Zepbound helps people lose weight, but it’s a dilemma when people have to stop taking them: A pediatrician approach to weight loss and recovery
But there are also a lot of emotional changes to prepare for, too, says Dr. Natalie Muth, a pediatrician, obesity specialist and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Many of her young patients who’ve taken the drug feel more hope, along with increased mobility and a sense of control. Some of her patients experienced shortages recently, and as a result they were also anxious. They were very distressed about it and they missed it. She worked with the patients and their families to refocus on behavioral changes to manage their obesity as they transitioned off of them.
Jonathan Meyers, the Maryland man searching for Zepbound, has plenty of experience with the kind of drastic lifestyle changes necessary for him to lose weight without medication. It requires diligently tracking every bite, by scanning everything he eats into a mobile app, and limiting himself to about 1,000 calories a day, just enough to leave him ”just absolutely starving all the time.”
The same drugs sold by a Florida compounding pharmacy were bought by him last month. He did so with his doctor’s cautious blessing and despite the various unknowns — like what’s in the drug, exactly, or how he might react to it.
Source: The new obesity drugs work, but it’s a dilemma when people have to stop taking them
Why is the use of GLP1 drugs so popular? Discussion of Kumar on social media and their impact on doctors, doctors, and pregnant women
After two weeks on the substitute, it’s a mixed bag, he says. He feels like he is losing his mind on it. It is difficult to push the plate aside as you want a little bit more.
There’s also plenty of other uncertainties — about the short supply, fluctuating cost, and their long-term effects – but he says even those hassles are worth it. “To me, if I have GI problems for the rest of my life, but I don’t have a heart attack or don’t have all the other things associated with obesity, it’s fine.”
“So there are going to be scenarios, especially in young people, [where] we will have to come off the medicine, whether they like it or not,” Kumar says.
Kumar says that patients on drugs will have to transition onto other forms of healthcare if there is a surgery or pregnant woman in the future. Fetal exposure is not known to have a bigger impact on birth defects than GLP1 medications do, but research shows that it is not linked to more births with birth defects. Women who have struggled with infertility are reporting surprise pregnancies after using GLP1 medicines, and the drug companies warn that they may make birth control pills less effective.
“It would make sense that once we stop the therapy for those biological problems, that we would have relapse,” says Dr. Eduardo Grunvald, director of the weight-management program at the University of California San Diego. He notes that only a few of his patients have stopped the injections, and not the other way around.
But these are not just blockbuster medicines – they’ve become a societal phenomenon. And all the chatter about the use of them on social media and in popular culture can confuse patients, says Dr. Rekha Kumar, an endocrinologist and former medical director of the American Board of Obesity Medicine. She says that people are posting on social media about using obesity medication as a short-term solution to their diet problems.
In other words: Chronic disease requires chronic treatment, no different than kidney disease, or high cholesterol. The new obesity treatments act on the various hormonal and metabolic drivers of obesity.
Meyers had his impulses won out in the end before going on the injections. “That’s the biggest component of this whole thing,” he says. He says that the drug has made him less focused on food, and that he can walk past candy bars in the grocery store without grabbing one.
More and more people who started taking the new GLP-1 agonist drugs are now confronting the realities of their limitations; medications like Wegovy and Mounjaro tend to help with sustained weight loss only while people are on them. But because of cost, for example, negative side effects, or supply shortages, many people are having to transition off of them — while trying not to regain the weight.
A New Lifestyle: Jonathan Meyers’ Journey through the Depression and the Challenges of Obesity-Controlled Stimulated Diets
But the drug’s been in short supply and very hard to find. The family in Maine had medicine that was shipped to him in Maryland. He says friends, family and people he follows on social media are all in the same boat as he can’t find Zepbound. He says that some have used compounding pharmacies to sell online an approximation of the drug.
Over the past few decades, Jonathan Meyers endured several cycles of gaining, shedding, then regaining weight after attempting Keto, high protein, low fat, and calorie-restrictive diets. The digital strategist at the environmental nonprofit says that she always regains the weight despite her up and down days.
Good morning. You are reading a newsletter. You can also subscribe to the Up First radio show to get all the news you need to start your day.
U.S. firefighters face shortage: condemnation toward Israel mounts after Rafah airstrike, a tragedy condemned by the United Nations
Israel is receiving international condemnation following an airstrike on Rafah on Sunday that caused a fire at a tented area for displaced people. The attack killed at least 45 Palestinians and injured dozens more, according to local health officials. Israel’s military said it was targeting a Hamas installation and hadn’t expected to harm civilians. It was called a tragic mistake by the Prime Minister. The chief of the United Nations relief organization said, “to call it a mistake means nothing for those killed, those grieving and those trying to save lives.”
As wildfires burn in Canada and Mexico, U.S. fire officials are concerned about the upcoming wildfire season. Upwards of a quarter of the government’s wildland firefighting jobs are vacant. The pay is low and the risks are high. Forests are overgrown, and rising heat and drought add to the dangers. Many people who work in the fire service can not afford to reside in the places they are working. 🎧 The labor shortage is not new, especially in the wake of the Pandemic. The federal government will most likely continue using private contractors and borrowing crews from Canada and Mexico.
Source: U.S. faces firefighter shortage; global condemnation toward Israel mounts
The Arthur Grand Co-Occupation Search for a Virginia Technicolor Job Post Entails Race, Citizenship, and the Okalolies
A Virginia-based IT staffing firm has settled with the Justice Department and the Department of Labor after a job posting that included race and citizenship requirements sparked outrage. The listing from Arthur Grand Technologies sought candidates “Only Born US Citizens White is located 60 miles from Dallas, TX. [Don’t share with candidates].” Arthur Grand will pay a civil penalty of $7,500, along with a total of $31,000, to 31 people who complained about the posting. Arthur Grand’s CEO told NPR that his company denied any guilt and said a rogue employee made the job posting.
The Okalolies of Tristan da Cunha, a remote inhabited island in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, come alive on New Year’s Eve. The young men don masks and costumes to wreak havoc on their town for a tradition known as Old Year’s Night. The identities and places of the Okalolies is a closely guarded secret. After the chaos, residents of the island ring in the new year with dancing and barbecues known as braais.