To whom do you prescribe the appetite reducing shots?
The theoretical indication of the semaglutide family is for those with a BMI (weight in kg divided by their height in meters squared) greater than 27 with diseases associated with obesity or for anyone with more than 30.
Why are they hungry?
Because they are molecules, transformed by industry, that replicate two hormones: one secreted by our intestine, GLP1, and another, gastrointestinal, GIP, which controls various processes related to hunger and, in the case of diabetics, with the sugar
Are you losing weight just because you reduce your appetite and eat less food?
The industry modifies these molecules, which naturally have a half-life of just a few minutes, so that you can inject them once a week or every day.
And what effect do they have on the patient?
They reduce their appetite, and appetite is a relevant variable to treat obesity, so they modify the patient’s relationship with food. And, in addition, they regulate what happens to your body after eating, and in this way improve sugar control.
How do they get hungry?
After eating, the body needs to be ready to digest food better, and that’s when this drug acts in three ways: it slows down the emptying of the stomach, stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin, and slows down the feeling of hunger on the brain And to treat diabetes, the relevant effect is the second: it increases the secretion of insulin.
What does the medicated patient perceive?
He loses his appetite, but at first it may happen that the medication, by slowing down his stomach, makes him suffer from nausea and vomiting; that’s why we increase the doses little by little. The effect on sugar is achieved with a dose of 1 mg of semaglutide; and lose weight, with the 2.4.
Does it generate addiction, dependence..?
No, but if you stop injecting it, you get hungry again and regain the excess weight you had. But that doesn’t mean it sticks or bounces. You don’t gain more weight when you quit than you did before you injected.
Is there anyone who does not tolerate this medication?
To avoid this initial nausea, we increase the dose gradually: we start with 0.25 mg, 0.5, 1… But, in fact, there are also those who do not tolerate it. The most important thing is that this drug is returning to the obese part of the control over their disease. And the fact is that they appreciate it.
Is it enough to cure obesity?
You are less hungry and can thus better negotiate your relationship with food; but the drug is only part of the treatment: it controls the appetite, yes; but, in the end, you have to manage your diet better: you have to know, for example, if what you eat has a lot of calories or a few; timetable; habits…
It helps fight obesity, but isn’t it enough to beat it?
Let’s see: it’s not that the obese person has a wrong behavior and only by taking the drug he sees the light and corrects it, but that he is someone who biologically suffers from an inappropriate appetite that leads him to have an inappropriate behavior, and now taking the drug gives the opportunity to improve it.
Does semaglutide give you a chance to correct your obesity, but not cure it?
If you don’t correct this unhealthy relationship with food, when you stop taking the drug, you’re back to square one. And obesity is in the category of diseases generated by an unhealthy lifestyle and can cause hypertension, type II diabetes, cholesterol…
Are they not associated in some way?
If I stop taking my diabetes medication, my blood sugar goes up; and if i go off semaglutide i regain the lost weight. Obesity, after all, is a disease of heterogeneous causes: if you are hungry due to emotional disorders and do not correct them, when you stop treatment, you will suffer weight regain.
But does medication change the rules of the game against obesity?
Obesity did not have a widespread effective treatment, and this makes it possible to address it, and thus the associated pathologies: diabetes, cardiovascular, sleep apnea… Obesity, after all, is a tree in which many branches fall ill and also mental health, of course, which can be cause and effect.
Isn’t the treatment too expensive?
The obese diabetes patient has Ozempic funded by Social Security for 4 euros a month. And there are others that use the same molecule or similar unfunded ones, such as Saxenda, for obese people, which cost about 140. There is liraglutide, for 300 a month, or Wegovy, now only at USA, although for $1,300 per month.
These are not popular prices.
That is why I advocate that these medicines be made cheaper soon for the general public and public health, and so the whole of society will benefit from the fact that we are fighting the obesity pandemic and all its consequences.
