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

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

#501

Post by y-curious » Tue, May 30, 2023, 8:43 PM UTC

tonyarkles wrote: post #485

y-curious wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the person you're replying to, but what helped me quit was the book "How to stop smoking" by Alan Carr. Highly recommend working through it and taking his point about cold turkey in good faith. Good luck!

I have a fun experience with the Alan Carr book. The first time I read it, I was laughing the whole way through thinking about how much it was written like straight-up brainwashing propaganda, but I had committed to a friend to reading it all the way through. I got to the end where the final bit is something like "now just say out loud 'I am a non-smoker and when I wake up tomorrow I will never have a cigarette again…

One thing that kind of opened my eyes is his asking the reader "what do you prefer about your cigarette brand?" It made me realize that they all taste like sh*t.

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

#502

Post by CRConrad » Sat, Jun 03, 2023, 12:23 PM UTC

unparagoned wrote: post #481

nwienert wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. I lost 30lbs on it in 3 months. It took me 10 years to gain that weight. So I guess if it takes me 10 more years to gain it back I can look into taking it again.

People usually gain back that weight much quicker. All it could take is one bad month and you could gain it all back.

I lost about 15-20 kg on Ozempic over about six months to a year, and held that weight for another year – continuing on 1 mg Ozempic / wk – until last autumn (2022). Then Ozempic was more widely approved than it had been before somewhere (for over-the-counter sales in the USA? Something like that.), and became unavailable in pharmacies where I live, in Finland. (AIUI, because it's more lucrative to sell it in the USA where prices aren't regulated like here, so all the limited supply is redirected there.) No problem, I was prescribed a substitute, a daily pill (brandname Rybelsus, forgot the active substance) in stead of the weekly injection pen. Worked the same, held my weight. (More of a hassle to take though, and tastes horribly, so on the whole I vastly prefer the Ozempic.)

Then, earlier this spring, that prescription ran out. Being in the middle of changing my primary healthcare provider I couldn't immediately get it renewed. And to be honest I wasn't at first all that bothered; I thought now that I've lost so much weight, and kept it off for so long with the help of these drugs, maybe I've got into the habit of eating less, so I can stay constant without them? Nope – in just a few weeks, ballooned back up some 8-10 kg. Had to scramble a bit to get the pill prescription renewed, been on it again for a couple weeks, but still some 6-7 kg above where I was before they ran out. Sure hope I'll get back down the rest of the way.

TLDR: Anecdata (n=1) says yes, going off the drugs even for a rather short while puts the weight back on quite quickly.

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

#503

Post by CRConrad » Sat, Jun 03, 2023, 4:43 PM UTC

novok wrote: post #462

htag wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To pile on other popular theories on smoking guns, there is a widespread decrease in physical activity levels. Physical activity can delay or prevent type 2 diabetes, as well as having widespread benefits on almost every system of the body. Physical activity also improves mental health, which impacts some behaviors around emotional/addiction driven over eating.

We do more physical activity now than people did in the 70s and 80s and we are significantly fatter also. I doubt it's that.

I doubt we do more physical activity now than people did in the 70s and 80s.

Sure, people may go to the gym more... But they also take the lift or the escalator in stead of the stairs much more, and the car in stead of a bicycle or walking. Any source for your claim?

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

#504

Post by CRConrad » Sat, Jun 03, 2023, 6:46 PM UTC

tremere wrote: post #467

mattpallissard wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a former alcoholic. I quit cold turkey years ago. Had a drug problem before that. Cold turkey as well. While I agree with you somewhat, I too don't like the narrative, I also realize that some people actually can't do that. Some people are faster, some smarter, some stronger, and some of us are better at sticking to a resolution. Everyone has things they're good at and things they struggle at despite the effort.…

I'm happy you've quit your former habits and I celebrate you. Just so you know, the point of my post isn't to rip on people with low willpower or to brag about mine (which would be false valor anyway--there are reasons I had issues with alcohol and drugs to begin with). The thesis of my post is that the narrative is that you need a drug to get better. Ozempic is supposed to be a treatment applied to people who are no…

> Just so you know, the point of my post isn't to rip on people with low willpower or to brag about mine

Sure came off that way though.

> Ozempic is supposed to be a treatment applied to people who are not yet overweight enough for bariatric surgery, yet it is being used ubiquitously.

Because being overweight, albeit not quite enough for bariatric surgery, is quite ubiquitous? Dunno for sure, but certainly feels rather plausible. Wouldn't you say?

> I wonder what part of my post was hateful or otherwise below the standards of this forum.

Probably the bit where you came off as an insufferably smug prick, saying “Why don't they just eat cak—” Oops, I mean “Why don't they just stop eating?”. Comes to about the same thing, votre Majesté.