comment: >
  
  My anorexic ass immediately started googling the drug
context: I was on a migraine medication that is also popular for weight loss. I did lose a lot of weight, which wasn't bad but I also would sometimes not feel my nose, had weird out of body feelings sometimes and boughts of nausea. Finally stopped taking it because I realized it really did live up to its nickname dopamax. >
  
  Oh God Topomax is awful.  I have been on that in the past and it really does affect your memory and cognition. >
  
  Same with Sumatriptan. >
  
  Sumatriptan is a nasty drug.  Temporary relief that builds into rebound headaches when you take it too often. >
  
  Sumatriptan, rebound headaches are the worst! Sumatriptan - Imitrex does work great with minimal side effects but you have to be very careful with it and only take a small dose in frequent if you don’t want those horrid rebound headaches >
  
  articles like this will increase the popularity of Ozempic as a weight loss drug. The irony. >
  
  Well they mention it like 10x during commercials, so seems to be the plan.  How else they gonna be able to overcharge and things like that. >
  
  Oh oh oh, ozempic
  ^Auto ^parts >
  
  I'm guessing this is why my doctor was asking me yesterday whether my pharmacy was having difficulty delivering my trulicity to me. I had a three month supply so I haven't had to fill it lately. Here's hoping I can get it when I need it. >
  
  I'm on ozempic, my pharmacy gives me a month's supply even though it's supposed to be 3 months. The hassle between them and insurance has been epic >
  
  I’m not on ozempic but it really is fucked how any step of the process can just override your doctor and say nope! This is all you’re getting! Or just refuse to dispense/cover a drug at all, even if they’re not supposed to. Appeals and bureaucracy don’t mean shit when you need your medicine TODAY. >
  
  I am an obesity and weight management researcher. Although I have worked on studies involving diabetes, most of my work is explicitly focused on weight management, eating, and obesity rather than diabetes itself.
  Because of that, my NIH funding comes through NIDDK, the institute focused on diabetes. Most researchers and clinicians are excited by being able to use this class of drugs for folks with obesity and overweight. It likely would have a bigger impact on diabetes than as a direct treatment for diabetes. The problem with finding them varies based on the specific drug but often relates to the actual delivery mechanism rather than the drug itself being in shortage. But that varies. The use for cosmetic reasons is very questionable, but also not likely to be a major driver of shortages.
  Unfortunately obesity (and to a lesser extent diabetes as well) is often treated as a moral failing like drug and alcohol abuse with people more focused on blaming the folks with it rather than on actual effective solutions. Not only is this unhelpful, but it also involves an extremely simplistic understanding of both the biological and behavioral factors involved. It's always so disheartening to see. >
  
  Just look at some of the comments here alone. Many people saying “stop being lazy and move more” as opposed to accepting that obesity is out of many peoples control and some people are even genetically predisposed to be overweight. Ive seen and read about fecal transplants as a way to change the bacteria in your belly to help with obesity. 
  For many people it is not a matter of “move more, eat less”. >
  
  Idk I’m definitely aware that there are genetic factors and stuff but if people “move more and eat less” they will lose weight. Often times people just can’t control their cravings or don’t have the energy to move more.  It can’t all be genetic, when we know for a fact that the rate of obesity has increased so quickly in America. This is why ultimately I think the blame falls on environmental factors and what are the environmental factors unique to America? Unbridled Capitalism, that is what I think is ultimately to blame. Overworked, tired people without enough money, hope, or free time. >
  
  There’s been several people in my bariatric surgery men’s support group online that have posted recommending Ozempic to help boost weight loss, and quite a few people have replied calling them selfish assholes for using it even after having WLS and making it hard to get for diabetics who actually need it. >
  
  of course, being overweight is a huge cause of type 2 diabetes so ....
  seems like a pretty appropriate use actually >
  
  I'm an obesity and weight management scientist. It's a fantastic use. All of this family of drugs are going to be used primarily for weight management in the future. We have way less effective interventions for obesity than diabetes, and for the majority (but certainly not all) it will reduce the number of new cases of diabetes. >
  
  It's too bad they are all 800 to 1k a month atm. >
  
  My doctor actually just recommended ozempic for me to try for weight loss. It was $2000 with my insurance so we went with metformin and it’s $7. It’s been working well for me as a appetite suppressant. >
  
  On the bright side, metformin has been shown to have anti cancer and anti-aging effects in humans.
  Source - NCBI
  Source - Harvard >
  
  My mom (who is not obese) was keeping her diabetes under control really well with Ozempic until the supply basically dried up due to what her doctor called “the Kardashian effect” of all these fuckers using it as a cosmetic weight loss drug. Now we don’t know how she’s going to manage without it. 
  You know what, screw it, I’m a fatass myself. Prescribe me some of this stuff so I can get it for my mom. >
  
  This situation is probably more complicated than the article is describing. They talk about the life-threatening consequences of uncontrolled diabetes but fail to clearly explain how morbid obesity can be equally life threatening. 
  Many of you may already know about comorbidities: a condition where two or more diseases exacerbate one another in a way that makes both of them difficult to treat. The simplest example I can think of is a knee pain and weight gain. A knee condition makes it difficult for the patient to exercise, so they gain weight. Carrying an additional 10 pounds of weight puts an additional 50 pounds of pressure on the knee. This makes the knee pain worse and the cycle continues. An appropriate treatment plan will need to consider both conditions or neither will meaningfully improve.
  Morbid obesity is dangerous because it can complex with numerous conditions; the most dangerous of which are high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, coronary artery disease, and asthma.
  It should additionally be mentioned that a person may need to lose weight before they can undergo surgery. Surgery can't be performed safely over a certain weight and they may not have 3 years to lose weight. They'll need something quickly.
  You might think that "all a fat person needs to do is stop eating". But again, it's more complicated than that. For example, a glaring indication of uncontrolled diabetes is uncontrolled weight gain or weight loss. Comorbid conditions can interfere with the way the body stores or releases energy from food, this making weight loss without medication exceedingly difficult.
  "But what about people that are using the medication to lose 10 pounds while they eat poorly?" The article didn't say whether these people would qualify for a prescription. When I worked in a bariatric clinic, a patient had to have a BMI of 35 or 28 with 3 comorbid conditions before they could be prescribed medication. In other words, you had to be in a serious state. I'm sure there are doctors that would proscribe it frivolously, but that can be dealt with the same way prescription pain killers are dealt with: force doctors to document, fine them when they don't.
  What I'm saying is that both diabetics and the obese may genuinely need this medication. We should be focusing on alleviating the bottleneck instead of judging the patients that use it. >
  
  
  "But what about people that are using the medication to lose 10 pounds while they eat poorly?" The article didn't say whether these people would qualify for a prescription. When I worked in a bariatric clinic, a patient had to have a BMI of 35 or 28 with 3 comorbid conditions before they could be prescribed medication. In other words, you had to be in a serious state.
  
  I had basically this typed up as a response to someone saying that people shouldn't be taking medications needed to control diabetes "just" to control their weight.
  This is dead on- I am a weight loss surgery patient who took Ozempic temporarily just before my surgery. My GP is the one who prescribed it, not my surgeon, because my pre op labs indicated that while my fatty liver had improved with the ~30 lbs I lost in that 6 month pre-op window, it was still of concern for surgery. I lost about 15 extra pounds and between that and the 2 week liquid diet my liver was in perfect condition for surgery.
  No one is prescribing this drug for people who are not in dire need of it. It's actually really hard on the body, too, and I actually developed acute pancreatitis as a side effect from it. When a doctor prescribes this medication they are doing so because the benefits of the drug outweigh the risks. And as much as insurance companies love to deny medications that they deem "not medically necessary" I can promise you that no one is taking this to lose weight unless they have to. >
  
  My mom takes this to keep her A1C in check. Idk what to do if i cant get it filled for her. She needs it. Its the only one her insurance will cover. Otherwise its 3000 for a 3 month supply. She pays 9.95. >
  
  I understand the frustration, but preventative care is a valid reason to get on semaglutide. Imagine if all diseases could be prevented? 
  I’m pre-diabetic and am on it to prevent T2D, which my dad struggled with. >
  
  I'm a diabetic who had to get off Ozempic thanks to this. I'd have to run around to multiple pharmacies just to find a pen. Sometimes, I'd have to order two weeks in advance to get one.
  I'm so pissed off to find out this is why. >
  
  Maybe losing weight will help decrease the number of diabetics? >
  
  Then they can just eat less and leave the medicine to those who need it >
  
  It's funny cos if they didn't take the pill they'd end up needing it for it's intended purpose anyways >
  
  It's not a pill, it's a shot. And you have to be in it forever because you'll gain it back when you stop. >
  
  I know someone that's been on it for about a year now.  She lost a ton of weight (too much, in my opinion) and swears by it.  However, she also has nightmares now that wake her up every night and are causing lots of anxiety and other issues in her life.  I definitely think this is for people with no other options.  Not for casual weight loss. >
  
  Yes, I think it's off-label but accepted as a weight loss drug for obese people. It's not for people who want to lose a few pounds. >
  
  Yeah. Wegovy is the version approved for weight loss; Ozempic is technically only approved diabetes. That said, the only real difference (at least in terms of active ingredient) is that Wegovy is a higher strength. >
  
  Well and ozempic is far more likely to be covered by insurance. I’m not aware of a single insurance plan that even partially covers Wegovy >
  
  ozempic
  brb, calling my hausartz. >
  
  The demand is insane. It’s been mfr back ordered for months and when we do get some in we have a massive backlog of orders to catch up on. >
  
  I took it for a few months, didn't really feel hungry at the end of the day.  But then the pharmacy said it was on back order for months, so I ended up going back to Glipizide, which was cheaper, not used as a weight loss drug and easily in stock. >
  
  It helped my blood sugar control better than anything else I’ve tried for a month.  Probably because of the constant nausea.  The weight loss crowd can have at it. >
  
  I'm Canadian, so we don't get a lot of drug commercials the way that the US does, but even cinemas here have started showing Ozempic ads before the film. It's insane the hold this drug has on people. >
  
  Literally 7 posts after this on Reddit I get an Ozempic add of a happy guy playing guitar. Ozempic, yay! >
  
  This article was researched well enough but good god it's poorly written. >
  
  Time to make it public domain and pay off the patent owner. When a medecine is that efficient at treating a disease, we need to make it easier to produce. >
  
  No matter how you lose weight, if you don't change your eating habits permanently afterwards, you will gain the weight back.
  Ozempic works by suppressing appetite, so you just feel too full or too sick to eat. It doesn't help change habits, so if you had shitty eating habits beforehand, and you don't do anything about that, then of course you're just going to re-gain the weight.
  It will work fine for people who are on diets, have decent eating habits, work out, etc, but who for other reasons struggle to lose weight. This can be due to genetics, hormones, or other health conditions. >
  
  Wow America, way to solve a problem by creating a problem >
  
  Not just America, It's happening in Canada too. >
  
  Want to guarantee your product sells?  Just say it promotes weight loss and even though Ozempic has a long list of side effects, people will take it. >
  
  Anything but diet and exercise🥴 >
  
  I think that for non-diabetics, this should be treated as a PED. And therefore not to be used except in rare circumstances. >
  
  I'm diabetic. Have used the daily form of this (Victoza) for years. When I tried switching to Ozempic I ended up developing terrible stomach pain and ended up in the emergency room. So, yes, I suppose that WILL help a person lose weight! >
  
  Eat less and workout.  It's free. >
  
  Amazon Pharmacy doesn't seem to have any issue stocking it. >
  
  Vanity… definitely, my favorite sin >
  
  How is wanting to lose weight vanity? Being overweight or obese leads to health issues and exacerbates any other health issues. For both quality of life and to live longer, you can't be overweight or obese. >
  
  There are many, many, MANY avenues for weight loss that don't involve taking medicine away from people who actively require it to live. >
  
  Taking a shot to fix the problem you caused by eating too much in the first place. There's only one way to become obese. 
  There's really only ONE way to actually lose the weight- and it starts with the thing between your ears. >
  
  I wonder why nobody really gets mad about alcoholics that need to take Antabuse... >
  
  Probably because alcoholism is an actual chemical dependency. 
  The obese which; let's face it is a LOT of North America, is simply from a shitty diet. 
  We are addicted to fast food, and the fast-food/processed food marketers are VERY good at it. >
  
  One also shouldn't discount the power of indoctrination. It's tough to break from "six to eleven servings of pasta and bread a day" and "in this house we don't leave the table until our plates are clean" when that was what your trusted authority figures taught you was healthy and right. >
  
  Routes of administration: Subcutaneous, by mouth
  FUCK. THAT. >
  
  Here’s the best way to lose weight. Eat less… >
  
  How do you even get it without a prescription? Are these ppl getting their drs to write fake prescriptions? >
  
  And next month: Ozempic price triples, people complain, but still for out the cash with no results ever coming from the complaining. >
  
  Different strengths of Trulicity and were also recently backordered at my pharmacy. >
  
  I’ve had problems getting it for the past 3 months.  Had t send me to a different pharmacy last time.  Poorer side of town. >
  
  Was on Ozempic, was doing great to help my T2 under control and lose weight. 
  Now on the Oral form.  Actually much cheaper for me. >
  
  If only people weren’t lazy and just ate less food and became more active >
  
  some of us cant. 
  I am not diabetic, but I have a terminal illness, and am a pallative care patient. I am bed ridden much of the time, and at oter times able to get out of bed, and manage a bit. 
  Before my ilness, I walked 3 miles a day. My weight was 117 . Now since most of the time I am bed ridden, I still eat a healthy diet, but gained 25 pounds >
  
  People that medicate to lose weight... only in America.