3 ms·

> This is a diabetes drug. There has to be a biochemical catch here. What if there isn't a catch? Sometimes technology really does just improve the human condi

> This is a diabetes drug. There has to be a biochemical catch here. What if there isn't a catch? Sometimes technology really does just improve the human condition with no serious downsides. Consider refrigeration or sanitary surgical techniques.

sandspar 3y ago
Ozempic's side effects range from frequent diarrhea to pancreatitis and vision loss. Individuals can consider whether the benefits outweigh the costs. But it isn't free. We might try a Fermi problem to estimate how many of those cheerful Ozempic influencers talk about pancreatitis.
- toomuchtodo 3y ago
  Side effects are real but obesity kills too. Importantly, GLP-1 agonists can also inhibit addictive behaviors (alcohol and substance abuse, gambling) due to a brain chemistry mechanism. Additional harm reduction to consider. https://ourworldindata.org/obesity https://ourworldindata.org/obesity https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/could-new-weight-loss-drugs-like-ozempic-treat-addiction1/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/could-new-weight-...
MichaelZuo 3y ago
All the usable refrigerants were either flammable, toxic, or highly ozone depleting, or a combination, up until the 90s…
- grogenaut 3y ago
  Pretty sure R290 is flammable and I believe being used more and more
  - MichaelZuo 3y ago
    Yes, R600 even more so, there are some very expensive exotic refrigerants that are not, but they literally didn’t exist pre 90s.
koverstreet 3y ago
The human body is a massive system of interconnected feedback loops. Tweak one knob, and there are always cascading side effects. I could entirely see this being a net positive for a lot of people, but I want to know what those side effects are.
olliej 3y ago
Plenty of people have got digestive system paralysis, so that’s a downside. Obviously the big issue is that for people with diabetes this has made the drug unavailable for actual medical problems that don’t have other treatments. Long term studies are also not super complete - even something known to cause cancer like smoking or asbestos takes decades to show up.
dpacmittal 3y ago
Refrigerants contribute to global warming, no?
QuesnayJr 3y ago
I was wondering this. How often does it turn out that a drug has no serious downsides? I guess penicillin was, if you're not allergic. (There is microbes evolving antibiotic resistance, but that's probably not a concern for ozempic.)
- yread 3y ago
  Try taking strong antibiotics for 2+ weeks. The list of serious downsides will be quite long
softwreoutthere 3y ago
Thyroid cancer is one catch.

sandspar 3y ago

Ozempic's side effects range from frequent diarrhea to pancreatitis and vision loss. Individuals can consider whether the benefits outweigh the costs. But it isn't free. We might try a Fermi problem to estimate how many of those cheerful Ozempic influencers talk about pancreatitis.

toomuchtodo 3y ago
Side effects are real but obesity kills too. Importantly, GLP-1 agonists can also inhibit addictive behaviors (alcohol and substance abuse, gambling) due to a brain chemistry mechanism. Additional harm reduction to consider. https://ourworldindata.org/obesity https://ourworldindata.org/obesity https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/could-new-weight-loss-drugs-like-ozempic-treat-addiction1/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/could-new-weight-...

MichaelZuo 3y ago

All the usable refrigerants were either flammable, toxic, or highly ozone depleting, or a combination, up until the 90s…

grogenaut 3y ago
Pretty sure R290 is flammable and I believe being used more and more
- MichaelZuo 3y ago
  Yes, R600 even more so, there are some very expensive exotic refrigerants that are not, but they literally didn’t exist pre 90s.

koverstreet 3y ago

The human body is a massive system of interconnected feedback loops. Tweak one knob, and there are always cascading side effects. I could entirely see this being a net positive for a lot of people, but I want to know what those side effects are.

olliej 3y ago

Plenty of people have got digestive system paralysis, so that’s a downside. Obviously the big issue is that for people with diabetes this has made the drug unavailable for actual medical problems that don’t have other treatments. Long term studies are also not super complete - even something known to cause cancer like smoking or asbestos takes decades to show up.

dpacmittal 3y ago

Refrigerants contribute to global warming, no?

QuesnayJr 3y ago

I was wondering this. How often does it turn out that a drug has no serious downsides? I guess penicillin was, if you're not allergic. (There is microbes evolving antibiotic resistance, but that's probably not a concern for ozempic.)

yread 3y ago
Try taking strong antibiotics for 2+ weeks. The list of serious downsides will be quite long

softwreoutthere 3y ago

Thyroid cancer is one catch.