GLP-1 drugs led to weight loss and reversed depression-like behavior in mice

rrandycupertino about 1 hour ago 30 commentsRead Article on psychologytoday.com

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dirtbagskier•about 1 hour ago

I'd take them even if they didn't make me lose weight - and I'm the type of person that doesn't like takeing Tylenol unless absolutely necessary.

The best way I can describe it: my body and mind are no longer is in starvation mode. I plan, do, act and sleep well.

diggerboy•27 minutes ago

Did you have to reach a certain dose for such effects?

zhivota•28 minutes ago

Tirzepatide at 1mg/week reduced my muscle soreness. I felt less depressed but this might just have been situational because I've been plagued by bad soreness after working out for years.

Unfortunately after twelve weeks I had to stop because I felt a lot of nausea and tenderness in my upper abdomen, and was worried it might be pancreatitis developing. I'm not sure why it would happen at such a low dose but the symptoms reduced pretty quickly as it wore off.

I may go back on later with a dose spread over a longer period with the hypothesis that the drug has a longer half life in my body and what I experienced was a gradual build up. Considering I lost 15 pounds over 3 months as well, I believe this to be very plausible.

tapoxi•9 minutes ago

I got pancreatitis from Zepbound, but it was indirect.

Turns out rapid weight loss can cause gallstones, especially if you're genetically predisposed to them. I had one that ended up stuck in the bile duct, causing acute pancreatitis. I had to get my gallbladder removed shortly after and hundreds of stones were found.

I would consider getting an ultrasound since the stones don't just go away when you stop taking the drug.

(Gallbladder removal aside I had no lasting issues and kept the weight off.)

joshuamcginnis•19 minutes ago

Studies show almost all subjects regained the weight and reversed gains within 2 years. This means underlying issues (e.g., food addiction) aren't being addressed. Short of changing habits, the only maintenance solution is lifelong drug use and that doesn't sit well with me.

LaurensBER•1 minute ago

I've gained and lost 10kg twice in my life. Maintaining the weight loss isn't that hard once you've a rhythm dialed in.

In my case I just weight myself daily, track the weight and scale my food consumption with the current trend. If I'm gaining weight I'll skip a meal.

It takes a while to figure out what works for you but I can tell you that making small lifestyle changes to maintain your weight is fairly easy compared to figuring out how to lose 10 kg.

wpm•9 minutes ago

Why not? People take depression meds, blood pressure meds, all kinds of meds for their whole life. I'll be on omeprazole for reflux my whole life. It doesn't solve the underlying problem of my gut being prone to overpumping acid into my stomach. So omeprazole is problematic?

The underlying issue is being treated, it's treated by taking the drug. It works. It's doing its job.

I'd be curious as to how you came to this conclusion.

joshuamcginnis•6 minutes ago

I think there's a distinct difference between taking medicine for things you can fix on your own (diet + exercise) vs things you cannot (excess acid production).

ceejayoz•3 minutes ago

> things you can fix on your own (diet + exercise)

We have decades of research showing this is more in the "excess acid production" realm of things.

vidarh•3 minutes ago

Given that we know that diets and changing habits doesn't have lasting effects, what doesn't sit well with me is to risk my health to avoid taking a drug that helps.

PeterHolzwarth•9 minutes ago

A couple years of reduced weight, and all the benefits that entails, doesn't sound bad.

gedy•2 minutes ago

The "underlying issues" are not all moral failings as you hint. In my case, as I've aged my appetite due blood sugar/insulin resistance/etc means I'm basically hungry all the time if I restrict calories to maintain lower body weight. Yes - even if I exercise frequently. My wife tells me my stomach is growling at night.

I will slowly gain about 10-15lbs a year due to excess calories if I try to maintain weight at < overweight BMI. GLP-1 drugs have been great to take that edge off.

anon291•9 minutes ago

Why? If you have too much help or whatever being produced such that your body eats too much, just take a drug. The harm of being fat is worse than anything ozempic does

crooked-v•15 minutes ago

Plenty of people have lifelong drug use of, say, caffeine, or aspirin as a blood thinner, or various antihistamines. Why is this somehow worse? Particularly keeping in mind that it's very easy to make, so once the patents expire, it's going to be dirt cheap as generics everywhere.

joshuamcginnis•3 minutes ago

I'm just sharing my personal preference and not trying to tell people how to live their lives. I don't like personally like the idea that I'll only be healthy if I take this drug for the rest of my life when I could (again - speaking for me), be more disciplined about the food I put into my body.

hellzbellz123•29 minutes ago

As a habitual habit developer, Im keeping my hopes up that in 5 or 10 years, this is something that can help me and many others.

I've read experiences from people on illicit substances that claimed they helped them quit.

It would be beat if this carried over to things like caffeine/nicotine/thc/etc.

storus•26 minutes ago

Metabolic theories of mental illnesses and cancer are seriously understudied.

jbird99•37 minutes ago

Could be related to endorphins and BDNF, similar to the effect from fasting.

y-curious•32 minutes ago

I got severely downvoted in the past for badmouthing GLP1s here. Then I did my research, got on them and I take it all back. These things are on par with statins in terms of potential societal impacts.

PeterHolzwarth•26 minutes ago

That's quite admirable to correct yourself in public. Good on ya.

crooked-v•16 minutes ago

I'm curious if this post will also have the same phenomena I've seen before of people springing out of the woodwork to post moralizing comments about people shouldn't rely on drugs, about how actually GLP-1s are bad because they don't fix problems indefinitely with a single dose, about how people should fix their problems by just having more willpower, talking about 'but what about the unknown side effects?' of drugs that have been in use for twenty years already, etc.

nonethewiser•7 minutes ago

Why shouldnt it?

vladmk•about 1 hour ago

Mice are not people, but interesting link

randycupertino•about 1 hour ago

I'm on GLP-1 and it's completely stopped my urge to online shop. I used to browse/shop for fun and out of habit or when I was stressed out or wanted a treat etc. Entirely resolved! I've also lost 40lbs on it.

meetingthrower•10 minutes ago

To the others on this reply, I take 1/4 dose of the "clinical dose" and it has been life changing. I've lost 30 lbs. I've done that in the past, but for me that was harder than ranger school in the army.

I LOVE food. Eating out and family dinner were always important to me. I was very worried that I would lose my pleasure in this.

I haven't.

But now I can just eat 1/2 slice of pie. Or 1 scoop of ice cream, etc etc. I don't have the crazy urge to EAT IT ALL.

Also I loved drinking. I actually still love drinking. But I get done at 2.5 drinks. And once a week.

It adds up. Makes you wonder what free will is.Variance in GLPs are naturally occuring. I find the people who say "I forgot to eat" relatable now. Our bodies were not designed for abundance. At least not mine.

sandcat_•30 minutes ago

I'm curious, has it affected pleasure at all in other areas of life? Are things you used to enjoy still as enjoyable? Is it more the "addictiveness" of things that has dropped, as opposed to how enjoyable they are?

(Never tried them myself, but very intrigued by them.)

vidarh•13 minutes ago

I went on them because I started boomeranging back after a long and very successful diet. It was pretty much the plan - I wanted to get as far as I could "naturally" and then use GLP-1's to bring me the rest of the way and keep me there, but I was surprised at just how rapidly I started adding weight again.

It stopped me cold and has gotten me almost back down at the lowest I was at after my diet so far and I keep losing at a slower pace but basically without effort.

In terms of pleasure, I'd say mostly no with some caveats. I have fewer snacks, and drink less coke, and I enjoyed both. I don't find chocolate or baked goods as enticing any more, but it's not stopped me from enjoying them on occasion.

It's more that it's stopped me from wanting them as often. I find it easier to tell myself not to grab a snack when I'm already full in particular. Before I might overeat to the point of discomfort.

So when I now actively choose to enjoy those things, I'm more likely to actually enjoy the whole experience.

I'd say the exception is probably coke, which I do find less enjoyable.

rubicon33•29 minutes ago

Do you honestly believe in the so called “free lunch”? I mean there are MANY substances you can presently take that make you feel way better, but always come with a cost or a downside. Why should we believe GLP-1 class drugs are any different?

bawolff•22 minutes ago

All drugs have side effects and downsides. The question should be if the benefits outweigh the costs, not if the drug is pure magic. Obviously its not pure magic, nothing is, but its still a useful drug.

crooked-v•21 minutes ago

We already know the downsides (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5397288/). The family of drugs has been in use since 2005 for controlling glucose with diabetes. The only new thing is the mass-market use when it turned out to also reduce the physio-mental effects of cravings (food but also apparently other things) in general.