In the pursuit of “fine” to “great,” we chase products. Through no fault of our own, we fall prey to messaging from social media users, algorithms, and expert marketers, urging us that this shampoo or this rug will shift the scales toward enoughness. “This is how the marketplace continues to work,” says Brooke Erin Duffy, an associate professor of communication at Cornell University, “which is by amplifying our inadequacies and insecurities.”
Baked into these social platforms is a natural ecosystem for comparison. In the past, people weighed themselves against celebrities in the media and those within their immediate social circles, Duffy says. Now, we can compare ourselves to the idealized version of millions of strangers online — who may be perpetuating an aesthetic trend inspiring us to buy in order to participate.
We recently took a trip to Texas with a trunk load full of old Legos to a Lego store that buys and sells Legos. Our entire intent was to de-clutter and get rid of some old sets and extra pieces. We were ready to donate the stuff. Give it away to Goodwill or another charity.
Well…
A Goodwill in Pennsylvania just sold a rare 14-karat gold Lego piece for $18,101.
Adverse events are common in those using GLP-1 agonists, but the vast majority of these are minor. GI adverse effects are most common (20-70% of patients). Greater rate of GI effects with higher doses.
Most common problems: nausea (overall most common), vomiting, and diarrhea. Others included abdominal pain, dyspepsia, and constipation.
Symptoms are typically more severe within the first four weeks of therapy or with sudden escalation of therapy and tend to decrease over time.
Thought to be due to reduced gastric emptying and activation of centers involved in appetite regulation and nausea.
Severe diarrhea and vomiting may lead to volume loss, dehydration, and hypotension (not common).
There is an association with pancreatitis. GLP-1 agonists may stimulate pancreatic islet beta cells and exocrine duct cells leading to overgrowth and smaller duct size, which increase the pancreatic weight and risk of ductal occlusion.
Retrospective study published in 2022 of 81,752 adverse events associated with GLP-1 agonist therapy found an increased risk of pancreatitis, particularly with liraglutide (ROR 32.67; 95% CI 29.44-36.25). 2023 observational study found increased risk of pancreatitis (adjusted HR of 9.09, 95% CI 1.25-66).
Other GI issues include gallbladder and biliary tract disease (usually after 26 weeks of therapy and included cholelithiasis, cholecystitis, cholangitis), elevated LFTs, hepatitis, liver injury.
A very astute reader asked a very simple question: Why is this scary? So I went back and looked at my post. I thought I had completed the post but obviously not. The chart lacked context. So here’s the rest of the post I thought I posted. Welcome to my Senior Moment.
The relatively high labor force participation of Boomers may be beneficial both to them and the wider economy. Some retirement experts emphasize working longer as the key to a secure retirement, in part because the generosity of monthly Social Security benefits increases with each year claiming is postponed. For the economy as a whole, economic growth in part depends on labor force growth, and the Boomers staying in the work force bolsters the latter.
To ease the anxiety of retirement, consider delaying Social Security to get a larger monthly check and perhaps also purchasing immediate fixed annuities. I plan to do both.
Specifically the part of the quote in bold bugged me. I thought to myself, nice plan. But how many people can afford to buy an immediate fixed annuity? I can’t. How many people actually defer Social Security until age 70 to maximize their monthly payments?
Well, get ready for the ugly. It’s Scary Chart time.
Answer: 4%
Why just 4%?
Answer: 97% of people who retired sooner than planned did so due to health and employment issues.
And some retirees will leave the working world straight into a world of high inflation.
Just beyond the guests and beyond the hornbeam trees where I’ve strung fairy lights for the party, I think I can see my future. The grind of work is finally over, my retirement dream cued up. April in Paris! Reading by the sea! Spanish lessons in Antigua so I can better speak to my grandson. I’ll be playing with him, too, in the open-ended days my children rarely knew with me. I’m not saying I deserve a life of ease. But I worked hard to earn my retirement, dropping giant chunks of my salary into company and government pension plans throughout those forty years. It’s time for the famous social contract to hold up its end of the bargain and take care of me, the way it did my father before me, to deliver on the idea that retirement is my right after a life of work and the promise that I will have the time and means to enjoy it.
Except none of that happened. The year since my retirement party has not been a dreamy passage to a welcoming future but a nerve-shattering trip into the unknown. My debt is swelling like a broken ankle; my hard-won savings may or may not be sucked into the vortex of an international market collapse. Can I keep my house? Who knows? The macro-economy is messing with my micro-economy. The future keeps shape-shifting. And none of the careful planning I put into my retirement is going to change that.
The recent analysis in JAMA focused on serious stomach disorders and GLP-1 agonists.
Researchers in Canada compared safety outcomes for GLP-1 agonists and bupropion-naltrexone, an older class of weight-loss medication. The retrospective analysis included 4144 people with obesity who were prescribed liraglutide, 613 prescribed semaglutide, and 654 prescribed the older treatment. People with a diabetes code in their health record were excluded from the study.
The GLP-1 group had a 9 times greater risk of pancreatitis, a 4 times greater risk of bowel obstruction, and a more than 3 times greater risk of gastroparesis, which causes stomach paralysis. The absolute risks in the GLP-1 group, however, were all about 1% or less per year of GLP-1 use. And semaglutide and liraglutide were not associated with biliary disease, which affects the gallbladder and bile production.
“We found that alcohol and THC together significantly reduced, and in some cases prevented, the ability of the prefrontal cortex in drug-exposed rats to undergo plasticity in the same way that the brains from control animals can,” said Linyuan Shi, a graduate student in the Gulley lab. “The effects were apparent in rats exposed to either drug alone, and they were most pronounced with co-exposure to both drugs. We also found the impaired plasticity was likely due to changes in signaling caused by gamma-aminobutyric acid, a chemical messenger in the brain. When we used a chemical that enhances GABA, it could rescue the deficits we saw in the animals that had been exposed to the drugs.”
Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Combined use of alcohol and THC can affect rat brains, study finds.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 30 November 2023 — https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/11/231130121946.htm
I’m glad I am not a rat.
Young adults who simultaneously use alcohol and marijuana (SAM) consume more drinks, are high for more hours in the day, and report more negative alcohol-related consequences.
On SAM use days, participants consumed an average of 37% more drinks, with 43% more negative alcohol consequences, were high for 10% more hours, and were more likely to feel clumsy or dizzy, compared with non-SAM use days.
“We found that alcohol and THC together significantly reduced, and in some cases prevented, the ability of the prefrontal cortex in drug-exposed rats to undergo plasticity in the same way that the brains from control animals can,” said Linyuan Shi, a graduate student in the Gulley lab. “The effects were apparent in rats exposed to either drug alone, and they were most pronounced with co-exposure to both drugs. We also found the impaired plasticity was likely due to changes in signaling caused by gamma-aminobutyric acid, a chemical messenger in the brain. When we used a chemical that enhances GABA, it could rescue the deficits we saw in the animals that had been exposed to the drugs.”
Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Combined use of alcohol and THC can affect rat brains, study finds.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 30 November 2023 — https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/11/231130121946.htm
Retirement blues are “a dirty secret,” says Robert Delamontagne, PhD, author of The Retiring Mind. He had to go through his own adjustment when he retired in 2007. He says people are reluctant to talk openly about those struggles because it’s embarrassing. “People would ask me, ‘How’s retirement?’ I used to say, ‘It’s great! I’m having a great time!’ What was I supposed to say?” Once the newness wears off, you may start to question your new situation. “Will my money last?” “Will my health hold up?” “Am I being useful, or am I going to just play bridge and golf for the rest of my life?”
The strategy has achieved clarity. The Plan is a 3-5 year time-frame. The objective is to continue full time paid work then pursue part time paid work til death do us part. As a younger man I never envisioned this to be my desired life in retirement. But here we are.
Time is the most valuable asset I’m sacrificing for this strategy. Time to do whatever I please, whenever I like. Personal projects like my future best seller The Man Who Had No Hobbies will have a completion date further into the future. But the tradeoffs for me are worth it. Many times I’ve asked retired people how’s retirement? Too many times the answer is “I’m bored”. When you are younger, working your ass off, building a career, raising a family, the thought of retirement is seductive. The reality of retirement is different and nothing you could have imagined in your younger life.
No one talks about what we lose when we retire. Well, no one except Jonathan Clements the founder and editor of https://humbledollar.com/ Here’s his list:
Income
Identity
Purpose
Structure
Community
Relevance
Power
Income. This is the most obvious loss, we all know it’s coming—and yet many folks are left anxious by the disappearance of their paycheck, even if they have ample savings. Moreover, with that paycheck gone, not only do we lose the ability to save, but also our financial life goes into reverse, with savings coming out of our nest egg instead of going in.
Given that, it’s hardly surprising that studies suggest retirees tend to be happier when they have ample predictable income, such as from a pension. Don’t have a pension? To ease the anxiety of retirement, consider delaying Social Security to get a larger monthly check and perhaps also purchasing immediate fixed annuities. I plan to do both.
Read the full article at the link above. Especially if you are nearing retirement.
Well, that’s enough thinking about retirement for a Saturday morning. I have to mow the shade grass The Boss over seeded in the backyard. There’s college football today. I also need to get ready for dinner company tonight.
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