Given that almost everyone who uses semaglutide for weight loss is going to be taking it for the rest of his life, what's happening is a mass long term test. The long term side effects will be known, eventually, but this present cohort will be paying full price. I think people should be able to do whatever they want to lose weight. But s…
Given that almost everyone who uses semaglutide for weight loss is going to be taking it for the rest of his life, what's happening is a mass long term test. The long term side effects will be known, eventually, but this present cohort will be paying full price. I think people should be able to do whatever they want to lose weight. But semaglutide should be last ditch.
Seeing this kind of marketing in the hrt domain, where estrogen is considered almost toxic. Now there's "Veozah", which directly targets the neurons that control body temperature. It's just there are those side effects, among which, if you believe the FDA release on the study that resulted in its approval (a study of 1100 women for maybe a year), can include more than twice the relative risk of insomnia as for the placebo arm. That's just short term. What are the long term side effects? No one knows. Tampering with neurotransmitters long term doesn't seem like a good idea, but the pressure is on to push this.
Again, we're faced with either the long-term effects of semaglutides or the long-term effects of obesity, which are better or least worse?
I agree that semaglutides should be a final resort option, similar to gastric bypass. However, we already know that nearly 50% of people have been incapable of making the necessary lifestyle changes to not be obese, so we are likely to see the majority of obese individuals using this drug.
I see this much like you do with respect to HRT, but in the other direction. GLP-1 is a naturally produced hormone, like estradiol, and we are creating a synthetic version called semaglutide, like synthetic estradiol, to supplement low levels of the naturally produced hormone. As opposed to other weight loss drugs which effect neurotransmitters, like stimulants, or raise basal metabolic rates, such as levothyroxine, synthetically produced GLP-1 receptor agonists have so far shown relatively few side effects. The jury is still out on long-term effects, but compared to the scope of the problem that is obesity and the societal problems it causes, we'd have to see major and severe long-term side effects to offset its benefits.
Not to mention that new versions of these class of drugs are being researched and tested which can prove more effective and with potentially fewer side effects.
Will you still be against this drug if it demonstrates minor side effects over long-term use?
It depends on what you call minor. If it's short lived constipation or flatulence that's one thing. But it's going to be more than that, because severe side effects are already showing up near term. I would not want to deny this to someone willing to take those risks with full knowledge. And most of the obesity we see now is a consequence of poor choices in food and exercise, unlike low estrogen. But I would put this in the same class as amphetamines for weight loss.
Is semaglutide's effect on appetite a product of its action on monoamine neurotransmitters? I know there have been reports of suicide on semaglutide, and most diet drugs in that category, including some amphetamines, have been flagged as dangerous and withdrawn:
The majority of side effects are nausea, vomiting, constipation, and abdominal pain. Anecdotal evidence seem to indicate this is likely a result of people continuing to eat past when they feel full and poor hydration.
As for serious side effects, they do exist but seem to be fairly rare when compared to placebo. Studies haven't seem to shown an increase in psychiatric adverse events with semaglutides vs placebo. I don't know what severe side effects in the near term you are referring to.
Putting this in the same class as amphetamines is disingenuous. For example, fen-phen was pulled after 7 years being on the market. Semaglutides are already approaching that benchmark with relatively few side effects and other GLP-1 drugs have been on the market for longer such as liraglutide (available since 2014) and exanitide (2005).
I wouldn't say that semaglutides are without risk, but I think the risks are being overblown in comparison to the risks of other drugs, procedures, and obesity itself.
Given that almost everyone who uses semaglutide for weight loss is going to be taking it for the rest of his life, what's happening is a mass long term test. The long term side effects will be known, eventually, but this present cohort will be paying full price. I think people should be able to do whatever they want to lose weight. But semaglutide should be last ditch.
Seeing this kind of marketing in the hrt domain, where estrogen is considered almost toxic. Now there's "Veozah", which directly targets the neurons that control body temperature. It's just there are those side effects, among which, if you believe the FDA release on the study that resulted in its approval (a study of 1100 women for maybe a year), can include more than twice the relative risk of insomnia as for the placebo arm. That's just short term. What are the long term side effects? No one knows. Tampering with neurotransmitters long term doesn't seem like a good idea, but the pressure is on to push this.
Again, we're faced with either the long-term effects of semaglutides or the long-term effects of obesity, which are better or least worse?
I agree that semaglutides should be a final resort option, similar to gastric bypass. However, we already know that nearly 50% of people have been incapable of making the necessary lifestyle changes to not be obese, so we are likely to see the majority of obese individuals using this drug.
I see this much like you do with respect to HRT, but in the other direction. GLP-1 is a naturally produced hormone, like estradiol, and we are creating a synthetic version called semaglutide, like synthetic estradiol, to supplement low levels of the naturally produced hormone. As opposed to other weight loss drugs which effect neurotransmitters, like stimulants, or raise basal metabolic rates, such as levothyroxine, synthetically produced GLP-1 receptor agonists have so far shown relatively few side effects. The jury is still out on long-term effects, but compared to the scope of the problem that is obesity and the societal problems it causes, we'd have to see major and severe long-term side effects to offset its benefits.
Not to mention that new versions of these class of drugs are being researched and tested which can prove more effective and with potentially fewer side effects.
Will you still be against this drug if it demonstrates minor side effects over long-term use?
It depends on what you call minor. If it's short lived constipation or flatulence that's one thing. But it's going to be more than that, because severe side effects are already showing up near term. I would not want to deny this to someone willing to take those risks with full knowledge. And most of the obesity we see now is a consequence of poor choices in food and exercise, unlike low estrogen. But I would put this in the same class as amphetamines for weight loss.
Is semaglutide's effect on appetite a product of its action on monoamine neurotransmitters? I know there have been reports of suicide on semaglutide, and most diet drugs in that category, including some amphetamines, have been flagged as dangerous and withdrawn:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5126837/
I think like with most "game changer" meds we're going to see some real risk with this. I wouldn't want anyone I cared about to use it.
The majority of side effects are nausea, vomiting, constipation, and abdominal pain. Anecdotal evidence seem to indicate this is likely a result of people continuing to eat past when they feel full and poor hydration.
As for serious side effects, they do exist but seem to be fairly rare when compared to placebo. Studies haven't seem to shown an increase in psychiatric adverse events with semaglutides vs placebo. I don't know what severe side effects in the near term you are referring to.
Putting this in the same class as amphetamines is disingenuous. For example, fen-phen was pulled after 7 years being on the market. Semaglutides are already approaching that benchmark with relatively few side effects and other GLP-1 drugs have been on the market for longer such as liraglutide (available since 2014) and exanitide (2005).
I wouldn't say that semaglutides are without risk, but I think the risks are being overblown in comparison to the risks of other drugs, procedures, and obesity itself.