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Ozempic linked to stomach paralysis, other gastrointestinal issues: UBC study

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Re: Ozempic linked to stomach paralysis, other gastrointestinal issues: UBC study

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish more folks would get comfortable crushing tablets and weighing out their own dosage on scales. It’s not that hard to cut tabs in half or crush two and make 3 doses out of those, then put them back into caps. Empty gelatin caps are cheap and easy to work with. Should anyone have to do this? Of course not, but if the choice is between this or projectile vomit every waking hour, it’s not a hard choice IMO. Lastly…

Ozempic is an injection administered weekly not a pill that can be split.

Even some pills cannot be split really easily. One example I like to give is Vyvanse. It uses extended release balls that are not evenly distributed in terms of what they contain (I’m no expert here, just going off a doctor’s summary). The only way to properly split it is to pour it into a glass of water and let it dissolve, then take the percentage of the dosage that you need and consume that percentage of water before the contents settle and while they still remain in a well mixed suspension. The remainder of the dosage is essentially no longer any good by virtue of being inactivated over time by being in the water and must be discarded.

Re: Ozempic linked to stomach paralysis, other gastrointestinal issues: UBC study

#62
post #34

"Another issue he brought up with the study is that the researchers found that people on Ozempic were five times more likely to drink alcohol compared to the other medications." Hm. May have located the problem. This is considered to be the first generation of weight loss drugs that work. There will probably be better ones.

That’s a bit too judgy, I think. I don’t drink at all, and still had to stop using semaglutide because the nausea/stomach-slowing was very difficult to tolerate.

Re: Ozempic linked to stomach paralysis, other gastrointestinal issues: UBC study

#63
post #34

"Another issue he brought up with the study is that the researchers found that people on Ozempic were five times more likely to drink alcohol compared to the other medications." Hm. May have located the problem. This is considered to be the first generation of weight loss drugs that work. There will probably be better ones.

Well, one possible confounding factor here is that they were comparing it against buproprion-naltrexone. Buproprion is also known as Wellbutrin and is prescribed for, among other things, smoking cessation and ahedonia. Naltrexone is interestingly an opioid antagonist that is known to decrease alcohol desire and is often prescribed off label for that use case. So there may be some other factors at play here in this specific study.

Side note I had never even heard of this combination of buproprion-naltrexone being prescribed for weight loss. I am not sure how common it is

Re: Ozempic linked to stomach paralysis, other gastrointestinal issues: UBC study

#64
post #60
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that? For me, it was because I'd get severe symptoms after eating fatty foods.

Semaglutide made me feel more like I was full and simultaneously made me feel less like I was hungry. The stomach slowdown helped as well. I had some of the less desirable side effects of that, and those were really unpleasant but also showed me that I had no real idea when I was full or hungry and wasn’t eating for the right reasons. I’m hoping the insight sticks, at least.

I hope so too, good luck!

Re: Ozempic linked to stomach paralysis, other gastrointestinal issues: UBC study

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And please don't ask me to pay for your healthcare because you chose to be fat and happy.

I hate this sentiment. It can be used about, well, anything at all that might cause your risk of anything to go up as far as science understands it today (which might be different tomorrow, they're always learning). Accident while biking? Nope - too risky, no care for you. Eat red meat and get cancer? Too bad, no treatment for you. Same for drinking wine, or doing any of the thousands of things "they" say MAY raise y…

That mostly seems reasonable. Get in a car crash? Your car premiums go up. Get in a bike accident and need medical care? Your medical premiums go up. Have too high a body fat? Higher premiums. Smoke? Higher premiums.

With a single payer system you could also price it into things like red meat and alcohol through a sales tax that goes to insurance.

Re: Ozempic linked to stomach paralysis, other gastrointestinal issues: UBC study

#66
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We can! But should we? Being fat is similar to being a drug user. At first, you actually are fat and happy. Over time, being fat will absolutely reduce your happiness from the medical, societal, and physical issues that arise. Similar to how drug users build up a tolerance and instead of using the drug to be happy, they use the drug to feel normal. And just to state a simple fact, I do not condone shaming people with…

I have thought of this before. But it isn't really the same. Drugs, the really bad ones will probably ruin your life or kill you in the space of two or three years. Being fat unless it's super super severe often won't start impacting your health seriously until your 30's or 40's. on the opposite side anorexia will kill you much faster than obesity

Being fat has numerous social penalties. I think they originate from instinctive reactions embedded deep in peoples’ brains, and those reactions are flat-out not going to go away from anything we can do today.

Re: Ozempic linked to stomach paralysis, other gastrointestinal issues: UBC study

#67
post #19

It's going to be very interesting to see how the people who insisted on getting off-label prescriptions fare in court.

Wegovy is incorrectly listed in the article as a diabetes medication, it is only approved for weight loss. It is also 30% more expensive. https://www.wegovy.com/

Wegovy and Ozempic are indication-specific brands, but the same product.

Mounjaro by Lilly is still diabetets only, wonder what their obesity-specific brand name will be.

Re: Ozempic linked to stomach paralysis, other gastrointestinal issues: UBC study

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ozempic is an injection administered weekly not a pill that can be split.

Even some pills cannot be split really easily. One example I like to give is Vyvanse. It uses extended release balls that are not evenly distributed in terms of what they contain (I’m no expert here, just going off a doctor’s summary). The only way to properly split it is to pour it into a glass of water and let it dissolve, then take the percentage of the dosage that you need and consume that percentage of water bef…

Letting it dissolve like that will interrupt the time release mechanism. This is not recommended

Re: Ozempic linked to stomach paralysis, other gastrointestinal issues: UBC study

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And please don't ask me to pay for your healthcare because you chose to be fat and happy.

I hate this sentiment. It can be used about, well, anything at all that might cause your risk of anything to go up as far as science understands it today (which might be different tomorrow, they're always learning). Accident while biking? Nope - too risky, no care for you. Eat red meat and get cancer? Too bad, no treatment for you. Same for drinking wine, or doing any of the thousands of things "they" say MAY raise y…

I agree it's something of a slippery slope and a lot of arguments would be had about where the lines are, but already done for some things. I have to sign a "smoke free affidavit" at work or else pay more for my health insurance.

Re: Ozempic linked to stomach paralysis, other gastrointestinal issues: UBC study

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It kind of really puts a load on the healthcare system and makes everyone’s rates go up. Plus it’s terrible for the individual themselves. Societal pressure is a fantastic motivator.

Shame is a terrible motivator for weight loss. It just doesn't really work. Nobody gets fat because they think being fat is okay. Fat people tend to be struggling with other things that they largely need to tackle before they have the emotional bandwidth to do the un-fat thing. Fat shaming doesn't help anyone lose weight, it just makes you feel superior.

It works very well. If they’re struggling with other things societal shame will make sure losing weight becomes their major struggle.
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