Anonymous wrote:I'm not up to speed on the literature, I just know that this is approved now at least according to advertisements.
I'm mid 40s , healthy, but about 10-15 pounds more than my ideal (around 150 and 5'6). I excersie and weight train. I would love to try this but I have a few questions:
1. can you go off of it? And if you do, does weight come back?
There is not a settled standard of care with regard to this yet. But all indications are that people do (like with pretty much any means of weight loss) gain the weight back ... and some extra. FWIW, my doctor said it would be a lifetime medication.
2. other than gastro side effects, have other more long term side effects been discovered?
The most serious side effect "discovered" is thyroid cancer -- there is a box warning on that. The GI stuff (diarrhea, constipation, and stomach pain for me) has been truly awful. But with regard to other stuff: It was the debilitating fatigue and weakness that was the worst for me and made me consider going off of it. I've also had disrupted sleep, nightmares, depression, and blurry vision.
3. is there a way to do a LOW dose of this- so the weight loss is also slow? (I saw an ad about oral drops?)
No. You start at the starting dose of 0.25 and work your way up to a therapeutic dose over months. If you are fortunate, as I was, you lose right away on that low dose and don't have to go up. But many do not and it takes them months to go up to a dose that helps them lose weight. YMMV.
4. anyone use GPL-1 for only weight loss (10-15 pounds) and how did it go and do you recommend?
I started with a BMI of over 36. I have now lost over 50lbs and am continuing to lose and will stay on it as obesity is a chronic condition. I would NEVER take this drug for 10-15 pounds. Absolutely not. The side effects have been very hard on me. GLP-1 meds are not a magic bullet for most of us. That said, I suppose some people get lucky and have no side effects and lose easily. I've yet to meet one of those people in the wild though. The folks I know who are on it have suffered pretty significantly from side effects. You don't know how bad things can be until you consider going to urgent care to have someone help you with your constipation because you are literally bleeding and think the enema might not work. 0/10 on that -- do not recommend.
My responses are in bold above ^^.
The short of it, I would never recommend a GLP-1 for someone who only needs to lose 10lbs.