Are these weight loss drugs as prevalent as this message board makes it seem, or is it just that this board is highly disproportionately on them
It’s kind of fascinating to me watching basically everyone who is on it be like “yeah I made the decision, not a doctor”
I know a ton of people taking them, but I am in Los Angeles, so that might not say much.
I raised the subject with my doctor, but he was enthusiastic FWIW.
They’re getting more and more common, and available evidence has been remarkably good. Like, clear mortality benefit good. Very few medicines or treatments can make that claim.
Have been considering taking them but a part of me is scared of the fact we have no long term safety studies on humans right?
Of course that’s the reason I didn’t get Lasik 15-20 years ago and that appears to be a really dummy’s choice these days.
Fill me in on lasik = bad?
It isn’t. I meant being skeptical of it was dumb.
Oh ok cool. Been thinking bout it
Wasn’t there stuff about Lasik ruining night vision or causing some other potential negative side effects?
I’ve had corrective vision (glasses and contacts) since second or third grade and never really looked into Lasik. My uncorrected vision is pretty good and has actually improved a bit since my youth.
The main thing was causing farsightness later in life even if the surgery was performed correctly.
We DO have lots of data on the effect of being old and overweight with sleep apnea (in my situation). So it was less a question of whether Zepbound was going to have any negative effects, but would they be worse than my current condition?
Haven’t ozempic and monjaro been used for a while for diabetes? How long have they been around? There must be some long term studies on the diabetes side?
I mean they aren’t even out of the patent period yet so I doubt there are long term studies on effect. It’s certainly possible that there are indeed no serious long term consequences to taking it. But “miracle drugs” historically end up having issues that weren’t originally foreseen.
Like LFS said though the long term effects of obesity and the like are well known and very bad. So I’m not saying I think taking this stuff is bad, I’m seriously considering it myself as a 5’8 195lb person who is probably borderline on “needing” it.
“According to a May 2024 KFF Health Tracking Poll, 12% of US adults have taken a glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) drug, and 6% are currently taking one. The number of people taking GLP-1 drugs is expected to increase as the treatment becomes more accessible and costs drop.”
6% of US is like 20M people.
If there are long term effects they will mainly show up in people who aren’t otherwise dead from obesity.
Define long term.
Under any reasonable definition of it, we do. It’s been in mainstream use since 2017.
The risks of obesity are so much higher. It also affects other things like alcohol use and impulsivity in good ways
7 years is not long term. Im not denying it’s probably better than every alternative out there fwiw. Im just very skeptical of a miracle drug with zero drawbacks.
Antibiotics, vaccines, blood pressure meds, exercise. There’s no cosmic force that needs to balance the efficacy of medical interventions with a downside.
I’ve been of the same opinion as Wichita, maybe just due to a knee-jerk skepticism of anything good, so this is a good point
The drawbacks of exercise are pretty enormous, you have to pay me to do it.
If you find the right format, exercise can be the best part of your day. (Though, having taken a 15-year exercise “break”, I understand the sentiment.)
My kick now is that exercise is much more effective for health and well-being than most people who think exercise is effective at promoting health and well-being realize.
I got LASIK in 2009. I don’t love driving at night because I get the starburst effect but it’s not terrible and certainly manageable. 15 years later, I would still do LASIK 1000 times out of 1000 if I knew I was going to have that side effect.