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?
Zepbound beats Wegovy for weight loss in first head-to-head trial of blockbuster drugs
“The point of these medications is to improve health,” he said. “The majority of people won’t need the most effective medication.”
Houston-based Empower Pharmacy is one of two compounding pharmacies sued by the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly earlier this month for allegedly selling “knockoff” versions of its weight loss and diabetes drugs.
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.
GLP-1s Are Crazy Effective — Just Not Cost-Effective
I’ll make the argument that the most effective drugs in the past decade are the GLP-1 receptor agonists, drugs like semaglutide and tirzepatide. At least in terms of weight loss, they are truly unparalleled. They are clearly effective. But are they worth it? Are they cost-effective? That is a much harder question, and, as you’ll see in a minute, despite their amazing effects, the answer — for now, at least — is no.
#mounjaro #ozempic #zepbound #wegovy #glp1
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/glp-1s-are-crazy-effective-just-not-cost-effective-2025a10006es?form=fpf
Remember Noom's full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal a couple weeks ago begging Congress to keep compounded weight-loss drugs on the market (even though that's not allowed by law?)
@STAT's obesity drugs expert @elaineywchen has more about the patients caught in the fight between Lilly and compounders
https://www.statnews.com/2024/10/11/eli-lilly-tirzepatide-zepbound-mounjaro-compounded-drugs/
From 29 Aug: Eli Lilly raises price of Zepbound while trumpeting discount on starter vials - Enlarge / An Eli Lilly & Co. Zepbound injection pen arranged in the Brooklyn borough o... https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/08/eli-lilly-raises-price-of-zepbound-while-trumpeting-discount-on-starter-vials/ #bernie-sanders #drug-prices #eli-lilly #glp-1 #health-insurance #lilly #prescription-drugs #sanders #science #weight-loss-drugs #zepbound
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
"Some of the benefits appeared to last, however, only as long as patients were taking the drug."
Eli Lilly Says Weight-Loss Drug Sharply Reduces Diabetes Progression
The drug also led to significant weight reduction
Weekly injections of Zepbound for more than 3 years reduced the risk of progression to Type 2 diabetes by 94%, compared with a placebo, among people with excess weight and prediabetes.
“You could argue this is just as important as the discovery of CPAP therapy 40 odd years ago,” referring to continuous positive airway pressure.
Why Curing Sleep Apnea Would Push Insurers to Pay for Weight-Loss Drugs
The New Holy Grail for Weight-Loss Drugs Is Sleep Apnea
Popular anti-obesity medicines are in testing for a range of other diseases. Positive results could prompt more insurers to pay up.
For a company that was founded to "defeat Mother Nature," #Google's #healthtech company #Verily's latest pivot is strangely pedestrian.
It's turning its chronic care program Onduo into a new platform called Lightpath that prescribes #GLP-1s & collects wearable data (including from OTC CGMs for non-diabetic patients) with #AI
for @STAT: https://www.statnews.com/2024/06/11/google-verily-glp1-weight-loss-drugs-lightpath-onduo/
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
Will we need less doctors in the future?
Magic Pills Are Coming
“At healthcare conferences, someone always asks, “What if there was a magic pill?” One that could cure major diseases. What would the healthcare industry look like? Some emergency rooms and hospitals but less doctors and spending?”
#healthcare #parkinsons #cancer #addiction-#depression #obesity #diabetes #wegovy #ozempic #mounjaro #zepbound
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 
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