Cottage cheese
Beans and legumes
Complex carbohydrates
Hydration

which, I don't know if that is good?

I do know that making money is the prime objective.

I have two heavy drinking female friends. One also a smoker for life. Both clearly addictive personalities.

The smoker quit smoking. Both barely drink on the ozempic which is what will save their lives. They are both losing weight, but not just the food addiction is being curbed.

However, does Ozempic suppress desires other than addictions. How many other desires does it suppress?

They are middle of the road on weight for America. Not healthy but not dying.

The drinking is an absolutely deadly addiction. One has had extensive legal involvement and being an alcoholic knocks 20 years off of a normal lifespan. If I had a loved one with an addiction or a type 2 diabetic, I would absolutely one then to try ozempic. Monitored by a doctor with a high protein diet and exercise to maintain muscle mass.

use it to mimic a couple of specific hormones in your body to slow the metabolism and to trigger your pancreas to produce more insulin. As a result, the food in the stomach stays there much longer and the additional insulin lowers glucose levels.
When you take it the most obvious effect is that you will almost always feel full (too full) and it discourages your desire to eat because the brain isn't getting the hunger signals all the time because, well, you aren't hungry. The food is kept in the stomach longer, so you will eat way smaller meals as well.

And addiction.
If used medically under medical supervision, this can clearly help a lot of people not only with diabetes, but also with addictions. I’m a witness to the changes in addictive behavior on two different people, and for them it’s life changing for the better.

wasn't explained to me by the doctors (I work with them). Very interesting if it actually works for that.
I know one who intensely studies the statistical side of drugs and procedures, Ill have to ask him how effective it is for that purpose.

I know. She’s an alcoholic. She of course does not self identify as an alcoholic. She has been charged with manslaughter and convicted for killing someone while drinking and driving now a long time ago.

She’s an addict because no rational person would ever drink again knowing the trauma she caused someone else and her own family as a teen. Ozempic is the only thing I’ve seen limit her drinking. There are other drugs to make you sick etc if you take it and stop drinking. But that requires you to acknowledge the issue and want to stop by causing additional pain to your system. For her and others, not drinking is another side effect now for weight loss. They are treating weight loss but the benefit is a reduction in other addictive behavior.

He did lose SOME weight.

Since taking office he DGAF and it shows. Can't even get anyone to help with his combover pompadour.

Obviously, my perspective is biased because these are seen in ERs across the country, including my own.

But, some of those "side effects" are not self-limiting--i.e., they persist even after stopping these meds. Partial paralysis of the stomach (gastric paresis) and intestinal tract are among them--big problem. Not for me.

That said, these drugs can be incredibly helpful in diabetics and with accompanying heart disease. Likewise in the morbidly obese. But oversight is the issue and for weight loss, these products seem to have lost that protective intervention.

That’s a massive pool from which to draw inferences from, even without controlled research.

IIRC, In controlled research for weight loss, about 30% lose weight, 30% don’t , and 30% have side effects so severe they must stop using the medication.

As far as brain fog, it’s a very rare side effect from what I have seen.

The potential for using GLP drugs in treating addictions is exciting, and I am certain there is or soon will be, research in that application.

Does Trump appear to have lost weight to you? Not to me. He has spoken disparagingly about
“The fat shot” previously, so I’m not sure his ego would allow him to use it.

You seem to be implying he has brain fog due to GLP use, and I see no evidence of that. His cognitive decline, including speech deterioration, seems to come from age related issues, not drugs.

From the article at your link:

I worked with geriatric populations for over a decade with Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Dementia, and Trump's decline adheres much closer to age-related decline than anything else. Mix in what is probably a shitty diet and lack of exercise with his already fucked up personality disorders, and it's quite a brew.

A random drug wouldn't be my first reach in wondering what goes on with him.

So they will latch onto whatever “feels” believable within their Tribal Bubble of Believability.

Or just make up an answer to relieve the distress caused by the uncertain unknowingness.

There's always some Scooby Doo culprit for why things are the way they are. It doesn't help we're currently undergoing a new devolution into social media spread conspiracy theories where there's always some secret thing behind all bad events.

One of the phrases that stuck with me throughout reading history and philosophy is "the banality of evil." Humans are really boring when you really get down to it. They don't have grand plans and Bond villain level machinations. Layers within layers of ingenious planning, anticipating their opposition five moves ahead.

They're dumb. Trump is a very dumb person. The people around him are dumb. We can see everything they do, because they keep telling us about it. They brute force through money and intimidation. Most rich and powerful people do. Every bad actor in America, be it in politics, technology, finance, religion, or social movement announces themselves. Plainly and openly. If it's such a secret, we wouldn't be sitting here discussing it day after day.

The real problem is that most humans don't have complex moral systems where they're considering every action they take and the consequences. Most people just react and go along with events. The manipulative know how to take advantage of that. That's why we end up with so many sociopaths in power. Sociopaths are amazing at manipulation.

Trump is as straight forward as possible. Narcissistic personality disorder with a touch of borderline (classic almost daily "splitting" behaviors), blended with poor health and cognitive decline. It's not a secret. He advertises it at every press conference.

He shows none of the markers for it.

That said, it's now a mass market medication. GLP-1 agonists have been around for about 20 years, but now a much, much larger population are taking them. So, we'll probably see firmer evidence of adverse effects of the drug. But it also has to do with self-report.

Brain fog is a sticky one, because it can be used to describe different conditions and we're relying on a patient's description of cognition. There are also other underlying or related causes. Are they getting enough sleep? When they do eat, are they getting adequate nutrition? One of the sticky wickets is that, sure, Ozempic reduces hunger, but then what are people eating when they do eat? If you're not getting sufficient vitamins, fats, and proteins, the brain is going to be affected.

It's actually more crucial to have nutritionally dense food when you're eating significantly less of it. How many people are making that lifestyle change, and how many are just using it as a shortcut to fewer calories? Are people including exercise, or are they now both not eating and not being sufficiently active because they figure they don't have to.

At the end of the day, it's going to take time and statistically sound studies to really unravel what mass prescription of this stuff does.

I'm neither for nor against Ozempic. It's a drug like any other. And like other drugs that suddenly hit mass market and then problems became clearer with a larger cohort to study, I imagine researchers will discover a few things along the way.

Not now.

The campaign's over.

Most are not listed in the documentation.

It will be one of those, "Have you or someone you love been harmed by taking..." Drugs in a few years

A super MAGA couple in the extended family are so anti-vaccine (fanatical I would say). They rant and rave about how we don't know what is in the vaccines vacillating between conspiracy after conspiracy. Yet, they have no qualms about injecting themselves with their GLP1.

How they reconcile all that is incomprehensible to me.

So they act centrally on desire and craving more generally. They may very well have effects on other addictions as well.

It is extraordinarily interesting that these small peptides have such a profound impact on the dopaminergic centers of the brain.

I am a type II diabetic. I went from an A1C of 14+ (this was just after my doctor practice fired Blue Cross and I have to replace all of my doctors) to a low of 5.3. I have also lost 50+ pounds. I am now off the fast-acting insulin and have cut back the long-lasting insulin to one-third of my old dosage. My last A1C was 6.1. Due to use of NSAIDs, I have been seeing a renal specialist for over 25 years. My kidney function has gone from 52% for the last 22 years to 88% for the last three years.

I have fewer side effects with Mounjara compared to Ozempic. I am happy with these results and hope to cut back on the long-lasting insulin. There are reports of type II diabetics going off all insulins.

I am following the literature, and I have not seen anything that concerns me.

It's still expensive and just under $500/month but I feel like it's worth it.

I'm asking, what is it doing to the brain?

Instead of treating it like a diet pill. We don't want something like Vioxx or DNP.

So many people say all you need is diet/exercise, then try to blame the overweight person for not having enough willpower. Well, try dieting when you have an unnatural craving for food, and can't stop thinking about it. Try exercising when you're overweight and it's hard to simply move your body.

GLP-1s start by removing those constant thoughts about food. It quiets whatever is craving food and allows you to wait until you're actually hungry before you eat. Then, when you eat, you can stop when you feel full.

The lack of cravings also allows you to make better choices about nutrition. I eat way better than before.

The change in appetite and food choices obviously causes weight loss. As you lose weight, exercise becomes easier, so you do it more.

I'm way more active that I was before and much fitter. I do regular DEXA scans and they show my muscle mass is increasing while the fat is decreasing..

Overall, it's one of the best things I ever did for myself.

Ozempic has been prescribed for almost two decades. Plenty of data and research on GLP-1s if you care to look.

It's really hard to articulate food noise to people who don't experience it and to those who always have. But, having that shut off is a literal life-saver for some.

I do think there is potential in how the drugs impact our reward systems - good and bad. I've found that some of the pleasure in things has diminished along with the cravings. Just a bit, not enough to be an issue, and still a fair trade on balance.

I tried Ozempic and it made me so sick that I was nauseated 2-3 times per day.

I used to have stomach issues the day after my shot. My endocrinologist switched me to Mounjaro and I have no issues.

I lost 80 pounds over the first two years. I am more active now than I was in my mid 50's, post hysterectomy for cancer. I was 40lbs overweight at the time. While in the hospital they found that I had type 2 diabetes and Hashimoto's disease (autoimmune and thyroid was shot) which explained my inability to lose weight. I started on Metformin and Levothyoxine at that time and began to gain more weight post op. This went on for about 18 years.

Four years ago I had asked my Dr. if I could try Ozempic when it came out and she said she did not recommend it for me. She thought it was fraught with side-effects and too risky. A year later, I had managed to lose 10 lbs. somehow and she was happy. She asked if I would like some help, and offered to prescribe Mounjaro; less side-effects and safer. The rest is history for me.

Mounjaro has been approved for my diabetes drug for good. My A1c is 4.8 to 5.0! Normal!! At 77 I can walk 2+ miles with almost no trouble, whereas before I could hardly make it around our block without resting. I'm careful with my diet to get enough protien, and I'm thinking of doing some weight training. But I am healthier now than I was in my 50's thanks to Mounjaro!

I went from 225Lbs to 145LBS, I'm 5' 3" and wear a size 8 down from 18W or 2XL shirts. Bra size down from 42DD to a 36C, and good riddance! I'm back to all of my former, post baby 30's weights and measures before my body began to change. My back and shoulders are very happy!

Sorry if this is TMI, but I can't tell you how happy I am about this. I feel so much better!

I had stomach issues the day after my Ozempic shot. I do not have the same issues with Mounjaro and have lost some more weight.