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Goodbye, Ozempic

theatlantic.com

31–40 of 89 posts

Re: Goodbye, Ozempic

#31
post #5

We need to push lifestyle change to treat obesity - diet, exercise, sleep - vs. pharmaceuticals. Big pharma just keeps rolling out v2.0, 3.0, etc. for the customers they've built through advertising and having doctor's marketed to push them on their patients along with government lobbying. He'll, how many COVID boosters did Big Pharma try to push at $30bn a round going into their purses?

Bro, that's what we've been pushing for 20 years. At some point, this really sounds like all the big-C Communists. "We just didn't try it properly". Enough. There's a public health crisis and a cure is sitting here. We are going to use the cure and you can go do the old thing. Mounjaro and Ozempic and alikes are going to be here.

Re: Goodbye, Ozempic

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally take ozempic and have also prescribed it to ~150+ patients for diabetes. I've maybe had to stop it in ~8 patients for tolerability issues. We unfortunately usually dont get to hear many chiming in to say that they tolerated it just fine. I do (2mg/week), down 45lbs. Being heavy is really bad for you. Don't be so quick to write it off d/t the possibility of vomiting.

I will step in to be the "it's not so bad" coming forward. I get stomach upset and a bit of reflux when I overeat, but that makes total sense given the goal of the medicine. Honestly the metformin I was prescribed at the same time as semaglutide makes me feel worse more consistently, and even that is tolerable. I say go for it OOP. It shouldn't cause any permanent damage trying it out.

I get stomach upset and a bit of reflux when I overeat,

I suspect that the couple of cases of severe vomiting I had, may relate to either eating too much, or eating at the wrong time, or both. So I think that if I'm more careful in the future, I can avoid those occurrences.

Overeating is definitely bad, since Ozempic - as I heard it described - "slows down the movement of food through your digestive system, which leads to a feeling of fullness". That effect apparently being part of how/why Ozempic leads to weight loss. But that also suggests that you have to be really careful about not eating too much or you might overload your system in a way that exacerbates the side effects. My subject feeling is also that timing is an issue: I think that eating late makes it more likely that the bad side effects will occur. I'm trying to shift to making lunch my largest meal of the day, and then eating a very light dinner, and preferably earlier than in past years. Time will tell if this theory is right or not, but it's where I'm leaning at the moment.

Re: Goodbye, Ozempic

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I do agree with lifestyle changes, it is very clear at this point it doesn't work for the majority of people. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity, or something like that...

Source on "majority"? It seems like for the vast majority of people it's the opposite - they just eat too much and what they eat isn't helping. (Soda/sugar waters, chips, fatty meat, etc) If they lack the motivation or determination to see through a diet, that's on them. The resources to count calories are there, it's not nearly as hard as it would have been 20 years ago. Now, some people genuinely have some form of…

What I meant was a doctor telling a patient to "make lifestyle changes" an then expecting actual change doesn't work for the majority of people.

Do I have hard data on this? No.

Re: Goodbye, Ozempic

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source on "majority"? It seems like for the vast majority of people it's the opposite - they just eat too much and what they eat isn't helping. (Soda/sugar waters, chips, fatty meat, etc) If they lack the motivation or determination to see through a diet, that's on them. The resources to count calories are there, it's not nearly as hard as it would have been 20 years ago. Now, some people genuinely have some form of…

What I meant was a doctor telling a patient to "make lifestyle changes" an then expecting actual change doesn't work for the majority of people. Do I have hard data on this? No.

Oh. You're not saying lifestyle choices are ineffective, you're saying telling people to make those changes is ineffective.

Yes, that I would completely agree on.

Re: Goodbye, Ozempic

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're permanent as long as you keep taking them, like blood pressure medicines or statins.

Is it true that your body adjusts to the drug and once you stop taking it you can no longer process shit correctly, exacerbating the problems and forcing you to remain on it for life?

No

Re: Goodbye, Ozempic

#36

An alternative / replacement without the side-effects would be huge. Since I started 1mg / week of Ozempic, the phrase "power vomiting" has become part of my vernacular where it never was before. Just last night I was overcome by a round of puking that rivals stuff you'd see in a horror movie. :-( It doesn't happen often (2 times this year so far) but when it's bad, it's BAD.

I’ve got a hiatus hernia (the oesophagus doesn’t shut so acid flows up) - I’ve been sick every night for years, since taking semaglutide I’ve stopped being sick every night so for me it is better and the opposite.

Re: Goodbye, Ozempic

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're permanent as long as you keep taking them, like blood pressure medicines or statins.

Is it true that your body adjusts to the drug and once you stop taking it you can no longer process shit correctly, exacerbating the problems and forcing you to remain on it for life?

I believe studies have mostly shown significant rebound upon cessation, but statistically it's been below 100% weight regain.

Some anecdotes have people ceasing and getting heavier, but I don't think that's been shown at a population level.

Re: Goodbye, Ozempic

#38
post #5

We need to push lifestyle change to treat obesity - diet, exercise, sleep - vs. pharmaceuticals. Big pharma just keeps rolling out v2.0, 3.0, etc. for the customers they've built through advertising and having doctor's marketed to push them on their patients along with government lobbying. He'll, how many COVID boosters did Big Pharma try to push at $30bn a round going into their purses?

These new drugs are not a replacement for a health diet and exercise. Drugs like Ozempic, or Wegovy, aren't a permanent solutions, once you stop taking them the effect stops and you can't take them forever. They are only meant to get you motivated and help start up a lower calorie diet. We are also now seeing people where diet and exercise simply isn't working as expect. There was a study that indicated that PFAS pol…

And for some (most) people they are fighting a huge uphill battle. An even slightly more efficient metabolism means if they eat the same as their peers who are in shape they will still gain weight.

We need to recognize that caloric surplus and deficit is hugely impacted by deviations in many things that impact efficiencies (eg hormones, enzymes, etc…).

Re: Goodbye, Ozempic

#39
post #12
post #5

We need to push lifestyle change to treat obesity - diet, exercise, sleep - vs. pharmaceuticals. Big pharma just keeps rolling out v2.0, 3.0, etc. for the customers they've built through advertising and having doctor's marketed to push them on their patients along with government lobbying. He'll, how many COVID boosters did Big Pharma try to push at $30bn a round going into their purses?

Not everyone can make this change — the causes of obesity are not well understood. For the morbidly obese, exercise carries risk too — to joints and the heart, for instance. A large weight reduction (whether via GLP-1 antagonists, gastric band, or exogenous trauma) can both motivate and make easier other changes like the ones you advocate.

At the end of the day, isn't it just burning more calories than you take in every day to lose weight? If you can't exercise and are gaining weight, shouldn't you be able to reduce calorie intake until you start losing weight. I think we are organic machines, there isn't any magic involved.

Re: Goodbye, Ozempic

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I meant was a doctor telling a patient to "make lifestyle changes" an then expecting actual change doesn't work for the majority of people. Do I have hard data on this? No.

Oh. You're not saying lifestyle choices are ineffective, you're saying telling people to make those changes is ineffective. Yes, that I would completely agree on.

I think you’re actually not very well informed despite being confident of your position. The body attempts to maintain stasis at a given weight. “Lifestyle choices” as a solution are essentially a constant uphill fight against your body and its signals. High probability of failure, because there is no point at which your body stops telling you to eat more to reach the weight it thinks you should be.

I think now that we actually have a solution, we can stop saying this “lifestyle choices” junk. The reality is people rarely have a true choice.

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