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GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

wildfirelabs.substack.com

61–70 of 553 posts

Re: GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

#61
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even at the lowest 2.5mg starter dose which you're only allowed to stay on for 1 month... So they are going to force you onto a higher dose?!

Yes, up to 15 mg. Maintenance levels at 5, 10, and 15. If you cannot tolerate a maintenance level you can still get it, but insurance will not cover it ($1000/mo rather than $15/mo.) This is not an unreasonable situation. https://www.goodrx.com/zepbound/dosage

Luckily during the “shortage” you can currently get GLP-1’s in vials rather than injection pens.

The brand name GLP’s you can’t control the dose. But when you get it in a vial from a compounding pharmacy you can inject however much or little you want.

Not looking forward to ever using the brand name version specifically for this reason

Re: GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

#62

Is there a term for this style of writing? It's like a longform linkedin post. I don't mean this as a criticism, it just seems like written language is evolving to better capture our diminishing attention spans.

I've had a hunch it's about the shrinking width of pages. The text-width is about 11-13 words (at a max-width of 728) and the author seems to have written around this.

Because it's so thin, anything longer than 12 words becomes a paragraph which "slows" the reader, so there are a lot of punchy short sentences. This style would look silly if it was written on a wider left-aligned blog.

Re: GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

#63
post #51

Is GLP-1 really changing general impulse control? But I do buy the argument. If impulse controlling drugs are going to be effective, the economic impact is basically not quantifiable... not only the economic impact but it would change society as a whole in extremely fundamental ways (e.g. dating)

So this drug would mess with my head – am I understanding it right?

Re: GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes well your PCP / pharmacist should not have prescribed you an appetite suppressant when you have below average body fat %. The effects are very worth it for people weighing them against heart disease and mobility issues. It's not a Faustian bargain, it's all right on the tin. When you stop taking it the effects go away. If you want to be indulgent and it fits your lifestyle you can reversibly make that decision. T…

> Yes well your PCP / pharmacist should not have prescribed you an appetite suppressant when you have below average body fat %. Why do you think this? I agree that people who have associated risk factors should be prioritized, but if there's enough for everyone why wouldn't we give it to anyone who wants it?

Because anorexia exists it would do harm to completely unregulate access to appetite suppressants. Someone should be looking out for people who would willingly wither away.

Re: GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

#65
post #34
post #19

I started Tirzepatide 3-4 weeks ago. (Mostly as an experiment to understand the hype around GLP's... I don't have diabetes and only very slightly overweight at 20% body fat). Even at the lowest 2.5mg starter dose which you're only allowed to stay on for 1 month: - Extreme appetite suppression to the point where I've started calorie counting specifically to make sure that I'm eating enough. It's incredibly easy to for…

> Extreme appetite suppression to the point where I've started calorie counting specifically to make sure that I'm eating enough. It's incredibly easy to forget to eat. This is the largest of several reasons I hesitate to try it for myself. I am a very big guy (I would be about 184lbs if I had 0% bodyfat at my current musculature level). From the experiences I hear, I would not only struggle to have enough energy to…

I’m somewhat the same. I need to be active for other health reasons (physical therapy, etc) and not eating enough saps my ability to push forward physically.

Re: GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

#66
post #21
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more worried about longer term side effects. This sounds a lot like numbing "bad" feelings to me; there's no way to selectively numb, it's all or nothing. Impulsivity isn't all bad.

My wife's taking GLP-1s for health reasons. The author's ideas about the effects of these things are not evidence based. It isn't a magic drug that makes people ascetics. She eats less, but she still impulse buys clothes and things. The idea that the drug numbs feelings is not at all what I see, while some appetites are diminished, we still both do art, enjoy going out doing all the same stuff as before. She's lost w…

I'm taking GLP-1s and it's absolutely reduced my impulsiveness in ways besides food. Not completely, for sure, and being less interested in food actually means more time to spend on other hobbies.

But it's definitely done something to my non-food behaviour, albeit I'm not sure what exactly. It may well be that I was previously trying to satiate my constant desperate hunger for food with other forms of harmful addictive behaviour, and without the hunger, I just don't need that as much. The concept of satisfying one craving with another isn't new, after all.

Re: GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes well your PCP / pharmacist should not have prescribed you an appetite suppressant when you have below average body fat %. The effects are very worth it for people weighing them against heart disease and mobility issues. It's not a Faustian bargain, it's all right on the tin. When you stop taking it the effects go away. If you want to be indulgent and it fits your lifestyle you can reversibly make that decision. T…

> Yes well your PCP / pharmacist should not have prescribed you an appetite suppressant when you have below average body fat %. Why do you think this? I agree that people who have associated risk factors should be prioritized, but if there's enough for everyone why wouldn't we give it to anyone who wants it?

People who don't need to be chronically medicated should not be. There are always side effects, and we don't even know for sure what the long term risks of these medications are yet.

And crowing about saving $200/mo not buying food at Starbucks, well now Novo Nordisk is getting that.

Toast a bagel at home for $0.50/day instead.

Re: GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

#68
> alcohol spending fell 85%

You've replaced one drug with another. Freud would be proud.

> If you told someone in 1850 that air conditioning would reshape the global economy, they'd think you were crazy.

This is incredibly misinformed. You've lived /with/ refrigeration and /without/ malaria for so long you have no Earthly idea how people in the opposite state lived their lives or saw the world around them.

> We're discussing the first medication that effectively regulates human impulse control. Think about that.

It has side effects. Think about that.

> The significant economic impact occurs in the second and third-order effects.

Yes and many of them will be negative. This is hyper futurism with zero grounding in the past. This is extremely lazy writing.

Re: GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

#69

Is there a term for this style of writing? It's like a longform linkedin post. I don't mean this as a criticism, it just seems like written language is evolving to better capture our diminishing attention spans.

I am a fan of Carroll Quigley's style of writing (Georgetown University professor and ole Slick-Willie's mentor). I find having DeepSeek restate articles in his style to be much more enjoyably ingestible.
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