If you use Ozempic to lose weight ... You can end up in emergencies!

The Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) has warned of an increase in demand and shortage of a group of GLP1 analogous medications of weekly use and recommends not initiating new treatments until its availability is restored.It is the first time that a shortage of this type of drugs happens in Spain.

Currently, in our country, the treatment approved by the AEMPS is Saxenda (Liraglutide).The approval of Semaglutide is also expected, which, for the treatment of obesity, will be called Wegovy, in a short period of time.

But are they truly effective against obesity?How much weight can be lost with this type of drugs?What risks and dangers entail its use?

Ana de Hollanda, coordinator of the Obesity Area of ​​the Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition (SEEN), explains that the gastrointestinal hormonWe eat.

In addition to having effects on most body parts, these hormones stimulate insulin secretion by pancreas.In obesity, "the incredine response, that is, this hormonal signal is diminished," says the specialist.

Drugs to reduce appetite: mechanism of action and efficacy

Studies have shown that most patients who use this type of drugs lose an "substantially greater" weight to those who do not consume it.

Thus, with these medications for daily use, 67% of people lost more than 5% of the initial weight and 27% more than 10%.On the other hand, with the weekly LPG1, more than 80% of the people under treatment managed to lose more than 5% of the initial weight and up to 66% lost more than 10%.

"They are clearly a family of effective medicines for the treatment of obesity," says Ana de Hollanda.

Is there a risk of falling into the "rebound effect"?

One of the biggest problems using these medications to lose weight is that these drugs are designed for the treatment of chronic health problems, such as diabetes and obesity, so the duration of treatment must also be chronic.

The specialist in endocrinology and nutrition warns that the "rebound effect" can happen after abrupt suspension of treatment.

“If a medication is used that decreases hunger, the amount of foods that are also decreased.But, if food treatment and intake are suspended again, we will undoubtedly have a rebound effect or recovery of the weight that has been lost, ”he adds.

For this reason, the expert underlines the importance of the use of these medications being supervised by a medical team, according to the needs of each patient and with an action plan previously agreed to the beginning.

Dangers and adverse effects

The use of this family of medicines can be the following side effects:

Nausea
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Constipation

Ana de Hollanda warns that a lack of medical supervision can assume that patients who use it inadequately require to go to emergency services."A medical accompaniment, at the beginning of medication, may give recommendations on how to act in the face of the appearance of these side effects."

In addition, the endocrinologist maintains that this type of drugs are contraindicated in cases of a very rare type of thyroid cancer (medullary thyroid cancer).Similarly, it recommends taking precautions in those people with a history of pancreatitis.

Are they truly necessary for patients with obesity?
Given the issue for the primordiality of the weekly LPG1 drugs, the coordinatorof the Obesity Area of ​​the Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition (SEEN) ensures that "they are necessary" in patients with obesity.

"Obesity is a disease and not always weight can be controlled by the will of the person who suffers. The medications for their treatment are effective, have demonstrated a much greater weight loss than others and, in addition, they prevent them from developingOther health problems such as diabetes, "he says.

Ana de Hollanda denounces that "simplifying the problem of obesity to be due to bad habits and lack of exercise is a mistake." In addition to food, there are many factors that intervene in their development, such as stress, sleep,genetics and even pollution and famous endocrine disruptors (chemicals that alter proper body functioning).

Similarly, psychological factors, medications and other diseases can be the cause of obesity, "so simplifying such a complex problem is solved with diet and exercise is little serious," he adds.

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