I’m someone who hasn’t gone on antidepressants even when I needed to because gaining 10-15lbs was just not an option. I realize that makes me vain but i think it would have worsened my depression. I’ve had friends gain 40lbs on medicine! I hope glps will be offered to them for things like that.

Apart from the weight loss, I wish I could stay on it forever to just not think about food. If I’m working hard I can just keep working and don’t need to stop. I just love not thinking about food. I also eat whatever and am satisfied with healthy options.

I have always hated cooking and eating and had joked for years that I needed my food pill like the jetsons!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do they mean?

I have a relative with psychosis that responds well to medication. However they are very distressed about medication related weight gain, and weight related side effects. Their doctor is willing to prescribe GLp-1’s and this stage in life I can help with the logistics but they are much younger than me so obviously I can’t guarantee to help forever. What happens if someone goes off? Does it just go back to before or is there something worse to worry about?

At this point it is pretty clear that when people go off of a GLP1 they gain the weight back. As to whether or not there is something "worse to worry about," we just don't know yet -- but I think there is a good chance we will see that those who go on a GLP1 and then go off of it have damaged their metabolism and gain more weight back than they lost. We just don't know yet.

FWIW, I have a mental illness and gained almost 90 pounds due to psych medication (this was over a period of several years, then I lived with it for many years). I was always naturally very skinny and psych meds (I have taken a variety of them over the years, the real bad ones are the 2GAs) just wrecked my metabolism and eventually my body (obesity, severe obstructive sleep apnea, arthritis, low self esteem and low quality of life, etc, etc). I have been on Wegovy for a little over a year and a half and am down to a "normal" bmi. I'm very glad, but it hasn't been an easy time of it (the side effects have been bad -- not only GI stuff but debilitating fatigue).

I feel like it's a horrible game of dominoes ... take this med but it causes this bad thing ... so now take this med to address that ... and so on and on. But if you need them, you need them. And I do. I will say that I'm heartened at least by the fact that psychiatry is finally publicly recognizing how serious the weight gain is (for most of the time I've been on psych meds, the side effect of weight gain was treated as a vanity concern but the reality is that it is almost certain to significantly shorten most of our lives).

Hope this helps.

Let's just hope that's all they've damaged.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, there is no known reason you can't quit GLP-1s after using them. If you do, you will feel hungry and eat more and therefore gain weight. That's it. Perhaps consider whether feeling hangry will be especially hard for your relative with psychosis, though.

What doctors mean by "for life" is that obesity is a chronic illness that isn't cured by a short course of Wegovy.

Can you clarify what this means? Are you saying that they'll feel hangry on the meds, or that if they come off the meds they'll feel hangry then, and if so will it be usual hanger they feel now, or something different? Relative is not angry. They present as very sweet and very young for their age. During psychotic episodes their thinking is very disturbed, and sometimes they have delusions, but never delusions of harming people or delusions that would people in danger. But during episodes they have very little ability to manage their own life. Something like making sure your fridge is stocked so you have something to eat when meds wear off, or making sure you keep your phone charged so the alarm goes off and you go to work, is far above their abilities.

PP here, maybe hangry was not the right word. I'm on Wegovy. I often stretch my dose more than a week, and also I get "breakthrough" hunger the week before my period. In both cases I experience a pretty sharp hunger pang, a lot of snackiness, etc. I was imagining that your relative could feel even more confused / out of control when getting body signals like that.
I don't think there's any harm in trying a weight loss drug, though, especially if it makes them more willing to take the other meds which are more important.

Is the hunger different from hunger pre-Wegovy? My guess is that my relative will handle it the way they handle hunger now, which is by eating a lot.

My thought is that I will administer the shot every week, so it won't be late. I get why someone would stretch, but in this case, I probably won't do that.

Note: my relative is male. I just have the habit of using they/them for one more piece of privacy when sex and gender don't seem relevant. But my relative will not experience hunger related to a period.

Anonymous wrote:What do they mean?

I have a relative with psychosis that responds well to medication. However they are very distressed about medication related weight gain, and weight related side effects. Their doctor is willing to prescribe GLp-1’s and this stage in life I can help with the logistics but they are much younger than me so obviously I can’t guarantee to help forever. What happens if someone goes off? Does it just go back to before or is there something worse to worry about?

At this point it is pretty clear that when people go off of a GLP1 they gain the weight back. As to whether or not there is something "worse to worry about," we just don't know yet -- but I think there is a good chance we will see that those who go on a GLP1 and then go off of it have damaged their metabolism and gain more weight back than they lost. We just don't know yet.

FWIW, I have a mental illness and gained almost 90 pounds due to psych medication (this was over a period of several years, then I lived with it for many years). I was always naturally very skinny and psych meds (I have taken a variety of them over the years, the real bad ones are the 2GAs) just wrecked my metabolism and eventually my body (obesity, severe obstructive sleep apnea, arthritis, low self esteem and low quality of life, etc, etc). I have been on Wegovy for a little over a year and a half and am down to a "normal" bmi. I'm very glad, but it hasn't been an easy time of it (the side effects have been bad -- not only GI stuff but debilitating fatigue).

I feel like it's a horrible game of dominoes ... take this med but it causes this bad thing ... so now take this med to address that ... and so on and on. But if you need them, you need them. And I do. I will say that I'm heartened at least by the fact that psychiatry is finally publicly recognizing how serious the weight gain is (for most of the time I've been on psych meds, the side effect of weight gain was treated as a vanity concern but the reality is that it is almost certain to significantly shorten most of our lives).

Hope this helps.

I think you are freaking over a typo.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, there is no known reason you can't quit GLP-1s after using them. If you do, you will feel hungry and eat more and therefore gain weight. That's it. Perhaps consider whether feeling hangry will be especially hard for your relative with psychosis, though.

What doctors mean by "for life" is that obesity is a chronic illness that isn't cured by a short course of Wegovy.

Can you clarify what this means? Are you saying that they'll feel hangry on the meds, or that if they come off the meds they'll feel hangry then, and if so will it be usual hanger they feel now, or something different? Relative is not angry. They present as very sweet and very young for their age. During psychotic episodes their thinking is very disturbed, and sometimes they have delusions, but never delusions of harming people or delusions that would people in danger. But during episodes they have very little ability to manage their own life. Something like making sure your fridge is stocked so you have something to eat when meds wear off, or making sure you keep your phone charged so the alarm goes off and you go to work, is far above their abilities.

PP here, maybe hangry was not the right word. I'm on Wegovy. I often stretch my dose more than a week, and also I get "breakthrough" hunger the week before my period. In both cases I experience a pretty sharp hunger pang, a lot of snackiness, etc. I was imagining that your relative could feel even more confused / out of control when getting body signals like that.
I don't think there's any harm in trying a weight loss drug, though, especially if it makes them more willing to take the other meds which are more important.

Anonymous wrote:OP, there is no known reason you can't quit GLP-1s after using them. If you do, you will feel hungry and eat more and therefore gain weight. That's it. Perhaps consider whether feeling hangry will be especially hard for your relative with psychosis, though.

What doctors mean by "for life" is that obesity is a chronic illness that isn't cured by a short course of Wegovy.

Can you clarify what this means? Are you saying that they'll feel hangry on the meds, or that if they come off the meds they'll feel hangry then, and if so will it be usual hanger they feel now, or something different? Relative is not angry. They present as very sweet and very young for their age. During psychotic episodes their thinking is very disturbed, and sometimes they have delusions, but never delusions of harming people or delusions that would people in danger. But during episodes they have very little ability to manage their own life. Something like making sure your fridge is stocked so you have something to eat when meds wear off, or making sure you keep your phone charged so the alarm goes off and you go to work, is far above their abilities.

OP, there is no known reason you can't quit GLP-1s after using them. If you do, you will feel hungry and eat more and therefore gain weight. That's it. Perhaps consider whether feeling hangry will be especially hard for your relative with psychosis, though.

What doctors mean by "for life" is that obesity is a chronic illness that isn't cured by a short course of Wegovy.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think these drugs have been around for weight loss long enough to really know what happens to people who had been on them for decades and then go off.

If they are expected to be on the psychosis meds for life, then what is the plan for them to manage that?

If needed, there are government programs that help with medication compliance, usually using injectable antipsychotics. But figuring out care for a loved one with psychosis after you die is very complex.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think these drugs have been around for weight loss long enough to really know what happens to people who had been on them for decades and then go off.

If they are expected to be on the psychosis meds for life, then what is the plan for them to manage that?

This, OP. We have no idea what happens with long term use of GLP-1s, let alone what happens when people go off of them. Best case scenario, they will just regain the weight they lost.

I would be far more concerned about the psychosis meds, and plan for staying on those if needed.

I don't think these drugs have been around for weight loss long enough to really know what happens to people who had been on them for decades and then go off.

If they are expected to be on the psychosis meds for life, then what is the plan for them to manage that?

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t mean you have to up your dose for life, but you may need to micro dose throughout life. If you use a compound with a low dose and spread out injections, it would be $100 at most per month. Only you can decide if that’s worth it for your family member. For me, it’s a small price to pay.

OP, I am not so worried about the money piece, but this person does not currently have the executive functioning to manage medication well. Refills and insurance and remembering to take things, etc . . . Are all very challenging for them (psychosis sucks). At some point I will be dead, and I think it’s possible they will have a new support system but who knows?

So, if they go off, what happens? Does the weight gain just come back or is there some other reason it would be a bad idea to start given the risk?

It doesn’t mean you have to up your dose for life, but you may need to micro dose throughout life. If you use a compound with a low dose and spread out injections, it would be $100 at most per month. Only you can decide if that’s worth it for your family member. For me, it’s a small price to pay.

What do they mean?

I have a relative with psychosis that responds well to medication. However they are very distressed about medication related weight gain, and weight related side effects. Their doctor is willing to prescribe GLp-1’s and this stage in life I can help with the logistics but they are much younger than me so obviously I can’t guarantee to help forever. What happens if someone goes off? Does it just go back to before or is there something worse to worry about?