Ozempic drug supresses desire to smoke, drink and more? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ozempic drug supresses desire to smoke, drink and more?

#361

Post by riceart » Sat, May 20, 2023, 9:22 AM UTC

rblatz wrote: post #343

riceart wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has nothing to do with it. A1c measures the percentage of hemoglobin A1 in red blood cells bound to sugars (glycated hemoglobin). Since red blood cells normally circulate for months this gives a surrogate marker for average blood glucose levels over 3-6 months. Dehydration is not a confounder for an A1c test since the percentage is relative to the hemoglobin present. The primary confounder to A1c are blood disorders…

Dehydration and kidney damage is a common side effect of Semaglutide, and they regularly test for that if you are on it. Drinking plenty of water is the way to prevent that from happening.

Perhaps I misunderstood what the GP was asking. Nevertheless GLP-1 medications appear to be kidney protective from a long term standpoint with an increased short term risk of AKI likely primarily related to GI losses with additional risk conveyed by concomitant use of “depleting” (diuretics) and nephrotoxic meds. Once on a stable dose there’s no current recommendation to monitor kidney function beyond what would normally be indicated for diabetes (usually yearly).

Re: Ozempic drug supresses desire to smoke, drink and more?

#362

Post by nwienert » Sat, May 20, 2023, 9:25 AM UTC

htag wrote: post #342

nwienert wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exercise has many side effects too, including a risk of injury. Meanwhile GLP-1 protects and even improves the function of brain, lungs, heart, muscles, bones, and kidneys, it improves sleep quality and reduces sleep duration, it definitely decreases addictive behavior, and even seems to help with some immune issues (anecdotally, but the effect is so strong it’s remarkable). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucagon-l…

> Exercise has many side effects too, including a risk of injury. This feels like saying chocking is a side effect of eating vegetables. Most negative side effects from exercise come in a few camps. * The exercise of choice comes with a risk of accidents. Accidents happen everywhere, but they happen to skiers more frequently than mall power walkers. * The exercise of choice is well known to put strain on certain body…

> This feels like saying chocking is a side effect of eating vegetables.

That’s actually my point. HN not getting anything that isn’t straightforward though is expected.

The side effect profile of these modern drugs is actually shockingly minimal so I felt the GP post was doing much the same as people who would claim exercise has side effects - missing the forest for the trees. Everything has side effects but if something has an overwhelmingly positive effect profile with seemingly minor side effects the discussion shouldn’t be misdirected like they were trying to do.

Re: Ozempic drug supresses desire to smoke, drink and more?

#363

Post by winocm » Sat, May 20, 2023, 9:33 AM UTC

jjeaff wrote: post #235

shrimp_emoji wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get those from rapid weight loss, I thought. Maybe it's working TOO well if that's the case.

Ya, rapid weight loss is one of the most common triggers of gall stones. Lots of weight loss surgery patients get them as well.

Happened to me too from just generally not eating much at the time.

Ended up getting acute cholecystitis and a dead gallbladder plus sepsis after. Not too pleasant of an experience.

Re: Ozempic drug supresses desire to smoke, drink and more?

#364

Post by MagicMoonlight » Sat, May 20, 2023, 9:54 AM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #112

lumb63 wrote: post #23

I’m glad people are enjoying Ozempic. My experience from seeing a family member on it, is I would not touch it if I were a 500-pound alcoholic smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. That’s an exaggeration since it probably outweighs the health issues there, but only slightly. The person I know taking Ozempic has only lost weight (35 lbs) due to the fact that eating now makes her sick. She has been sapped of all energ…

Yeah, that's definitely always been my challenge with weight loss. I have zero problem with self control -- I can easily cut calories in half or less (e.g. 1000-1200 cal/day), but it's simply that my body suffers immensely. I lose all energy, can't concentrate on anything, and my immune system weakens so I start getting colds constantly. I'm sure I'd easily lose weight with Ozempic but I'd still be suffering health i…

That sounds like a convenient excuse not to change

Re: Ozempic drug supresses desire to smoke, drink and more?

#365

Post by MagicMoonlight » Sat, May 20, 2023, 9:57 AM UTC

I was always of the opinion that being fat was a moral failing. Trying the drug really changed that.

Normies have it so easy. They take one bite and feel full. My brain would scream at me continuously to try and make me eat and would never be satisfied.

Re: Ozempic drug supresses desire to smoke, drink and more?

#366

Post by imtringued » Sat, May 20, 2023, 10:07 AM UTC

pasquinelli wrote: post #244

paulpauper wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is likely incorrect because people are confusing lean body weight loss for muscle loss. lean body weight loss does not mean only muscle loss. lean weight includes non muscle like skin, organs, etc.

not just lost muscle mass, but also lost organ mass?

If that means visceral fat then it would be a godsend.

Re: Ozempic drug supresses desire to smoke, drink and more?

#367

Post by imtringued » Sat, May 20, 2023, 10:09 AM UTC

ramraj07 wrote: post #196

yieldcrv wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the most surprising thing to me is how you’re describing normal behavior that I can relate to all my life, but the community of strugglers is so big that this is a whole testimonial people feel comfortable and exalted to share like thats not something I’m deriding its just news to me makes me wonder what this drug actually does, flush gut bacteria? just the right ones?

For a long time we have known the existence of a network of hormones controlling our apetite on the gut brain axis, with names like ghrelin, leptin, glp-1, orexin, somatostatin, list goes on [1]. Issue was the network was tres complicé and hard to perturb without getting the opposite effect than what we wanted. Finally with glp-1, sglt2 and pcsk9 inhibition we are starting to be able to correct in the right way. To a…

People talk about willpower but they ignore social influences like children learning habits from their parents or simply being forced by their parents to become obese (all it takes is a portion size that is slightly too big and demanding that you eat the full plate). No amount of willpower is going to end that unless you want to blame children for not running away from home.

Re: Ozempic drug supresses desire to smoke, drink and more?

#368

Post by atchoo » Sat, May 20, 2023, 10:12 AM UTC

nwiswell wrote: post #217

ouid wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. The additional costs to the healthcare system due to people being overweight probably exceed 12000/person/year, but if not exceed it, they certainly come close. Moreover, it's not unheard of to mandate cheaper drug prices, and now that we understand how these drugs work, there will be more of them in the pipeline.

> The additional costs to the healthcare system due to people being overweight probably exceed 12000/person/year This is a big claim to assert without evidence. If it was the case then insurers would already be adding the drugs to their formularies. There is undoubtedly a cost associated with obesity but you are suggesting that simply being overweight doubles the average cost of care[1], a figure that already include…

You can also factor in that all those obesity related heart complications will turn into an extra decade of cancer treatments.

Re: Ozempic drug supresses desire to smoke, drink and more?

#369

Post by taneq » Sat, May 20, 2023, 10:12 AM UTC

MandieD wrote: post #57

lumb63 wrote: post #23

I’m glad people are enjoying Ozempic. My experience from seeing a family member on it, is I would not touch it if I were a 500-pound alcoholic smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. That’s an exaggeration since it probably outweighs the health issues there, but only slightly. The person I know taking Ozempic has only lost weight (35 lbs) due to the fact that eating now makes her sick. She has been sapped of all energ…

Your relative’s sad story reminds me of a short story I read a few years ago about a miracle pill that leaves about 90% of its takers perfectly slim and able to stay that way eating anything, after a few truly disgusting initial days of elimination, but kills the other 10% gruesomely. Because it’s so wonderfully effective for the majority, there ends up being a ton of social and economic pressure for anyone even slig…

Sounds a little bit like the “fatkins diet” in Makers by Cory Doctorow.

Re: Ozempic drug supresses desire to smoke, drink and more?

#370

Post by usernew » Sat, May 20, 2023, 10:16 AM UTC

vore wrote: post #349

usernew wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>not solely controllable by willpower so, would you say a solution to the problem that lets you eat as much as you want, so you don't have to use your willpower, be an appropriate solution to suggest? There is a difference between taking last-resort medication for the rest of your life, and eating apples.

Your experience is not universal. Many classes of obesity CANNOT be treated by “eating apples”. Don’t just take my word for it: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5764193/ (2019) Substantial weight loss is possible across a range of treatment modalities, but long-term sustenance of lost weight is much more challenging, and weight regain is typical1–3. In a meta-analysis of 29 long-term weight loss studies,…

where in the world from what I wrote, did you get the idea that I was saying the obesity in all cases can be treated by eating as many apples as one likes. I also don't remember saying that apples are sufficient. I'm not taking your word, but you should take my words. Take my words with your eyes, have the brain process my words, and respond to my words and only my words. If you hear other words that your eyes do not see, don't respond to those.