My Mental Health Vacation is over. I'm back in the saddle.
I think some of you assumed I was having a fun spring break. Au Contraire.
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Did any of you see the Oprah special on these insulin drugs used for weight loss that was on TV last week?
It was typical Oprah in several ways. I watched it at 2am and at times I wish I had watched with Rick so I had someone to talk to instead of yelling at Oprah/my TV.
There were a few things to appreciate and like about it.
However, it was very one-sided to me.
They spoke of the side effects for 1 minute with one woman. 1 minute.
No one talked about hair loss, or the well documented issues of gastroparesis etc. I know someone on it who had to stop due to all the serious side effects she was having. I felt bad for her because she thought this would be the holy grail for her and I had hoped it would be too.
She had far more than just vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, and believe me that's enough! None of that was discussed except for that one minute with one woman.
It was my understanding from the people in the audience this will have to be something you take for the rest of your life. Are there long-term side effects since this was not made for weight loss? Never asked or mentioned. Remember Phen-phen a few years ago? It was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread and everyone could lose weight. Then after a year or 2 everyone either had heart issues or other horrific side effects. So they took it off the market I believe. So now we are jumping on this, is it too soon? What about all the people who really need this for their diabetes and can't get it because everyone who doesn't need it for diabetes is using it?
That concerns me as well. If I was diabetic and couldn't get this due to a celebrity using it that just isn't fair or right.
There were so many unanswered questions and things not even being discussed.
That is what bothered me 2nd of all with this special. The first was the doctors who were on the Oprah panel.
All the doctors that were on were paid by the pharmaceutical companies.
Oprah told us this fact to be transparent and it was appreciated by me.
However, what about the doctors who have seen the horrors and who aren't paid by Eli Lilly or Novo Nordisk? That would have been a true conversation.
Then we have the topic of all the skinny people taking it to fit into a dress like celebrities? This should not be used for 20 - 25lbs and doctors who give it to them are foolish to me.
I saw that plastic surgeon who is on the show Botched say he was on it to lose 20-25lbs but he got off it so he could eat, he missed eating. He did not have a disease, just vanity to lose his belly. He said he would go back on after a couple of weeks. So what does that do to your body? That can't be good, can it? Those are the things I wanted them to talk about. They only talked about how great it is, nothing negative. Nothing in this world is 100% positive. So that didn't ring true for me.
I applaud the ability to lose weight using this drug. I just need more information and by God, I'd do it if it was covered by insurance and I had more answers!
But it is not. $1600+ a month is more than I can pay. I pay enough for Rick's stroke medications monthly to keep him alive. That is my priority.
I left feeling like I watched a political show, it was all one-sided to the speaker's/politician's goals and not the reality of society.
What I thought they did correctly was showcase how for a good many people overweight, obesity is a disease, and not everyone can lose it by diet and exercise alone. I thought the young girl and her entire family on the show was a perfect example of this.
They drove that point home and it was a good one for all people to see.
The bottom line is if you can afford it, and you can get it, and it works for you. Great!
Now if only they would figure something out for all of society with fewer side effects and that is covered by insurance!
In the meantime, I guess I will remain a chubby gal.
12 comments:
Welcome back. I hope your mental health break was good. I'm doing something like it, staying cocooned at home because my mental state isn't great enough to tolerate being around people at large.
I didn't even watch the Oprah show. I am not impressed by privileged people taking essential medications from people who need them to survive, even if said privileged person can use them to get skinny. I think it is hilarious how many skinny people there are on tv now - it is so obvious. And you are right - I think you need to stay on this drug, so I'm assuming one of these days the newly-skinny will be back at their real weight.
I think the worst part with Oprah, though, is her total disinterest in what this will do to Weight Watchers. I mean, she bought WW. I think she was their president? They were already in trouble, I am guessing this will be the death knell. The truth is, it is hard to stay slender. I remember looking at photos of my mother holding her baby back in the late 1940s and was impressed with how slender she was. Then I finally realized - oh, she was still thin because of wartime deprivation! This is way off topic, but i was reading published correspondence from the early 1950s between and American and an Englishman. She learned how tough rationing was in England - two eggs per person per MONTH! Now, that's how you stay thin.
We are having a sunny spring day here, although it's pretty cold. I hope you have a beautiful day, too.
Nina
Nina, Oprah did have the Weight Watcher folks on
She dove into why she left. Apparently WW is also using medication now.
Wow 2 eggs a month! I eat that in a week.
Oh my!
I didn't see the Oprah thing. I'd heard of the nasty side effects some have experienced - life altering, never going to get better side effects. I remember one saying, "I wish I'd never tried it". Enough said.
After 74 years of fighting a problem with weight, I've given it up. I enjoy what I want. I'm trying to be careful with my weight. Oprah has so much money that she can talk about weight. The normal person has to deal with it. Life is what we get.
Cruisin Paul
Usually anything new isn't good for you lol.
I wasn't even aware that Oprah had a show about diet drugs until I read your post.
It doesn't seem fair to me that things are in short supply for people who need them for medical reasons. I've been blessed with a good metabolism, but I feel for those who don't, especially people who have a genetic predisposition towards obesity. They should get to be close to the top of the line, not some 20-something celebrity who wants to wear a dress a size smaller than normal.
$1600+ a month can get you a lot of personal training and probably be better for you.
Mike, your comment was the point of the special. Shaming those who are obese. It was obesity as a disease. Not to be confused with those who can lose if they ate less and moved.That does not help all or is enough for some.
I don't watch Oprah ~ I was totally turned off from her when she started her book club back in '96. That's a long story, but these folks who are using Ozempic for weight loss must be wealthy. The "benefits" will disappear when they stop taking it ~ I did not know about all the side effects.
Yvonne, since the book club eh? That was the only thing I liked about her. Although her book choices always sucked except for 1 I found. So I quit watching. The side effects for some are horrendous and some are life long. Hence why I won't do it. Besides insurance won't cover it so there is that big issue. :-) I find it more harmful than bypass surgery. Do you know I know 3 people who have had bypass. All learned to eat "around" the issues and gained all the weight back. Why put yourself through all that pain and suffering to do that to yourself is my thought. It's not for me I guess is what I'm saying. To each their own, just do the research!!
I watched the program and maybe it was the mood I was in but my thoughts were that it's another one of Oprah's weight loss shows and there will be another along in a few years. I would have liked to have seen more research on WHY some of us can't loss weight, more of the remove the sigma type information from doctors. I like Oprah. She's a self-made woman who is probably more 'real' than most celebrities but that show did nothing to make me want to try the drugs.
I had the bypass surgery will be two years in August. I lost almost 100 pounds and I'm just now started gaining 10 lbs. back and not happy about it. I want lie I wanted to get the medication, but I was of course denied. I am Type 1 is the reason I can't have it, even though when I use to do medical research stuff, I think it was one I used during a trial.
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