dAniel Griffin grew up as a self-proclaimed “thick child,” bullied because of her weight, always hungry and struggling with confidence.
So when she saw celebrities suddenly throwing away tens of pounds using new diabetes and weight loss pills, she finally felt like she had the answer she had always dreamed of. She went online and got her Ozempic prescription and waited for her life and body to change.
Except, Griffin appears to be one of the estimates 20% For those who don’t succeed with GLP-1 drugs.
“It was a new trend. Everyone had these amazing results, and I wasn’t,” Griffin said. Independence.
She lost a small amount of initial weight (13 pounds) in the first two months and then plateaued. A few months passed and the scale remained unchanged. Griffin felt that she had failed with weight loss again.
More than two out of five people in the US are obese. Chronic diseases are multifaceted and doctors say it’s not uncommon for patients to lose weight on GLP-1 drugs, even if others are extremely successful. A recent study from the University of Pennsylvania found that 35-50% of patients do not lose more than 5% of their body weight.
This means that you’re not getting the results that many people expect. Dr. Mark Bessler, surgical chair at Northwell Lennox Hill Hospital in New York and bariatric surgery expert, said the US should change its approach instead of treating obesity “just like they were treating cancer 70 years ago.”
“It’s like, ‘Oh, it’s one disease, and it might appear in different organs, but it’s one disease.’ We don’t treat cancer like that. “We still see obesity. It’s our own illness. It’s almost certainly not one illness.”
Griffin, a 38-year-old information technology worker from New Mexico, started Ozempic and has since become more widely available, making it another semaglutide drug that helps control blood glucose levels in the body.
Her first weight loss got her hopes – “I said, ‘Oh, this is great. It works out,” she said. “Then I lost nothing after that.”
Despite the lack of major consequences, she was told she couldn’t just get off the drugs.
“You hear all the success stories, you see people, and it’s frustrating,” Griffin said.
She scrutinized the message board to read about other people’s experiences. She never felt any side effects from drugs – Pancreatitis and vomiting – But those who seem to lose the most weight said.
However, doctors point out that they are not entirely sure which patients will succeed with the drug. “I don’t think anyone understands who will respond, who will not become a responder, how many people will lose,” explained Bessler.
Dr. Michael Knight, an associate professor at George Washington University and a physician in obesity medicine, agrees. He said in his experience that some people have better success with Zepbound than other drugs. GIP and GLP-1 hormonesOzempic stimulates GLP-1 only.
“Some people are overweight due to drugs, because of the way their bodies process the food they eat. They may have conditions like insulin resistance, or they may have diabetes or other metabolic conditions that affect how they manage their body’s weight,” Knight said. “So, as a result, one treatment works differently for different people when it comes to how much weight you can expect to lose.”
People taking Ozempic or similar drugs usually lose 15-20% of their body weight. Department of Surgery, Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Only a third of patients experience a loss of about 10% of their body weight.
Despite concerns about potential side effects and efficacy, Approximately 30 million Americans I tried drugs, including drug makers Novo Nordisk Wegovi and Ozempic, and Eli Lily and company Munjaro and Zepbound. Weight loss medications originally intended to treat diabetes work by mimicking natural hormones that can suppress the appetite of users.
Kyle Smith, 37, who owns an IT consulting firm in Southern California, said he was drawn to trying the medication after seeing how much weight he lost. He was considered obese, but he had no prior preconditions such as diabetes or heart disease. His doctor was on board for him to take Wegovi, but his insurance didn’t cover it. He began paying for drugs from pharmacies outside the US, cutting costs by two-thirds. Like Griffin, he lost 40 pounds, which drugs were more accessible.
However, the side effects were overwhelming. Smith was tired and suffering from burns and constipation in his heart. He decided to take off his medicine, but soon he began to gain weight “very quickly.”
Now Smith is back in Wegovi.
“I don’t think it’s as much of a weight loss work as I did in the first place. It definitely takes time,” he said. “I’ve been working on it for two months now and I’ve only lost 6-7 pounds, which I think is definitely slower than before.”
Griffin said she still gains weight after a few weeks off her medication. She said that all future patients should know that they are different.
“It can be very isolated. When you see other people succeeding with medication, there are so many stigmas around it, how popular it is and how it doesn’t work for someone. It’s so disappointing,” she added. “It makes you feel like, ‘What’s wrong with me?’ ”
Weight loss pills are just one option. And many people don’t succeed.
“There’s no size that fits everything,” Knight said.
