May 5, 2023 — Aryn Thirp, a 35-year-old mother and blogger from South Jordan, UT, knew something had to vary last 12 months when she saw the numbers in her lab results: Her cholesterol and Triglycerides, a sort of fat present in the blood, were each twice as high as they need to have been.
Thirp suffers from a hormonal imbalance attributable to polycystic ovary syndrome, which is why other attempts at weight reduction have been ineffective.
“I thought, 'OK, this is it. I'll try it,'” she said. “These labs really made me panic.”
In April 2022, Thirp began taking a weight-loss injection called Wegovy, which incorporates the identical energetic ingredient as Ozempic. Thanks to social media and celebrity endorsements, the drug has gone from obscurity to popularity. When she stopped the injections in February, her cholesterol had dropped by 188 points and her triglycerides by 186 points, and she or he had lost 78 kilos.
Thirp is one among a growing variety of people who find themselves getting anti-obesity injections. Interest in these treatments is rapidly increasing amongst individuals with obesity, although the general public was not aware of them just a couple of months ago, based on a brand new survey by the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) and the telemedicine company Ro.
Two-thirds (68%) of individuals with obesity surveyed had heard of no less than one drug in the identical class as Ozempic and 60% were concerned about treatment.
“This is the first time we've had the opportunity to examine attitudes toward anti-obesity drugs,” said Dr. Beverly Tchang, an endocrinologist and assistant professor of medication at Weill Cornell Medicine who also serves as an RO advisor. “We've found that people are very open to using them, especially after trying other methods. It's a new toolkit that can be offered.”
Of the 1,022 participants, 53% reported a body mass index (BMI) of over 30. (BMI is predicated in your height and weight. It is one technique to determine when you are at a healthy weight since it indicates how healthy your weight is in comparison with your height. A BMI of 30 or more is taken into account obese.)
Thirty-six percent of participants living with obesity said they might work two jobs to afford weight reduction medication, and 59 percent said they might be willing to take medication for all times to keep up their ideal weight.
The energetic ingredient in Ozempic, semaglutide, mimics the function of a natural hormone called glucagon-like peptide, or GLP-1which creates a sense of satiety. The drug was originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes, but was later approved for the treatment of obesity under the brand name Wegovy in barely different dosages.
Of participants concerned about GLP-1 medications, 95% have tried to drop a few pounds no less than once previously five years, 35% have tried five to 10 times, and 34% have tried 10 times or more.
“There are people who are frustrated and have had no choice but to change their lifestyle and have surgery,” Tchang said.
However, the drugs even have potential negative effects, which concerns 31% of respondents concerned about GLP-1 drugs. (Thirp, a mother of 4, suffered from severe fatigue that forced her to lie down every hour.)
They are also very expensive and are sometimes not covered by insurance. 32 percent of respondents said they were unsure whether their insurance would cover the prices and 26 percent said they were too expensive.
Over the course of her treatment, Thirp spent over $8,000 on the injections, none of which was covered by insurance, despite the fact that she suffered from a medical condition that caused weight gain.
Ethan Lazarus, MD, past president of the Obesity Medicine Association and an obesity physician in Greenwood Village, Colorado, said GLP-1 agonists suppress hunger in a way that's comparable to wearing headphones next to a screaming child on an airplane.
“They just don't have an appetite,” Lazarus said. “Or they have a craving for protein.”
The drugs could also help destigmatize obesity by shedding light on the processes underlying hunger, shifting the discussion from blame to biology, Lazarus said – something he believes is urgently needed in medicine.
Discrimination in healthcare was also highlighted within the survey. One-third of participants felt judged by healthcare providers based on their weight. 49 percent said that they had been teased, treated unfairly or discriminated against within the healthcare system.
“Doctors don't accept that obesity is a disease and continue to believe that it is a guilty disease caused by eating too much and not exercising enough,” Lazarus said. “I think that is changing with the acceptance that it is a disease with a hormonal cause.”