I find it incredibly interesting when I hear about people stopping the medications before they have been on them for a year. The press reports that 50% of people who begin medications like Ozempic, Wegovy (semaglutide), Mounjaro, Zepbound (tirzepatide), and the plethora of other ‘tides like liraglutide, dulaglutide, etc. are going off them before one year is up.
Why?
I have a few thoughts.
As I listen to those on social media on the GLP-1 or GLP-1/GIP meds, I hear a lot about money being a major issue for stopping GLP-1s. A lot of people who get prescriptions were using coupons by the pharmaceutical companies and when they run out, they cannot afford the meds anymore. For those that pay cash, they find that tight times limit their ability to staying on them. (Insurance companies, come on, already! Pay for these meds!)
The article “Many patients with diabetes quit Ozempic, Mounjaro within a year” says:
“The study wasn’t designed to pinpoint why folks quit the drugs, although gastrointestinal side effects probably play a role, the researchers said.”
They even admit they don’t know exactly why people quit the meds. “GI issues probably play a role?”
The study also did not say when people stopped the meds. Was it early on when the GI symptoms were the most prevalent? If I had the pain and annoyance with GI issues like those who have quit the meds describe, I wouldn’t have dealt with it for six or nine months before stopping them. I would have quit within a month or two.
The article is really odd in that so many unknowns are left hanging. The assumption that the reason they stopped taking the GLP-1s was because of GI side effects is presumptuous, especially considering how many people I have heard and read stop between nine months and a year because of financial reasons.
There is one other main reason people seem to be finished with using the medications and that is because they have gotten to their goal weight and had planned to go off them when they did reach that goal. So many are seeing the meds as a diet plan, something you go on and off of. I am so glad to finally hear doctors explaining the meds are a lifetime need, just like diabetes medications, meds for high blood pressure, or cardiac issues.
Possibly, if you are on GLP-1s and they are helping you lose weight, perhaps there is a glitch in your metabolism that could use some medical assistance. I have not found anything yet that says, “If you take GLP-1s and don’t need them, they won’t work and you won’t lose weight.” I would love to see some research.
Those of us who are on the meds, expecting to be on them for life, know that, eventually, weight loss will “stall.”
Forever.
We will be at our ideal weight. It might not be where we want it, but it will be where the body on GLP-1s finds homeostasis.
I hope more information comes out about this issue soon so we can get some real answers as to why people are going off the diabetes and weight loss medications.
