasted 14 hours)
-painful reflux
-difficulty sleeping

Ive taken it myself, I didnt get any side effects, I just wasnt consistent on it as I didnt like having an injection so would put it off

Not everyone will get side effects and some people will not be able to take it at all because of other co morbidities, thats normal in any medication

I dont know why it would be termed 'concerning' about what happens when people stop taking it, do we use that language about any other weight loss method, is it 'concerning' what would happen when someone stops going to slimming world? Is it 'concerning' what would happen when someone stops doing low carb?

(if they do stop)

@Menora It is licensed and approved.

From what I saw of the programme, it wasn't scaremongering about the drug itself - just raising concerns about people buying it off the internet and taking it without medical supervision.
That seems like a legitimate issue to raise.Should this drug really be available without prescription? Of course all diets can cause you to lose lean weight as well as fat. But simply choosing to try and eat less (of certain foods) by dieting is different from injecting yourself with a powerful chemical that makes it hard for you to eat foods of any type (and makes you feel sick, and gives you a headache and givers you fatigue ...)
It is yet another commercial exploitation of obesity. Regulation exists to limit this and ensure that medical drugs are onlt made available with proper precautions.

I agree @soupfiend its not “concerning” as such that most people will regain the weight after they stop taking it as long as they are aware of the likelihood of that happening. But a lot of people do seem very uneducated about this drug which is more concerning to me, considering they are injecting it into their bodies and paying very large amounts of money for it as most people don’t get it on the NHS currently.

Going on a low carb diet etc is much less invasive and cheaper in comparison so less to lose in a sense? (no pun intended)

Any weight loss tool is just that, its a tool to enable someone to intake fewer calories, what someone does with that tool (weight loss clubs, drugs, surgery, diet sheets, WOE) is what will determine how successful they are and how sustainable it is for them

Its very hard to cut your intake, humans like eating food and we have found all sorts of ways to enhance and increase our intake of it.

@soupfiend you will not have spent thousands of pounds on WW or SW though will you? Membership is cheap. People are struggling in a cost of living crisis to now afford this drug. Also yes, it is concerning because with SW or WW it’s still down to you to follow a plan. Nothing is inside your body causing you to not want to eat. On the drug you have less autonomy - if it’s making you feel sick you will eat less, there is no actual plan. The hunger feelings are still there on SW or WW you don’t get used to not having them. They come straight back on Wegovy when you stop so it obviously traps you into a cycle of keeping buying it for a very long period of time. Many people will learn how to overcome their hunger feelings but from being on this forum for nearly a year, almost everyone on the wegovy threads say they are terrified of feeling hungry. It’s a really common theme. It’s not really natural to not feel or want to feel hunger. There is something about this that I personally feel really uncomfortable about. I am pretty sure the next development in science is going to be something that actually switches hunger off longer term. Instead of tackling UPF in big foods… which is what has caused this epidemic in the first place? So UPF and food addiction was created by science and now science is selling us something to temporarily mask the addiction to the UPF. Seems legit. I am talking big picture here not on an individual level. This is not the miracle drug it appears to be in my opinion. I have literally never had a conspiracy thought in my life until I really started looking at UPF’s in more detail

No this is also about the drug people bought on TikTok that was pure insulin. I have taken this drug myself. I am not an idiot. There are unlicensed versions out there and that’s clearly what I meant.

I see it as any other drug-I have raised blood pressure and am trying everything I can to maintain it at a healthy level by ‘traditional’ methods rather than take bp drugs. I don’t want to deal with the side effects.

You're talking to me as if I havent taken the medication.

I have

I didnt feel sick, I had complete autonomy and felt like a 'normal' person for the first time in my life.

I just didnt like the injection issue (bit of a wuss) so stopped it and went to a v low cal diet, which I am still on and a combination of that and lower carb controls my hunger to a degree where I can lose weight

And I dread to think how much Ive paid over 35 years on 'weight loss products' including gym memberships, equipment, several exercise bikes (aka clothes hangers), books, memberships, shakes etc etc

Way more than I paid when I was on wegovy.

I know people really like to be sour faced at any method that looks as if it might make weight loss easier for people, there is a moral judgement in society about this, you MUST suffer to lose weight, you mustnt get help that could enable you otherwise you're 'cheating'.

This is where all the judgement is coming from

No one should take medication that isnt right for them but equally where it is right and is suiting people then thats ok

I don’t think either @Menora or myself are being sour faced or judgemental about it. We have both tried it ourselves so don’t see Wegovy as immoral.

Yes it suits a lot of people and fair play to them. But it doesn’t suit everyone & the high cost will be an issue for many, so information about the possible side effects and long term expectations are useful- though maybe not welcome.

I absolutely do not see this as cheating. I do think that many people rush into this without really doing any research and it’s not as simple as it’s made out to be. I was on another forum where people were taking ozempic and every day a new person popped up having bought it with NO research at all and asking us how to inject it, how long it would take to lose weight, why they felt sick it was baffling. Someone on the forum bought it from a beautician online it was pure insulin they ended up in hospital for a week. I ended up at my GP with a severe pain and told to stop taking ozempic as it was causing gallbladder issues. You aren’t likely at risk of illness or injury from going to weight watchers.

The lack of research is very worrying I agree. I used to read those threads and got totally frustrated with the large numbers of people saying they had been following the thread before buying the drug. But lacked the most rudimentary knowledge about how it worked or what to expect. They couldn’t even be bothered to read the information leaflet in with the drug and buying it privately you don’t get the same guidance a doctor would give you about how to take it/ possible side effects/what to expect short term & long term.

I use these drugs and pay for it privately. I did lots of research before deciding to do it and I get from an online pharmacy that asks for photos of me and of weight on scales. They also provide lots of information re side effects and nutrition. All this info is widely available for people to look up. If anyone takes it then says then weren't aware of side effects or more serious problems then that's on them.