Excellent article and break down is such pertinent information Dr Robyn. I have to say that a pharmacy technician told me that people are so desperate to get their refills on their Glyp 1 RAs and they don’t want to report their side effects due to fear that the pharmacist or doctor might cancel their prescription. So they suffer in silence. This is so disturbing. And yes I also have heard about that case of a woman who was desperately trying to lost weight for her daughter’s wedding and did not take the excess nausea /vomiting seriously, ended up dying from pancreatitis. Of course when drugs are so widely prescribed, any side effect will look rare to the captured agencies and they will always say benefit exceeds risks . It’s an ongoing battle .
That info from the pharmacy tech is deeply disturbing. Pharmacovigilance databases are crucial tools for assessing the risks of medicines, but if patients are underreporting their own side effects, there's no way of telling just how dangerous these drugs are. And it's just so sad that they're willing to tolerate awful side-effects in order to lose weight. What a sick society we live in - in every sense of the word.
There are healthy ways to lose weight and keep it off, which don't involve injecting toxic substances into your body! In Part 3 (or possibly 4 - I have so much material on GLP-1 agonists, I could write about them for the next month!!!) I'll be discussing foods and nutrients that naturally induce GLP-1 activity.
No such thing as side effects. Indeed. Having read about people taking these GLP-1 agonists enduring vomiting multiple times a day and diarrhea, I’m wondering why not just take something that induces vomiting/diarrhea. It would be cheaper and still result in weight loss. Vomiting and diarrhea are to things I hate and will do just about anything to avoid. I had an experience with food poisoning where I had both for a week. Chewing ice chips was the only way I could keep anything down. I lost about 15 pounds which I didn’t need to lose. So, I have difficulty comprehending how much people want to lose weight. Thanks for this Robyn.
When people deliberately induce vomiting and diarrhoea in order to control their weight, it's called bulimia nervosa and it's viewed as a serious psychiatric disorder that needs treatment. When a drug causes these symptoms, it's A-OK. Welcome to clownworld.
BTW I have clients with emetophobia (extreme fear of vomiting), and just the thought of vomiting is enough to bring on a panic attack. At least they won't be queueing up to get GLP-1 agonists!
Hi Robyn, no, but we'd started to field questions from some of our weight loss clients whom have a gastric balloon in-situ, on whether they could take them with the balloon or once the balloon passes. We looked into Saxenda, which at the time is/was the only GLP-1 registered and/or approved in NZ for obesity, however it was in short supply and had been restricted for use in diabetics only.
I've very recently been made aware by one of the surgeons i work with that Anaesthetists (well at least the ones he works with) are asking people on GLP-1 agonists to stop them 5 weeks prior to planned surgery, as there had been a few cases where even though the patients had been fasted prior to surgery, food had still been present in the stomach and had found it's way into the lungs during surgery, so not good.
Combining weight loss surgery with GLP-1 agonists - what could possibly go wrong??? Doesn't it speak volumes about the current medical/surgical approaches to weight loss, that patients are wanting to use both of them at once?
A lot i imagine, however I'm not sure if these two are being combined. We're not involved in weight loss surgery, only a temporary 4-month gastric balloon. Personally I would not get involved with weight loss surgery, I've seen it go wrong too many times, and if it is successful (in terms of no complications and a good amount of weight loss), especially the malabsorptive type surgical approaches, then they can often go the other way, end up on calorie and protein supplements and taking multivitamin supplements for the rest of their lives. Not my cup of tea!
I understand that people who've been obese for many years get absolutely desperate, but I still don't understand why anyone would subject themselves to these procedures.
What sorts of long-term outcomes do you see from the temporary gastric balloons?
So, Robyn, while you’re trying to educate us on the dangers of GLP-1 agonists, someone else here on Substack is telling her readers where to get it cheap(less expensive). I guess that’s why they call them drugs.
I have enormous empathy for people who struggle to maintain a healthy body weight in a totally toxic food environment. I was very fortunate to encounter some people who really understood human nutrition, when I was in my early 20s. The dietary changes that I made because of what I learned from them, helped me lose the extra 5 kg or so that I'd been carrying since my teens, and maintain a lean body ever since then, through two pregnancies and menopause! But most people grow up in families with terrible nutrition knowledge and practices, live in obesigenic environments, and encounter only bad information when they try to lose weight. Then, when they've failed to lose weight on fad diets and they're absolutely desperate, they're told the only solution is anti-obesity medications that have awful side-effects. It's utterly tragic.
It doesn't seem to matter even if you try to educate people ...
We had a cousin and her obese friend stay with us a few months back... the woman is just over 5ft tall and 185lbs... one evening I watched as she gobbled about a dozen different meds... and we got to talking about food.
She asked what I did to keep from gaining weight ... I explained that even if you eat no desserts ... drink soda etc... you are still consuming loads of sugar... go into even a premium shop and check the labels.. almost everything has added sugar... most people are not aware of that so they cannot understand why they continue to gain weight.
The next morning she asked if she could have what I was eating for breakfast.
It was a concoction of organic chia and coconut yoghurt... protein powder.. nuts... a chopped banana...and a few raisins ...with a little organic cinnamon powder...and organic almond milk
She normally eats granola cereals (which are laced with sugar/honey)... so her comment was -- this has no taste... she didn't finish it...
I advised her that rather than go cold turkey she should slowly wean off of the sugar...
As far as I know she is still obese ... popping pills... and complaining about being fat... yet unwilling to do anything about it.
I share your frustration with people who won't change even when a) they're suffering terribly and b) you lay a perfectly sensible plan in front of them with c) at least anecdotal evidence (i.e. your own experience) that it works. Many of my family members are like this. But I view this as an addiction problem. These people's brains have been rewired over decades of eating ultraprocessed, hyperpalatable foods, and using these foods as an emotional crutch. Many of them need a detox and rehab facility, just like people addicted to drugs and alcohol.
I'm over being frustrated with people who are unable to pursue excellence in terms of health ... who are unable to control their eating habits... who can't be bothered to exercise... I generally do not try to educate because it is futile...
It's the same with Vaxxers... why waste my energy on them...
Instead I like to bask in my superiority over these weaklings... I see them as pathetic... feeble-minded....
I view sugar the same as a drug. Cutting back doesn’t work easily because you are still consuming it. Too easy to have just one more. If you commit to eating healthy, then cold turkey is the way to go.
Yes, and I think this is why medically-supervised water-only fasting can be incredibly helpful in cases like these. It's basically a giant reset button that restores people's taste sensitivity, hunger and satiety signalling, and insulin sensitivity.
These foods smell weird to me. I don't think it's necessarily the sugar though, it's all the other crap that's added to them to make them hyperpalatable.
Excellent article and break down is such pertinent information Dr Robyn. I have to say that a pharmacy technician told me that people are so desperate to get their refills on their Glyp 1 RAs and they don’t want to report their side effects due to fear that the pharmacist or doctor might cancel their prescription. So they suffer in silence. This is so disturbing. And yes I also have heard about that case of a woman who was desperately trying to lost weight for her daughter’s wedding and did not take the excess nausea /vomiting seriously, ended up dying from pancreatitis. Of course when drugs are so widely prescribed, any side effect will look rare to the captured agencies and they will always say benefit exceeds risks . It’s an ongoing battle .
That info from the pharmacy tech is deeply disturbing. Pharmacovigilance databases are crucial tools for assessing the risks of medicines, but if patients are underreporting their own side effects, there's no way of telling just how dangerous these drugs are. And it's just so sad that they're willing to tolerate awful side-effects in order to lose weight. What a sick society we live in - in every sense of the word.
thank you for this article. Several people think I should lose some weight. Reading this, I think I will keep the few extra pounds.
There are healthy ways to lose weight and keep it off, which don't involve injecting toxic substances into your body! In Part 3 (or possibly 4 - I have so much material on GLP-1 agonists, I could write about them for the next month!!!) I'll be discussing foods and nutrients that naturally induce GLP-1 activity.
Thanks for the mention in your excellent article Robyn.
Have added it in updated references here:
https://geoffpain.substack.com/p/ozempic-semaglutide-deaths-endotoxin
Thank YOU Geoff for the excellent tip on endotoxin. As if there weren't already enough concerns about these dangerous drugs!
No such thing as side effects. Indeed. Having read about people taking these GLP-1 agonists enduring vomiting multiple times a day and diarrhea, I’m wondering why not just take something that induces vomiting/diarrhea. It would be cheaper and still result in weight loss. Vomiting and diarrhea are to things I hate and will do just about anything to avoid. I had an experience with food poisoning where I had both for a week. Chewing ice chips was the only way I could keep anything down. I lost about 15 pounds which I didn’t need to lose. So, I have difficulty comprehending how much people want to lose weight. Thanks for this Robyn.
When people deliberately induce vomiting and diarrhoea in order to control their weight, it's called bulimia nervosa and it's viewed as a serious psychiatric disorder that needs treatment. When a drug causes these symptoms, it's A-OK. Welcome to clownworld.
BTW I have clients with emetophobia (extreme fear of vomiting), and just the thought of vomiting is enough to bring on a panic attack. At least they won't be queueing up to get GLP-1 agonists!
Very interesting article, thank-you
Thank you for reading it. Are you seeing many people on GLP-1 agonists in your practice?
Hi Robyn, no, but we'd started to field questions from some of our weight loss clients whom have a gastric balloon in-situ, on whether they could take them with the balloon or once the balloon passes. We looked into Saxenda, which at the time is/was the only GLP-1 registered and/or approved in NZ for obesity, however it was in short supply and had been restricted for use in diabetics only.
I've very recently been made aware by one of the surgeons i work with that Anaesthetists (well at least the ones he works with) are asking people on GLP-1 agonists to stop them 5 weeks prior to planned surgery, as there had been a few cases where even though the patients had been fasted prior to surgery, food had still been present in the stomach and had found it's way into the lungs during surgery, so not good.
Combining weight loss surgery with GLP-1 agonists - what could possibly go wrong??? Doesn't it speak volumes about the current medical/surgical approaches to weight loss, that patients are wanting to use both of them at once?
A lot i imagine, however I'm not sure if these two are being combined. We're not involved in weight loss surgery, only a temporary 4-month gastric balloon. Personally I would not get involved with weight loss surgery, I've seen it go wrong too many times, and if it is successful (in terms of no complications and a good amount of weight loss), especially the malabsorptive type surgical approaches, then they can often go the other way, end up on calorie and protein supplements and taking multivitamin supplements for the rest of their lives. Not my cup of tea!
I understand that people who've been obese for many years get absolutely desperate, but I still don't understand why anyone would subject themselves to these procedures.
What sorts of long-term outcomes do you see from the temporary gastric balloons?
You do great work Robyn. Appreciated.
I appreciate you reading my work. I hope it will be useful for you, and people you care about.
So, Robyn, while you’re trying to educate us on the dangers of GLP-1 agonists, someone else here on Substack is telling her readers where to get it cheap(less expensive). I guess that’s why they call them drugs.
Disappointing. But not unexpected in a society that inculcates people into believing in quick fixes.
Weaklings.
I have enormous empathy for people who struggle to maintain a healthy body weight in a totally toxic food environment. I was very fortunate to encounter some people who really understood human nutrition, when I was in my early 20s. The dietary changes that I made because of what I learned from them, helped me lose the extra 5 kg or so that I'd been carrying since my teens, and maintain a lean body ever since then, through two pregnancies and menopause! But most people grow up in families with terrible nutrition knowledge and practices, live in obesigenic environments, and encounter only bad information when they try to lose weight. Then, when they've failed to lose weight on fad diets and they're absolutely desperate, they're told the only solution is anti-obesity medications that have awful side-effects. It's utterly tragic.
It doesn't seem to matter even if you try to educate people ...
We had a cousin and her obese friend stay with us a few months back... the woman is just over 5ft tall and 185lbs... one evening I watched as she gobbled about a dozen different meds... and we got to talking about food.
She asked what I did to keep from gaining weight ... I explained that even if you eat no desserts ... drink soda etc... you are still consuming loads of sugar... go into even a premium shop and check the labels.. almost everything has added sugar... most people are not aware of that so they cannot understand why they continue to gain weight.
The next morning she asked if she could have what I was eating for breakfast.
It was a concoction of organic chia and coconut yoghurt... protein powder.. nuts... a chopped banana...and a few raisins ...with a little organic cinnamon powder...and organic almond milk
She normally eats granola cereals (which are laced with sugar/honey)... so her comment was -- this has no taste... she didn't finish it...
I advised her that rather than go cold turkey she should slowly wean off of the sugar...
As far as I know she is still obese ... popping pills... and complaining about being fat... yet unwilling to do anything about it.
That's 99%+ of all people who are overweight
I share your frustration with people who won't change even when a) they're suffering terribly and b) you lay a perfectly sensible plan in front of them with c) at least anecdotal evidence (i.e. your own experience) that it works. Many of my family members are like this. But I view this as an addiction problem. These people's brains have been rewired over decades of eating ultraprocessed, hyperpalatable foods, and using these foods as an emotional crutch. Many of them need a detox and rehab facility, just like people addicted to drugs and alcohol.
I'm over being frustrated with people who are unable to pursue excellence in terms of health ... who are unable to control their eating habits... who can't be bothered to exercise... I generally do not try to educate because it is futile...
It's the same with Vaxxers... why waste my energy on them...
Instead I like to bask in my superiority over these weaklings... I see them as pathetic... feeble-minded....
I view sugar the same as a drug. Cutting back doesn’t work easily because you are still consuming it. Too easy to have just one more. If you commit to eating healthy, then cold turkey is the way to go.
Yes, and I think this is why medically-supervised water-only fasting can be incredibly helpful in cases like these. It's basically a giant reset button that restores people's taste sensitivity, hunger and satiety signalling, and insulin sensitivity.
For those wanting to do this Google the 21-day challenge. It's a hard core diet ... with no sugar.
I know people who had poor diets who tried this -- and they were vomiting and nauseous coming off the sugar...
I never got nauseous coming off sugar, but after I kicked it, I would get nauseous if someone brought donuts or other sweet treats into the office.
These foods smell weird to me. I don't think it's necessarily the sugar though, it's all the other crap that's added to them to make them hyperpalatable.
These were people who were transitioning off of the KFC 5 sodas a day diet....