I have been using Ozempic for the last 6+ years. The VA provides it. Brace yourselves, this may shock you. This is one of the best things the VA has ever done for me. First, they gave it to me for diabetes. The intended use for the drug. Second, the dose has been maintained at a relatively low level. I can't believe the dosages I hear about for the weight loss / off label use crowd. Yikes! Third, the VA didn't just hand me an Ozempic pen and turn me loose. There was instruction and support for maintaining an adjusted diet and increasing exercise to counteract the then known problem of muscle loss. In fact, my weight remained the same for the fist couple of years I used it. I lost weight later, but that was from a different cause. Fourth, There was a list of drugs known to interact badly with Ozempic when I started it. The doctor who prescribed Ozempic made sure I was not using any of those. And as the list has grown I have had my list of prescriptions examined to make sure there are no conflicts. Do the weight loss pushers engage in this practice? I doubt it. Might cut into sales. I believe the problems associated with Ozempic are from the off label use as a weight loss "miracle cure". I do hope we don't go all "opioids" on this and try to eliminate it because some people abuse it. Ozempic makes my life better. Go between the horns of the dilemma. If you have to campaign, then campaign for responsible use. Not removal from the market.
You are correct. There are many people who have had great success on it for diabetes. My dad is one of them. They are giving ZERO education to the weightloss crowd whatsoever. Not to mention the off label market using the weightloss clinics for it. Zero education about what you mentioned above.
I don’t want it off the market. I want it used responsibly.
"I don’t want it off the market. I want it used responsibly." Absolutely! As you are the very soul of reasonableness, I know this is your intent. Unfortunately many (not the followers of this substack, of course) will go into knee jerk mode and call for a ban. There is precedent. The manufacturer of Ozempic will be obviously conflicted. Profits and harm vs. responsible use. My guess is that profits and harm will win out.
They are also finding about 40% of the weight loss in people that don’t change any other behavior is muscle, hence the Ozempic face and butt people are complaining about. That is a recipe for disaster since when you stop and gain back weight it won’t be your muscle. You will end up metabolically unhealthier than when you started. People taking these drugs should be eating adequate protein and engaging in resistance training. This reminds me so much of the Fen Phen insanity in the 90s. These things never end well.
There are much better ways to lose weight. Rarely will a pill solve your problems. In fact, it will inevitably make the problem much worse. Like Jennifer said, we have no long term data on these "medications". Probably diet and exercise is the better route to go.
Jennifer, thanks for staying on this topic. Many of us have relatives who are either taking this drug or considering taking it for weight loss not for diabetes.
An added cofounder in this is that some people are actually considering it as the best alternative to having bulimic surgery, which of course comes with its own lifelong degree of follow up, possible more surgeries for complications etc.
Doubtless the drug has a certain role indealing with this population of patients. Sadly, the profits involved to Pharma as well as the medical industry Will outweigh the amount of time it takes to supervise and caution these patients about side effects and proper usage. it is a lifetime drug requiring lifetime support, monitoring, and reassessment.
For that reason, complications and deaths will continue to increase.
I know a woman who is taking ozempic, but is neither overweight nor diabetic. She takes it so that she can eat whatever she wants and not become overweight. Surely it is too risky for that kind of use.
“What’s particularly alarming is that 46,000 of these reports — nearly three-quarters of the total — occurred after 2022. This coincides with the increased availability and marketing of these drugs”
Yes, yep but it also coincides with convid boosters so we will never know or be able to say.
Devil's Advocate Report follows:
I have been using Ozempic for the last 6+ years. The VA provides it. Brace yourselves, this may shock you. This is one of the best things the VA has ever done for me. First, they gave it to me for diabetes. The intended use for the drug. Second, the dose has been maintained at a relatively low level. I can't believe the dosages I hear about for the weight loss / off label use crowd. Yikes! Third, the VA didn't just hand me an Ozempic pen and turn me loose. There was instruction and support for maintaining an adjusted diet and increasing exercise to counteract the then known problem of muscle loss. In fact, my weight remained the same for the fist couple of years I used it. I lost weight later, but that was from a different cause. Fourth, There was a list of drugs known to interact badly with Ozempic when I started it. The doctor who prescribed Ozempic made sure I was not using any of those. And as the list has grown I have had my list of prescriptions examined to make sure there are no conflicts. Do the weight loss pushers engage in this practice? I doubt it. Might cut into sales. I believe the problems associated with Ozempic are from the off label use as a weight loss "miracle cure". I do hope we don't go all "opioids" on this and try to eliminate it because some people abuse it. Ozempic makes my life better. Go between the horns of the dilemma. If you have to campaign, then campaign for responsible use. Not removal from the market.
You are correct. There are many people who have had great success on it for diabetes. My dad is one of them. They are giving ZERO education to the weightloss crowd whatsoever. Not to mention the off label market using the weightloss clinics for it. Zero education about what you mentioned above.
I don’t want it off the market. I want it used responsibly.
"I don’t want it off the market. I want it used responsibly." Absolutely! As you are the very soul of reasonableness, I know this is your intent. Unfortunately many (not the followers of this substack, of course) will go into knee jerk mode and call for a ban. There is precedent. The manufacturer of Ozempic will be obviously conflicted. Profits and harm vs. responsible use. My guess is that profits and harm will win out.
It is people like you who will be hurt when Ozempic is suddenly yanked off the market.
People in this country take drugs as casually as they change clothes, and then, when they have issues, sue, because, after all, it's not their fault.
They are also finding about 40% of the weight loss in people that don’t change any other behavior is muscle, hence the Ozempic face and butt people are complaining about. That is a recipe for disaster since when you stop and gain back weight it won’t be your muscle. You will end up metabolically unhealthier than when you started. People taking these drugs should be eating adequate protein and engaging in resistance training. This reminds me so much of the Fen Phen insanity in the 90s. These things never end well.
There are much better ways to lose weight. Rarely will a pill solve your problems. In fact, it will inevitably make the problem much worse. Like Jennifer said, we have no long term data on these "medications". Probably diet and exercise is the better route to go.
Jennifer, thanks for staying on this topic. Many of us have relatives who are either taking this drug or considering taking it for weight loss not for diabetes.
An added cofounder in this is that some people are actually considering it as the best alternative to having bulimic surgery, which of course comes with its own lifelong degree of follow up, possible more surgeries for complications etc.
Doubtless the drug has a certain role indealing with this population of patients. Sadly, the profits involved to Pharma as well as the medical industry Will outweigh the amount of time it takes to supervise and caution these patients about side effects and proper usage. it is a lifetime drug requiring lifetime support, monitoring, and reassessment.
For that reason, complications and deaths will continue to increase.
I know a woman who is taking ozempic, but is neither overweight nor diabetic. She takes it so that she can eat whatever she wants and not become overweight. Surely it is too risky for that kind of use.
“What’s particularly alarming is that 46,000 of these reports — nearly three-quarters of the total — occurred after 2022. This coincides with the increased availability and marketing of these drugs”
Yes, yep but it also coincides with convid boosters so we will never know or be able to say.
You provide numbers of deaths but out of how many patients taking the medications ?
Considering the average number of deaths per day in the US is 6,200, your numbers are not that massive.
Can you provide a research paper or 2 or 4 that I can read??
Thank you