What Ozempic does to the gut-brain axis • Hacker News Board

Re: What Ozempic does to the gut-brain axis

#21

Post by wpm » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 10:51 PM UTC

joshuamcginnis wrote: post #16

Studies show almost all subjects regained the weight and reversed gains within 2 years. This means underlying issues (e.g., food addiction) aren't being addressed. Short of changing habits, the only maintenance solution is lifelong drug use and that doesn't sit well with me.

Why not? People take depression meds, blood pressure meds, all kinds of meds for their whole life. I'll be on omeprazole for reflux my whole life. It doesn't solve the underlying problem of my gut being prone to overpumping acid into my stomach. So omeprazole is problematic?

The underlying issue is being treated, it's treated by taking the drug. It works. It's doing its job.

I'd be curious as to how you came to this conclusion.

Re: What Ozempic does to the gut-brain axis

#22

Post by anon291 » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 10:51 PM UTC

joshuamcginnis wrote: post #16

Studies show almost all subjects regained the weight and reversed gains within 2 years. This means underlying issues (e.g., food addiction) aren't being addressed. Short of changing habits, the only maintenance solution is lifelong drug use and that doesn't sit well with me.

Why? If you have too much help or whatever being produced such that your body eats too much, just take a drug. The harm of being fat is worse than anything ozempic does

Re: What Ozempic does to the gut-brain axis

#23

Post by tapoxi » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 10:51 PM UTC

zhivota wrote: post #10

Tirzepatide at 1mg/week reduced my muscle soreness. I felt less depressed but this might just have been situational because I've been plagued by bad soreness after working out for years. Unfortunately after twelve weeks I had to stop because I felt a lot of nausea and tenderness in my upper abdomen, and was worried it might be pancreatitis developing. I'm not sure why it would happen at such a low dose but the sympto…

I got pancreatitis from Zepbound, but it was indirect.

Turns out rapid weight loss can cause gallstones, especially if you're genetically predisposed to them. I had one that ended up stuck in the bile duct, causing acute pancreatitis. I had to get my gallbladder removed shortly after and hundreds of stones were found.

I would consider getting an ultrasound since the stones don't just go away when you stop taking the drug.

(Gallbladder removal aside I had no lasting issues and kept the weight off.)

Re: What Ozempic does to the gut-brain axis

#24

Post by PeterHolzwarth » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 10:52 PM UTC

joshuamcginnis wrote: post #16

Studies show almost all subjects regained the weight and reversed gains within 2 years. This means underlying issues (e.g., food addiction) aren't being addressed. Short of changing habits, the only maintenance solution is lifelong drug use and that doesn't sit well with me.

A couple years of reduced weight, and all the benefits that entails, doesn't sound bad.

Re: What Ozempic does to the gut-brain axis

#25

Post by nonethewiser » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 10:53 PM UTC

crooked-v wrote: post #17

I'm curious if this post will also have the same phenomena I've seen before of people springing out of the woodwork to post moralizing comments about people shouldn't rely on drugs, about how actually GLP-1s are bad because they don't fix problems indefinitely with a single dose, about how people should fix their problems by just having more willpower, talking about 'but what about the unknown side effects?' of drugs…

Why shouldnt it?

Re: What Ozempic does to the gut-brain axis

#26

Post by joshuamcginnis » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 10:55 PM UTC

wpm wrote: post #21

joshuamcginnis wrote: post #16

Studies show almost all subjects regained the weight and reversed gains within 2 years. This means underlying issues (e.g., food addiction) aren't being addressed. Short of changing habits, the only maintenance solution is lifelong drug use and that doesn't sit well with me.

Why not? People take depression meds, blood pressure meds, all kinds of meds for their whole life. I'll be on omeprazole for reflux my whole life. It doesn't solve the underlying problem of my gut being prone to overpumping acid into my stomach. So omeprazole is problematic? The underlying issue is being treated, it's treated by taking the drug. It works. It's doing its job. I'd be curious as to how you came to this…

I think there's a distinct difference between taking medicine for things you can fix on your own (diet + exercise) vs things you cannot (excess acid production).

Re: What Ozempic does to the gut-brain axis

#27

Post by ceejayoz » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 10:57 PM UTC

joshuamcginnis wrote: post #26

wpm wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? People take depression meds, blood pressure meds, all kinds of meds for their whole life. I'll be on omeprazole for reflux my whole life. It doesn't solve the underlying problem of my gut being prone to overpumping acid into my stomach. So omeprazole is problematic? The underlying issue is being treated, it's treated by taking the drug. It works. It's doing its job. I'd be curious as to how you came to this…

I think there's a distinct difference between taking medicine for things you can fix on your own (diet + exercise) vs things you cannot (excess acid production).

> things you can fix on your own (diet + exercise)

We have decades of research showing this is more in the "excess acid production" realm of things.

Re: What Ozempic does to the gut-brain axis

#28

Post by joshuamcginnis » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 10:57 PM UTC

crooked-v wrote: post #18

joshuamcginnis wrote: post #16

Studies show almost all subjects regained the weight and reversed gains within 2 years. This means underlying issues (e.g., food addiction) aren't being addressed. Short of changing habits, the only maintenance solution is lifelong drug use and that doesn't sit well with me.

Plenty of people have lifelong drug use of, say, caffeine, or aspirin as a blood thinner, or various antihistamines. Why is this somehow worse? Particularly keeping in mind that it's very easy to make, so once the patents expire, it's going to be dirt cheap as generics everywhere.

I'm just sharing my personal preference and not trying to tell people how to live their lives. I don't like personally like the idea that I'll only be healthy if I take this drug for the rest of my life when I could (again - speaking for me), be more disciplined about the food I put into my body.

Re: What Ozempic does to the gut-brain axis

#29

Post by vidarh » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 10:57 PM UTC

joshuamcginnis wrote: post #16

Studies show almost all subjects regained the weight and reversed gains within 2 years. This means underlying issues (e.g., food addiction) aren't being addressed. Short of changing habits, the only maintenance solution is lifelong drug use and that doesn't sit well with me.

Given that we know that diets and changing habits doesn't have lasting effects, what doesn't sit well with me is to risk my health to avoid taking a drug that helps.

Re: What Ozempic does to the gut-brain axis

#30

Post by gedy » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 10:58 PM UTC

joshuamcginnis wrote: post #16

Studies show almost all subjects regained the weight and reversed gains within 2 years. This means underlying issues (e.g., food addiction) aren't being addressed. Short of changing habits, the only maintenance solution is lifelong drug use and that doesn't sit well with me.

The "underlying issues" are not all moral failings as you hint. In my case, as I've aged my appetite due blood sugar/insulin resistance/etc means I'm basically hungry all the time if I restrict calories to maintain lower body weight. Yes - even if I exercise frequently. Yes - even with healthy food and snacks. My wife tells me my stomach is growling at night.

I will slowly gain about 10-15lbs a year due to excess calories if I try to maintain weight at < overweight BMI. GLP-1 drugs have been great to take that edge off.