AirPhantomPhoto

Very interesting thread, thank you to all who have posted their experiences with this drug.

Saw my endo yesterday who decided to put me on ozempic for my t2 diabetes, not weight loss. Considering I'm now on 2 other injectables (1 daily, 1 3x a day) & I refuse to go back on metformin like I was before Covid19 shes starting me at low dosege for 4 weeks.

It doesnt seem she gave me much info on it, so I guess the internet is going to provide it for me. Yet they get mad when we walk in with info from webmd LOL

Anyways thanks for some serious reading & thought provoking. Be safe all & best of luck to you

RH Clark

Weight loss will help your T2 diabetes. You can cure it if you are willing to give up sugar and high glycemic foods. Just a change in your diet will cure your T2 and get you to a healthy weight. I did it at age 50 and lost 180lbs over the next 2 years. Good luck to you.

Leisesturm

At the (low) risk of hijacking this thread I'm wondering why the strong feelings about metformin. Along with the diet and lifestyle changes recommended by RH Clark I would have suggested natural and proven glucose lowering substances like Cinnamon Bark, Berberine or Turmeric. In fact, I can't say for certain that metformin is not derived in part or in whole from some natural plant based ingredient and they are very effective and have few side effects.

TheBlackPumpkin

1. Metformin has a lot of side effects, often gastrointestinal in nature that make taking the medication dreadful for a lot of people. It is however extremely effective at what it does.
2. All medications are compounds and chemicals specifically extracted from natural sources it's not like they magically create a compound in a lab that's "artificial"
3. The vast vast majority of doctors still recommend eating things like oatmeal with cinnamon, turmeric etc in the mornings to help regulate blood sugar. Most type 2 diabetics however do not manage their diet or lifestyle and that's how they became diabetic in the first place. This is me speaking from experience. Some people have a come to Jesus moment and make lasting changes, like me. The vast majority do not. A lot of this is due to the biological changes that happen to your body when you become obese.
4. Ozempic, Wegovy and other medications of their class have been around for a decade, they just haven't been widely publicized and weren't covered by most insurance for various reasons. They've been pretty extensively tested in humans for long term use and carry little serious risk and pretty awful, but manageable side effects just like metformin, but the difference is ozempic is even more effective than metformin and also helps you regain some control over your diet that obesity robs you of. It slows your digestion, makes you feel full fast, helps to eliminate cravings and as a result aids in lifestyle changes and weightloss making you less dependent on medication and healthier in the long run. For these reasons, medications like ozempic are life changing for people with diabetes that are obese. Metformin is just a bandaid.

TheBlackPumpkin

Also, I just need to say, you can know for certain if it is or not. It's information freely available to the public. Metformin is derived from a compound in French lilac.

If doing nothing but eating certain spices were actually nearly as effective on their own, we wouldn't have needed metformin to begin with.

Leisesturm

I don't know. There are a number of studies that say Berberine is AS effective as Metformin. Cinnamon Bark and Turmeric are also singled out for a reason. When has the existence of 'natural' remedies stopped Big Pharma from making a patentable and marketable pharmaceutical from Apricot pits or something else very common.

TheBlackPumpkin

Metformin was introduced as a medication in 1957 in France and in the U.S in 1995. The berberine studies you're referring to, some of them were RCT's done in China, the earliest in 2004, there hasn't been much of a scientific consensus on it outside of traditional chinese medicine until as late as 2020. (fine, I don't consider the FDA approving something the holy grail of medicine) but when we're talking about U.S based medicine, there are certain requirements for a study to be considered valid by the FDA and for a drug to obtain FDA approval. Now, as it stands, berberine as far as I'm aware is sold in dietary supplements in the states, which isn't regulated in the slightest in the U.S. If you want to take berberine for your diabetes, nothing is stopping you from doing that.

But guess what? Berberine has almost the exact same side effect profile as metformin. Some people react to it better than metformin, some dont. Some people also don't have issues with metformin. I misspoke earlier, in that, Berberine isn't just a "spice" it's an extracted organic chemical, just like the compound key to Metformin. I more meant that, Cinnamon and Turmeric on their own aren't going to control someones insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Doctor's aren't big pharma, while there are good and bad doctors the vast majority of doctors would rather give you options other than going on medication and in my experience with Type II diabetes, that option is generally, eating a low carb, high fiber and protein diet, eating normal portions, eating 5-6 small meals a day instead of 2-3 large meals, and exercising regularly. But virtually no one is going to do all of that, or maybe their condition is more advanced and that's no longer an option on its own. That's where medications come in.

I just don't really understand the stance that berberine is somehow better or more "natural" when it's almost the exact same class of chemical compound derived from a plant, just like metformin. As for the spices themselves, you won't find a single doctor treating a patient with diabetes that tells them not to eat cinnamon and turmeric.

Listen I'm not going to sit here and pretend there's not a lot of money in the pharmaseutical industry and things are never profit driven. They clearly are. But it's not like you're saying there's a proven cure for diabetes that big pharma is keeping us from getting because they make too much money off of metformin sales. You're suggesting that there's a compound that's virutally the same effectiveness as Metformin but derived from a different plant and they just don't want us to know about it / have access to it? I mean for reference, a month supply of metformin without insurance is about $15-20. If you have insurance, it costs like $4 for a 90 day supply in my experience. I would suggest that, perhaps the bigger fish to fry is the ridiculous amounts of added sugars and fats in our food to make them more palatable and addictive to our brains leading to morbid obesity and diabetes in the first place. Pharmaseutical researchers are spending their lives looking for a way to reverse the damage that our lifestyle and what's in our hyper-processed diet causes. Or maybe the fact that insurance won't pay for a gym membership or exercise equipment (although fun fact, based on evidence and research, even if they did, people don't make use of them as a very large percentage of the population, so it's just wasted money for them)

I could also go a lot into how the number 1 cause of diabetes is obesity and obesity is massively contributed to by genetics and your brain rewiring itself to keep yourself obese because it views it as a good thing to have extra fat. But I'm going off on a bit of a tangent now.

PromptCritical 

OMG -this is so true Horrifying if you look into it. Not only morbid obesity and diabetes, but I'd be willing to bet there is a link to many other health problems (e.g., who ever heard of peanut allergies 40 years ago? Certainly not Southwest Airlines).

RH Clark

T2 diabetes is completely manageable to the best of my knowledge just by diet. Just don't eat high glycemic foods and start spacing out the time between calorie consumption. No highly processed foods, no sugar or Frutos. Jason Fung has had lots of success treating T2 by diet and IM fasting alone.

As far as being overweight. there are lots of reasons and the biggest one is processed foods and excess sugar. I know I lost 180 lbs. in 2 years after age 50. I cut out all sugar, bread, grain, pasta, rice and potatoes and ate as much as I wanted of all other whole foods and still averaged more than 10 lbs. a month weight loss.

mowens12

I see this post is from back in February so I'm curious if you continued with the medication. I started Wegovy back in November and was up to 430lbs at the time. Having been an offensive lineman in high school and college I managed to keep myself in pretty good shape until my mid 30s but like many of us I went haywire on eating and being inactive during the pandemic and never changed. As of last week I've dropped 70lbs and while that feels great it still doesn't feel like nearly enough. I've certainly dealt with my fair share of gastrointestinal side effects but I'm thankful for the leg the meds have given me. I'm doing the C&O trail (D.C. to Cumberland, MD) in late June with a good friend and I'm just thankful to have regained my functional mobility.

PromptCritical 

I've been using Zepbound since mid-March (2.5mg dose increased to 5mg in April).

I went from 297# to 244# prior to Zepbound and am now at 208#.

I'd stay on it, but I can't find it anywhere, so my next dose is probably my last.

TheBlackPumpkin

Just keep being active and try to eat a bit better you'll keep dropping weight. I plateaued after 100lbs but I'm still on the medication and it kept me from gaining weight back when I went through severe depression early this year.

laxpatrick

I'm on it. Had gotten an appt with my GP - for December 15th! So went in for paying on my own.

May 9th had a physical. Got the stuff on 5/29.

I'm big - 6'8" and was 297 in street clothes (shorts, shoes, etc). So BMI of 32.6 - Obese (yes, BMI isn't a great model for the very tall/muscular but it got me well qualified).

Been doing a lot of riding and weighed myself yesterday. 273 al fresco. Not bad.

Been focusing on cutting out sugars, corn products, other bad carbs and going heavy on protein. Remarkable lack of cravings for the usual bad stuff. Figure if I can build the right behaviors I'll have better odds of maintaining. Looking forward to fitting into clothes I haven't worn in 8 or 9 years...

Zero relevant side effects.

YMMV but it's been a game changer for me.

DMC707

February 2023 in fact -- and yes, i'm still on it . At a certain point i was on Tirsepatide (Wegovy) and maxxed out the dose the clinic was administering and was struggling to lose more weight -- i have hit a plateau at 90 lbs of weight loss -- so they cycled me off that and put me back on semaglutide at a 2.4 mg dose
It was working at first but i am battling another issue on the domestic front and y primary care doctor seems to think i am experiencing severe depression and anxiety. Nurse at the wellness clinic where i get the semaglutide had recommended i see a normal doctor as one week i lost 13 pounds, and the next week had gained 8 of it back - she was concerned that type of severe fluctuation would be hard on my heart as that is a huge fluid shift but my main doctor said i am amazingly healthy for a 53 year old guy. She doesn't entirely believe the link between stress related cortisol, to weight loss or gain due to depression/anxiety , and she remained tight lipped when i asked about it.

People are generally positive and say im "looking great" but i'm a bit disappointed with myself that ive been on this so long and havent hit my goal yet, but domestic strife has eaten up months of precious time.

It works better for me when i can adhere to almost a straight keto style eating program - then keep some emergency fruit or fig newtons close by if i am feeling a severe sugar crash (doctor told me to keep blueberries around and not bananas and fig newtons, -- which is a solid idea of course, but bananas and fig newtons taste better) -- but there have been nights where i have literally said - "**** it - those beers are calling my name" and i get out for merriment and conviviality amongst the people -- and i hate to admit it -- throwing caution to the wind and having a Devil May Care attitude about hitting the beer joint signals a lack of impulse control -- and a lack of impulse control for some period of time is why i am now taking this medication.

I have thought about it and after an introductory interview with a counselor, have decided to pursue counseling and potential psychiatric therapy if needed for issues that run the gamut of

"How to say NO to people that are toxic to you even if you love them and are still attracted to them (like my ex ) but every interaction ultimately turns negative and now we are fighting in court. I know many of you have gone through this, but its stunning when you lock eyes with the person you used to be in love with, and still love - across a courtroom and they look like they wish you were dead

How to train the mind to exercise discipline and control over diet when life feels out of control everywhere else because being fat is depressing too so why resume habits that got me there in the first place?

I wish the only hurdle i had in life was weight loss but life is rarely that easy so i am training myself to prioritize and compartmentalize better.

Thats it -- its been a rather depressing set of months since i last checked in, but thats life i guess and i realize if i cant figure out how to manage stress i will inevitably fall back into the party time trap --- the saving grace of being on semaglutide, my body simply tolerate a lot of food at once, so this saves me from pizzas and burgers - but its a chemical crutch and i dont want to be dependent on a drug to maintain my health and wellness

However -- i didnt mention it , but things havent all been doom and gloom -- - when i started this journey i was dependent on blood pressure medication to keep that regulated. I was afraid i would be on that the rest of my life too, - i used to take Lisinopril with Hydrochlorothiazide -- now i am off the Lisinopril completely - my BP had started dipping down very low and i had a complete lack of energy so reported this to my primary doc and she said to only take a BP pill if my blood pressure creeps up to around 130/90 or so -- I am pleased to report that its been over 2 months since it has been in that range and i have felt compelled to take a pill --- most people would call that a big win i suppose

arex

I'm not taking semaglutides for my weight, but I've lost about 22 pounds in three months with metformin, an older diabetes drug that's uses off-label for weight loss. No side effects observed. I'm pretty pleased with the results so far.