• Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I’m on Ozempic. I eat way less. Many restaurants offer portion sizes that are far, far too big for a person NOT on weight loss drugs let alone one who is. I often ask for a half or a quarter portion because I don’t want to waste the rest of the food. I always say I will pay full price but I don’t want all the food. Some restaurants give me a break on the price. Others don’t. When you’re faced with such huge portions it’s just easier to avoid restaurants.

      • Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        There are some very rare possible serious side effects. I’m not sure what the numbers are. No one is being forced to take it.

        • I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I’m a caregiver for a diabetic person and Medicare decided at the new year that they would not cover the medications he’s been doing very well on because they (state insurance, not his doctors) want him on Ozempic instead. They let him keep his insulin, but Victoza, Pandin and Jardiance are gone. We’re having a very hard time keeping his blood sugar steady, he’s getting dangerous lows that he’s not capable of communicating to us, and higher spikes than I’ve seen in the four years I’ve cared for him, so we’re testing more frequently and no, they will not cover the additional testing supplies, that’s out of pocket now.

          So, yes. Some people on Medicare are being forced to take it.

          • Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            The US medical system is grotesque.

            I am taking Ozempic, Metformin, and Jardiance but I live in a civilized country where my doctor makes the decisions about what drugs I am taking and talks to me about his recommendations before prescribing.

        • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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          2 months ago

          No one is being forced to take it.

          That’s kind of missing the forest for the trees. Dying because some company pushed weight loss pills on your doctor who then pushed them onto you is kind of fucked up just like drugs like Chantix driving people to kill themselves or leak fluids out of their asshole in order to stop smoking, two things that have a multitude of other methods to acheive the same goal with much less of a risk.

      • nova_ad_vitum
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        2 months ago

        Exactly. If you’re not crushing it and snorting it then you might as well flush it down the toilet.

        • stoly@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          It’s a diabetes drug and weight loss is just a fun side effect. I don’t know about any shortage though.

          • Sarmyth@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Sounds like it’s functioning as a means of reducing the development of type 2 diabetes. Mission failed successfully?

            • stoly@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              I am reminded of Fen-Phen, which was big in the late 90s.

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenfluramine/phentermine

              Everyone and their mother got on it and lost tons of weight. Then suddenly it came out that, shockingly, drugs have side effects and some can hurt your heart. Suddenly there’s a flurry of lawsuits and a perfectly good drug is removed from the market because the public abused it.

              • Sarmyth@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                This could be just like that. If it is more harmful than it is already known to be, then the widespread adoption should highlight that faster.

                If there are supply issues, as others have mentioned, widespread adoption and profitability will hopefully cause an increase in production.

                It would have to be pretty bad for you to be worse than the detrimental health effects of being 300lbs+

                • stoly@lemmy.world
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                  2 months ago

                  That’s where I was on the whole fen-phen thing. I recall speaking to a couple doctors (in casual conversation) who thought that the lawsuits were stupid and that it was, indeed, good for the morbidly obese to have options like this. Me, personally, I believe that a bunch of lawyers got dollar signs in their eyes and decided to go after the big bucks.

                  I guess the FDA can be persuaded with enough pressure.

          • PolarisFx@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            2 months ago

            Not in the US, but production is limited and there have been pretty bad shortages in Canada and Australia. They had to put an export ban on Ozempic because so much of it was being sold to Americans, in Canada we pay $160US, while the same box sells for $970US in the states.

            Im a diabetic, and earlier in the year we had a hard time getting it due to all the off label use.