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by llamaimperative 598 days ago
> There's the rub. We have not been prescribing semaglutide very long, and I won't trust it until we've had enough time to suss out long term side effects.

We've been prescribing GLP-1s for almost 20 years now. Not to say they all should behave identically, but from a Bayesian inference perspective these things really do appear to be quite safe.
2 comments
hollerith 598 days ago
>We've been prescribing GLP-1s [for diabetes] for almost 20 years now

The dosage though for losing weight is 3 or 4 times the dosage for diabetes.

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VyseofArcadia 598 days ago
https://www.drugwatch.com/legal/ozempic-lawsuit/
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cthalupa 598 days ago
Risk factors for NAION are basically all the things that you go on these drugs to treat - type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, cardiovascular disease, blood pressure, etc. One observational study that shows some correlation isn't enough for me to be particularly concerned about it.

> As of March 31, only 4 cases of gastroparesis were recorded for semaglutide—the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy—in the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS), a surveillance database updated by healthcare professionals, consumers, and manufacturers. For tirzepatide—the active ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound—there is just one case logged.

I don't have more recent numbers, but these seem pretty low.

I don't think anyone is saying that there is no chance of significant side effects in people, but when measured against the risks of being obese, they'd have to be very bad and impact a significant number of people taking the drug.

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llamaimperative 598 days ago
Wow, someone experienced an adverse effect from a drug and are suing?

This adds literally zero information.

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VyseofArcadia 598 days ago
Gastroparesis is a serious, life-threatening side effect.

It occurs in a small number of patients, sure, but maybe that just means I am more risk averse than you. My calculus is simple. I don't need wegovy. I can lose (and am losing) weight without it. Sure, it would be easier with wegovy, but it is not necessary. I am not going to take an unnecessary drug that has a nonzero chance of killing me.

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cthalupa 598 days ago
>I can lose (and am losing) weight without it

Excellent! A huge chunk of people try and fail to do this for a wide variety of reasons.

If you can lose weight without the help of a GLP-1 drug, then yeah, that is likely the safest option. But most people aren't choosing between using a GLP-1 drug to lose weight or losing weight without it - they're choosing between staying fat and using the GLP-1.

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