Profits not People

Complications? What Complications? (just another GLP-1 receptor agonist post)

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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.
emDOCs Podcast – Episode 94: GLP-1 Agonist Complications — https://www.emdocs.net/?s=glp-1

But I Lost 25 pounds!

New Wonder Drug! Treat Diabetes, Obesity AND Addiction – (yup another GLP-1 receptor agonist post)

Why People Stop Using Drugs Like Ozempic – Wired (yet another GLP-1 receptor agonist post)

What the Scientists Who Pioneered Weight-Loss Drugs Want You to Know – Wired Magazine

The Dark Side of TikTok – Financial Advice?

/ SupremeCmdr / 3 Comments

The TikToker touting “generational wealth” isn’t alone in promoting the benefits of slapping a child’s name onto credit card debts. TikTok is flooded with influencers who insist that authorizing minors to use their parents or older relatives’ credit cards will set them up for a bright future.

Many of the videos uploaded to the platform are captioned with the hashtag #generationalwealth and suggest that the authorized credit card user trick is a secret hack used by the wealthy.

‘Generational wealth’ influencers are touting the benefits of parents adding their kids to credit card debt—but experts warn it could go badly wrong — https://fortune.com/2023/10/21/building-generational-wealth-parents-children-credit-card-debt/

Parents, don’t do this. TikTok should not be your source for financial advice.

Instead teach your children to save and invest, to live within their means, to understand the difference between needs and wants, to not become an indentured servant to the banking industry.

New Wonder Drug! Treat Diabetes, Obesity AND Addiction – (yup another GLP-1 receptor agonist post)

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Previous research has found that activating GLP-1 receptors in rats’ brain causes the animals to eat less of a high-sugar chow, which they would normally prefer over a less delicious but healthier bland meal when given the option. This suggests that GLP-1 makes unhealthy food less rewarding. Schmidt’s team found the same to be true with cocaine: rats that received a GLP-1 agonist took less cocaine when it was offered. The researchers are now repeating the experiments in rats addicted to opioids or fentanyl. Several other studies have shown that GLP-1 agonists cause rats to drink less alcohol and produce less dopamine when they do drink, suggesting that the activity is no longer as pleasurable.

…it’s too early to say whether people recovering from addiction would need to take an GLP-1 agonist for the rest of their lives, like people with diabetes do, or whether these drugs could be short-term treatments that curb cravings long enough for people to make lifestyle changes to stay sober. People who stop taking semaglutide for weight loss quickly gain the weight back, and study animals that stop taking it return to alcohol and drug use, but “I don’t think we know enough yet” in humans, Simmons says.

Could New Weight-Loss Drugs like Ozempic Treat Addiction? — https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/could-new-weight-loss-drugs-like-ozempic-treat-addiction1/

The rest of this post is a repost of April Fools 2023 (this is a GLP-1 receptor agonist post). Enjoy!

Ozempic and a similar drug, Wegovy, are weekly shots you give yourself that cause the body to produce insulin. Insulin lowers blood sugar, slows digestion and makes people feel full. Carter-Williams tried it and was amazed.

“You are not hungry,” she says. “Like, I actually have to set timers to make sure that I do eat, because otherwise you actually forget to eat.”

‘You forget to eat’: How Ozempic went from diabetes medicine to blockbuster diet drug https://www.npr.org/2023/04/01/1166781510/ozempic-weight-loss-drug-big-business

Everyone wants the easy way out. I sometimes forget to eat but not because of a miracle drug. You wonder if those of us wanting to lose weight know you can’t stop taking this drug once you start it.

Patients discontinuing the use of weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy risk regaining their original body weight in about five years, a Novo Nordisk official said on Wednesday.

Novo Nordisk Says Stopping Obesity Drug May Cause Full Weight Regain in 5 Years–https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/990267?src=rss

Side effects?

Just a few https://www.wegovy.com/taking-wegovy/side-effects.html

  • Possible thyroid tumors, including cancer.
  • Inflammation of your pancreas (pancreatitis)
  • Gallbladder problems
  • Increased risk of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) in patients with type 2 diabetes, especially those who also take medicines for type 2 diabetes such as sulfonylureas or insulin
  • Kidney problems (kidney failure)
  • Serious allergic reactions
  • Change in vision in people with type 2 diabetes.
  • Increased heart rate
  • Depression or thoughts of suicide.

So if you want to lose weight by taking a GLP-1 receptor agonist remember the risks of side effects including the real possibility of having to take a drug that costs up to $1600.00 a month for the rest of your life.

Good luck with that.

As an FYI this drug class is being investigated by the EU for a small number of cases reporting suicidal ideation https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2023-07-10/ozempic-weight-loss-drugs-probed-over-reports-of-suicidal-thoughts.

But we already knew this.

Why People Stop Using Drugs Like Ozempic – Wired (yet another GLP-1 receptor agonist post)

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One study looked at GLP-1 RAs prescribed in the UK between 2009 and 2017. Out of the 589 patients who started taking a GLP-RA, 45 percent stopped taking the drug within 12 months, and 65 percent within 24 months. The same group of scientists also looked at people taking GLP-1 RAs in the US across a similar period of time. That study included a much larger group of diabetes patients but found that people quit taking the drugs at a similar rate as in the UK. Within 12 months, 47 percent of patients stopped taking their GLP-1 AR; after 24 months that figure was 70 percent. On average, people in that study spent around 13 months using the drug before they stopped taking it.

Why People Stop Using Drugs Like Ozempic —https://www.wired.com/story/ozempic-wegovy-quitting-weight-loss/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

For my last GLP-1 RA post see Tirzepatide Reduces Appetite, Energy Intake, and Fat Mass in People With Type 2 Diabetes — https://doi.org/10.2337/dc22-1710

To reduce the number of clicks the rest of this post is a repost of April Fools 2023 (this is a GLP-1 receptor agonist post). Enjoy!

Ozempic and a similar drug, Wegovy, are weekly shots you give yourself that cause the body to produce insulin. Insulin lowers blood sugar, slows digestion and makes people feel full. Carter-Williams tried it and was amazed.

“You are not hungry,” she says. “Like, I actually have to set timers to make sure that I do eat, because otherwise you actually forget to eat.”

‘You forget to eat’: How Ozempic went from diabetes medicine to blockbuster diet drug https://www.npr.org/2023/04/01/1166781510/ozempic-weight-loss-drug-big-business

Everyone wants the easy way out. I sometimes forget to eat but not because of a miracle drug. You wonder if those of us wanting to lose weight know you can’t stop taking this drug once you start it.

Patients discontinuing the use of weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy risk regaining their original body weight in about five years, a Novo Nordisk official said on Wednesday.

Novo Nordisk Says Stopping Obesity Drug May Cause Full Weight Regain in 5 Years–https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/990267?src=rss

Side effects?

Just a few https://www.wegovy.com/taking-wegovy/side-effects.html

  • Possible thyroid tumors, including cancer.
  • Inflammation of your pancreas (pancreatitis)
  • Gallbladder problems
  • Increased risk of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) in patients with type 2 diabetes, especially those who also take medicines for type 2 diabetes such as sulfonylureas or insulin
  • Kidney problems (kidney failure)
  • Serious allergic reactions
  • Change in vision in people with type 2 diabetes.
  • Increased heart rate
  • Depression or thoughts of suicide.

So if you want to lose weight by taking a GLP-1 receptor agonist remember the risks of side effects including the real possibility of having to take a drug that costs up to $1600.00 a month for the rest of your life.

Good luck with that. This joke’s on you.

As an FYI this drug class is being investigated by the EU for a small number of cases reporting suicidal ideation https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2023-07-10/ozempic-weight-loss-drugs-probed-over-reports-of-suicidal-thoughts.

But we already knew this.

Oklahoma producing 64 times more marijuana than licensed users consume – The Oklahoman

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“The supply-to-demand ratio of regulated medical marijuana supply to regulated medical cannabis demand is 64:1,” the report states. “Using a general assumption that units of supply should not exceed two times the units of demand, the medical marijuana program has no less than 32 times more regulated marijuana necessary than licensed patient demand.”

The significant oversupply is likely funneling large amounts of marijuana out of state and adding to the illegal market, according to authority officials.

Oklahoma producing 64 times more marijuana than licensed users consume, report shows — https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/state/2023/06/21/marijuana-oklahoma-overproducing-64-times-omma-report/70343452007/

The Truth behind the medical marijuana industry.

At least we know there may be a positive longevity effect to all of this excess supply.

Scary Charts (Beyond BMI) – 06.04.23

/ SupremeCmdr / 3 Comments

The value of the BMI for tracking the current epidemic of obesity is clearly illustrated in the study by Rodgers et al., which traced the change in the BMI for many subgroups of the US population from 1962 to the year 2000 [23]. (See Figure 1) They showed that the US epidemic of obesity began about 1975 in all age, sex and ethnic groups and continued over the next 25 years. This fact limits the plausible explanations for the current epidemic of obesity. Rodgers and colleagues believe that it is implausible that each age, sex and ethnic group, with massive differences in life experience and attitudes, had a simultaneous decline in willpower related to healthy nutrition or exercise, or that intrauterine exposures played a major causative role. Likewise, changes in genetic make-up are unlikely to have occurred over this short period and to have affected all age groups simultaneously. Similarly, they note that it is unlikely that any factor with a long induction period had a major role in the US epidemic. Rather, they believe that the epidemic must have been caused by factors that led to rapid population-wide changes such as changes in the food supply, and I tend to agree with their conclusion.

Beyond BMI by George A. Bray – Nutrients 2023, 15(10), 2254 – https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15102254

Agree.