6 ms·

A very interesting drug. Unfortunately, it's generally not covered by insurance unless a patient has already proceeded to an additional (more serious) health co

A very interesting drug. Unfortunately, it's generally not covered by insurance unless a patient has already proceeded to an additional (more serious) health complication like diabetes. Thereby necessitating another pharmaceutical intervention, this time with a lifetime of treatment attached.

1letterunixname 4y ago
Yep. A patient typically has to be morbidly-obese and have tried stimulant weight-loss medications. The issue with waiting until someone is metabolically-ill is diabetes becomes very expensive to treat when there's insulin, anxiety, depression, high cholesterol, wheelchairs, blindness, and/or amputations involved. A former neighbor overfed himself to death not long after retirement by maintaining blood glucose levels of 400-700 mg/dL. Another issue is that it seems being overweight causes metabolic changes that lead to less satiety. OTOH, being underweight can lead to an anorexic spiral down too.
- sterlind 4y ago
  yeah, anorexia does spiral. once I started missing enough meals, I didn't have the energy to get food, and then I stopped feeling hungry. I had to force myself to eat during recovery because my stomach physically shrank. I didn't even look pretty, I was all bony.
  - 1letterunixname 4y ago
    My grandfather was so depressed from losing his wife that he didn't realize he was killing himself. He started skinny, but when he died, he was skin and bones. I would hypothesize the combination of depression and lack of white and brown adipose tissue lead to a spiraling down of hunger and metabolism. Starvation hunger doesn't extend beyond a few days. I went a month without meaningful calories when I had the opportunity to do so. I had water, vitamins, minerals, and fish oil (to keep the gallbladder emptying and to maintain a lipid balance for neurological and skin health). I have the reserves at present to go roughly 140 days without eating because I'm currently a XLT-sized flabby-tabby. I'm working towards a goal of being slightly underweight. The other side of being overweight is, my belief, the correlation and causation of numerous "Western diet" cancers by providing an overly-hospitable environment for emergent cancer cells to thrive that would otherwise be killed off in a nearly-continuous starvation mode that most humans experienced for all but the past 100 years. Chemotherapy stops cell division (adds cellular stress) as does calorie-reduced diets. The problems with extreme calorie restriction are the overall wasting of body tissues (including muscle), inability to concentrate, and lack of energy. On the plus side, a person would seem to reduce their risks of cancer and potentially extend their lifespan.
    - sterlind 4y ago
      that's a really interesting theory re: cancer, but isn't wasting a symptom of cancer as well? or perhaps the weight loss spiral only comes into play once the cancer is advanced, or as a side effect of chemo.
ajhurliman 4y ago
Check out joincalibrate.com. It’s getting prescribed for weight loss without complications more regularly these days.
- digdugdirk 4y ago
  Sadly it's an insurance issue more than a prescription issue.

1letterunixname 4y ago

Yep. A patient typically has to be morbidly-obese and have tried stimulant weight-loss medications. The issue with waiting until someone is metabolically-ill is diabetes becomes very expensive to treat when there's insulin, anxiety, depression, high cholesterol, wheelchairs, blindness, and/or amputations involved. A former neighbor overfed himself to death not long after retirement by maintaining blood glucose levels of 400-700 mg/dL. Another issue is that it seems being overweight causes metabolic changes that lead to less satiety. OTOH, being underweight can lead to an anorexic spiral down too.

sterlind 4y ago
yeah, anorexia does spiral. once I started missing enough meals, I didn't have the energy to get food, and then I stopped feeling hungry. I had to force myself to eat during recovery because my stomach physically shrank. I didn't even look pretty, I was all bony.
- 1letterunixname 4y ago
  My grandfather was so depressed from losing his wife that he didn't realize he was killing himself. He started skinny, but when he died, he was skin and bones. I would hypothesize the combination of depression and lack of white and brown adipose tissue lead to a spiraling down of hunger and metabolism. Starvation hunger doesn't extend beyond a few days. I went a month without meaningful calories when I had the opportunity to do so. I had water, vitamins, minerals, and fish oil (to keep the gallbladder emptying and to maintain a lipid balance for neurological and skin health). I have the reserves at present to go roughly 140 days without eating because I'm currently a XLT-sized flabby-tabby. I'm working towards a goal of being slightly underweight. The other side of being overweight is, my belief, the correlation and causation of numerous "Western diet" cancers by providing an overly-hospitable environment for emergent cancer cells to thrive that would otherwise be killed off in a nearly-continuous starvation mode that most humans experienced for all but the past 100 years. Chemotherapy stops cell division (adds cellular stress) as does calorie-reduced diets. The problems with extreme calorie restriction are the overall wasting of body tissues (including muscle), inability to concentrate, and lack of energy. On the plus side, a person would seem to reduce their risks of cancer and potentially extend their lifespan.
  - sterlind 4y ago
    that's a really interesting theory re: cancer, but isn't wasting a symptom of cancer as well? or perhaps the weight loss spiral only comes into play once the cancer is advanced, or as a side effect of chemo.

ajhurliman 4y ago

Check out joincalibrate.com. It’s getting prescribed for weight loss without complications more regularly these days.

digdugdirk 4y ago
Sadly it's an insurance issue more than a prescription issue.