I upped the #Zepbound dosage to 5mg today. I've been feeling so great on 2.5mg and my PCP convinced me to go up to 5mg for the therapeutic weight loss dosage. But wow it's been like throwing a light switch for my #CFS #LongCOVID. I'm very close to back to normal with my cognitive functions.
I have had appointments with my PCP and the specialist at Stanford. My PCP is much more enthusiastic than the specialist about my progress. I guess this is an unusual and unexpected result?
One nice thing with the #Zepbound is my body is much less on edge and I'm pretty relaxed mentally which is a great change. Also my brain in general is functioning better. I am losing about 2lbs a week as well.
I guess I'll see what happens next week on Tuesday. Although we'll probably be doing a fair amount of driving and walking around this weekend, too.
I felt pretty awful yesterday but was able to function more or less normally throughout the day. Over the weekend we did drive a lot and on Monday evening we walked for a mile. I also ate black licorice which is not something I usually eat. And I had my weekly Zepbound injection.
So one of those things probably was giving me some #LongCOVD #CFS symptoms? Or is it #Zepbound side effects? I haven't had any side effects from Zepbound up to this point.
The #Zepbound at 2.5mg has also made my appetite much more normal. And my mood is greatly improved. My body feels less inflamed as well and the constant low-level pain I've had for many years is greatly decreased.
I'm even sleeping through the night and not waking up until my alarm. I haven't done that in at least 12 years. Various sleep aids I've tried over the years have never had this result.
I'm still not quite ready to resume exercising but I feel like I might be able to soon. #LongCOVID
I saw my sleep medicine doc yesterday for my annual check-in about my extremely severe sleep apnea (I've got one of the worst cases any of the various sleep doctors I've been to have ever seen). They boosted my pressures a little bit and I'm going to have an overnight pulse oximetry study soon to see if my O2 saturation is going too low at night as a result of still recovering from #LongCOVID
I'm 3 weeks into #Zepbound and it is nothing short of miraculous for lifting brain fog and sleep.
Eli Lilly raises price of Zepbound while trumpeting discount on starter vials - Enlarge / An Eli Lilly & Co. Zepbound injection pen arranged in the... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=2046139 #prescriptiondrugs #healthinsurance #weightlossdrugs #berniesanders #drugprices #elililly #zepbound #science #sanders #glp-1 #lilly
Hey folks,
As many of you know, I am diabetic, and over the past several years, many medications, including but not limited to those for diabetes, have been difficult to find due to worldwide shortage.
MedHound is my idea to help patients find meds that are in shortage using crowdsourcing. The local development group I'm working with entered it into the Create the Future competition. If you can, please register, vote, and share!
The next food marketing blitz is aimed at people on new weight-loss drugs - Enlarge (credit: Getty | Jeffrey Greenberg)
As new diabetes an... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=2026494 #weightwatchers #dailyharvest #foodindustry #weightloss #mounjaro #zepbound #science #ozempic #nestle #wegovy #glp-1 #diet #food #gnc
#Wegovy®, #Zepbound®, and similar medications continue to gain attention for effectively treating #obesity, and now there is discussion—with research underway—about their potential for improving certain #surgical outcomes.
The brand-name medications mentioned above belong to a class called GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) agonists. #GLP-1s mimic the actions of the GLP-1 hormone, which is secreted in the gut and sends an “I’m full” signal to the brain after you eat.
GLP-1 medications aren’t new. @Ozempic® (generic name: #semaglutide) received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat type 2 diabetes in 2017.
After its weight-loss effects were studied, semaglutide (at a higher dose and sold under the name Wegovy) was approved by the FDA as an anti-obesity medication in 2021, and others have since followed.
Most recently, the FDA approved Wegovy for patients with #cardiovascular #disease and obesity or overweight after a study showed that those taking the medication had a lower overall risk of major cardiac events, such as heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular-related death.
Now, some Yale Medicine surgeons believe, based on their ongoing research, that taking anti-obesity medications before and sometimes after total #joint #replacement and #bariatric #surgery can be beneficial.
“These medications have been transformative, in terms of expanding the pool of people who can safely undergo joint replacement surgery,” says Daniel Wiznia, MD, a Yale Medicine orthopaedic surgeon and co-director of the Avascular Necrosis Program.
“These anti-obesity medications are game-changers; they are changing the way people practice medicine.”
Often, patients who need a total hip or knee replacement must delay surgery until they lose enough weight to meet specific body mass index ( #BMI ) standards.
This is important in protecting the patient’s health.
“Weight increases a patient’s risk of postoperative complications, including wound-healing problems, stroke, heart attack, blood clots, and infection,” he says.
However, having patients take a GLP-1 medication before surgery, as well as improving their diet, has allowed more patients to reach a safe preoperative BMI, Dr. Wiznia says.
https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/anti-obesity-medications-before-surgery
More ammunition for legislation to provide coverage for obesity medications and management
“ In this cohort study of primary care patients with #obesity, we demonstrated meaningful associations between weight management treatments (WMT) and 5% or greater weight loss for individuals. Yet, low rates of WMT utilization hindered population-level benefit. Health systems and insurers should consider novel strategies to enhance preference-sensitive use of WMT to optimize achievement of 5% or greater weight loss among individuals and populations with obesity.”
#ozempic #wegovy #mounjaro #zepbound #weightloss #diet
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2815174
Amazing: #Ozempic Maker Novo Gets Calls From ‘Scared’ Food CEOs
“Makers of everything from snack food to knee implants are facing a potential threat from Novo Nordisk A/S’s powerful appetite-suppressing treatments. So they’re calling the drugmaker for advice.
“A couple of CEOs from, say, food companies have been calling me,” Novo Chief Executive Officer Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen said during a wide-ranging discussion in New York.”
#wegovy #mounjaro #zepbound
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-08/-scared-food-ceos-are-calling-ozempic-maker-novo-nordisk-for-advice
Older Americans Are About to Lose a Lot of Weight
“Already, seniors make up 26.6 percent of the people who have been prescribed these and other #GLP1 agonists, including #Ozempic, since 2018, according to a report from Truveta, which draws data from a large network of health-care systems. In the coming years, that proportion could rise even higher: The bipartisan Treat and Reduce #Obesity Act, introduced in Congress last July, would allow #Medicare to cover drug treatments for obesity among its roughly 50 million Part D enrollees above the age of 65”
#wegovy #zepbound #mounjaro
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2024/02/ozempic-weight-loss-older-americans-boomers/677371/
GLP-1 agents such as #semaglutide (#Ozempic #Wegovy) and #tirzepatide (#Mounjaro #Zepbound) are game-changers. In addition to obesity, they may reduce neurodegenerative diseases, such as #Parkinsons and #Alzheimers #Dementia, due to a reduction in metabolic syndrome, reduction in vascular events and neuroprotective effects.
“#GLP1 plays important role in augmenting #Iinsulin signalling inside the brain. #GLP_1 receptors…are also involved in cognition, synaptic transmission in hippocampal neurons, and cell apoptosis. Overexpression of this receptor is responsible for cognition enhancement and neuroprotection
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9159769/
The #Ozempic Plateau
“The latest weight-loss drugs are rightly hailed as game changers for #obesity, but in an important way, they are just like every other method of managing weight: They work only to a point for weight loss. The pounds melt off quickly at first and then gradually and then not at all. You can’t lose any more no matter what you do. You’ve hit the weight-loss plateau.”
#Wegovy #mounjaro #zepbound
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2024/01/why-you-will-stop-losing-weight-ozempic/677148/
Drugs like #Ozempic and #Wegovy show no link with #Suicide
A preliminary review of side effects from popular drugs used to treat #diabetes and #Obesity shows no link with suicidal thoughts or actions, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.
But the agency also said officials cannot definitively rule out that “a small risk may exist” and that they’ll continue to look into reports regarding more than a dozen drugs, including Ozempic, Wegovy and #Mounjaro. Patients taking the drugs should report any concerns to health care providers, the FDA said.
#suicide #zepbound
https://apnews.com/article/wegovy-ozempic-obesity-suicide-thoughts-fda-fbe7b158e78c199f8f8d3a551dcaa60d
Hot off the presses: The AMA affirms a policy urging all payers, employers, and government programs to cover #obesity medications like #Wegovy and #Zepbound
From me and @STAT's Elaine Chen:
https://www.statnews.com/2023/11/13/weight-loss-drugs-wegovy-zepbound-ama-insurers/
My colleagues Elaine Chen and @matthewherper are at #AHA2023, telling us about the latest in #cardiovascular research.
New from the conference: SELECT full results are out -- showing that #Wegovy notably cut the rate of #heart attacks, driving overall cardiovascular risk reduction and giving payers a better reason to cover Lilly's and Novo's weight-loss drugs
https://www.statnews.com/2023/11/11/heart-attack-stroke-obesity-wegovy-novo-nordisk-select/
Mechanic 