Free Republic

Slimmers were today warned that weight loss jabs could trigger a worrying eye condition causing blindness. Semaglutide, available as Ozempic and Wegovy, has been hailed as a monumental breakthrough in the war on obesity. But according to US experts, people with diabetes prescribed semaglutide were four times more likely to be diagnosed with non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION). And overweight or obese people taking the drugs were seven times more likely to develop the condition, known as an 'eye stroke', than those on other weight-loss medications. Researchers labelled the findings 'significant but tentative' and urged medics to warn patients...

KEY POINTS: * Patients taking diabetes and weight loss drugs say they’ve also noticed changes in their cravings for alcohol, nicotine, opioids and some compulsive behaviors, such as online shopping and gambling. * These anecdotal reports add to the growing list of potential benefits of GLP-1s like Ozempic and Wegovy beyond shedding unwanted pounds. * Several studies in animals back up those reports, but more research needs to be done in humans to prove that those treatments can curb addiction. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Heather Le Biller shed 9 pounds within the first week of taking Novo Nordisk ’s blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic...

Surgery patients on blockbuster weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy could be at risk of choking to death, a study warns. Researchers in California looked at nearly 1 million Americans who had an endoscopy, which examines the upper digestive tract. They found that patients who underwent the procedure - which involves inserting a tube with a camera on the end down the throat while the patient is sedated- were 33 percent more likely to suffer aspiration pneumonia. This causes food, liquids, or saliva to get sucked into the airway, which could lead to choking and kills nearly 60,000 Americans a...

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - The newest class of weight loss drugs is being called the “Breakthrough of the year.” That’s because their benefits go beyond weight loss itself, according to the health publication, “Science.” The added health benefits and positive results led Dr. Hayley DeGraaff of Advanced Life Clinic in Huntsville to say these drugs actually live up to the hype and could help fight Alabama’s obesity crisis. Alabama has the third highest adult obesity rate in the country. The class of weight loss drugs described as the “Breakthrough of the Year,” by “Science,” are glucagon-like peptide-1 or GLP-1 drugs;...

Treating newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes patients with semaglutide (trade names Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus) may drastically reduce or even eliminate their need for injected insulin. Those are the remarkable findings of a small study. "Our findings from this admittedly small study are, nevertheless, so promising for newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes patients that we are now absolutely focused on pursuing a larger study for a longer period of time," says Paresh Dandona, MD, Ph.D. A total of 10 patients were studied, all of whom had been diagnosed in the past three to six months with type 1 diabetes. The...

A weight-loss drug has been proven to also reduce the risk of a stroke or heart attack, according to a new trial. The makers of Wegovy, Novo Nordisk, say its latest study shows it cuts risk of a cardiovascular event in overweight people with heart disease by a fifth. The firm hailed it a "landmark trial", saying it would change the way obesity is regarded and treated. While the findings still have to be fully reviewed, experts agreed the results were potentially significant. The injection is popular in places like the US, and was approved for weight loss in the...

People taking Ozempic for weight loss say they have also stopped drinking, smoking, shopping, and even nail biting. All her life, Victoria Rutledge thought of herself as someone with an addictive personality. Her first addiction was alcohol. After she got sober in her early 30s, she replaced drinking with food and shopping, which she thought about constantly. She would spend $500 on organic groceries, only to have them go bad in her fridge. “I couldn’t stop from going to that extreme,” she told me. When she ran errands at Target, she would impulsively throw extra things—candles, makeup, skin-care products—into her...

Popular celebrity weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic could have serious side effects, according to researchers in China. In a study set to appear in the monthly journal Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, researchers believe that there is an “increased risk” of intestinal obstruction when taking those medications. The drugs are made up of the peptide semaglutide, a derivative of GLP-1, a hormone derived from the small intestine.

This article was featured in One Great Story, New York’s reading recommendation newsletter. Sign up here to get it nightly. Allison is an actress. When we meet up for coffee — she has an almond-milk cortado — in midtown, something’s different about her, but I’m not sure what. She looks like an Instagram version of herself but in real life. It turns out she’s down about ten pounds and happy about it. “Somebody once told me I had a size-zero personality, and they assumed that I was thinner than I was,” she tells me. “We don’t talk about it, but...

Nicole Saphier, MD is a physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, an assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical College and bestselling author of, 'Panic Attack.' Her opinions are her own and not reflective of her employers.Not every problem can be fixed with a pill. Not every problem should be fixed with a pill. But in an increasingly dangerous trend, America's medical industry is presenting drugs as a quick and easy solution for nearly everything that ails us – be it major, minor, or even non-existent. Now, America is running out of the prescription medications that sick people need, because...

Tammie Rachell Largent-Phillips, 52, has Type 2 diabetes. For the past two years, she's managed the condition using a drug called Ozempic, which helps people with diabetes keep blood sugar levels in check. But in November, she was forced to switch to another medication, insulin. The Ozempic she needed was no longer available at her pharmacy. In recent months, demand for the drug has soared, colliding with global supply issues. Together, it's led to a shortage of Ozempic. But the popularity of Ozempic, or semaglutide, isn't because of rising rates of diabetes. Instead, it's because of its weight loss benefits,...

The popular weight loss drug Wegovy is now available to children as young as 12. Danish manufacturer Novo Nordisk announced that the Food and Drug Administration had extended the drug's approval to include children. It had previously received regulatory approval for use in adults last year. In clinical trials, teens aged 12 to 17 who took the weekly injection lost 14 percent of their body weight over 64 weeks. This nearly matches the trials for adults, where recipients lost 15 percent of their weight after 68 weeks. Wegovy, and its sister drug Ozempic, have rocketed to popularity in 2022 because...

A weight-loss drug described as a 'game-changer' by obesity researchers has just been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), representing the first time the agency has endorsed such a treatment in several years. Wegovy, a weight-management therapy to be manufactured by Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, is the the first FDA-approved weight-loss drug since 2014, but it's not entirely a new medication. The same drug, called semaglutide, has been used in the US and other countries as an anti-diabetic medication for years. More recently, however, evidence has shown that semaglutide at a different dosage also functions as...