Exactly this, and I will add that the weight loss doesn’t have to be particularly large or rapid.
Basically, the body interprets a calorie deficit as “a famine in the land” and decides that any unnecessary expenditure (such as maintaining thick hair) needs to go. This is true whether or not you take in extra vitamins, minerals or protein.
This telogen effluvium hair loss doesn’t happen overnight. First the body needs to decide there is a “famine in the land.” Then it spends a number of weeks essentially “pulling up the root” of the hair into a little ball. Then this hair (no longer living) stays stuck in the scalp for a few weeks before falling out. Once the process has started, it is irreversible. The hair never all falls out, but it can be visibly thinned. The hair follicles spend a couple months resting and then regrow.
Eli Lilly has asked to join in opposing a lawsuit brought by compounding pharmacies against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over the agency’s decision that Lilly’s blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes drugs are no longer in short supply.
In a motion filed in Fort Worth, Texas federal court late on Wednesday, Lilly said it could not rely on the FDA to fully defend its interests in the case, which will determine whether compounding pharmacies and facilities can keep selling cheaper versions of the company’s weight-loss drug Zepbound and diabetes medicine Mounjaro, which have the same active ingredient, tirzepatide.
My husband used it several years ago and he did lose some weight. He is now using a compounded GLP-1 and it is proving to be far more effective for him. He’s using a compounded version as it was difficult to obtain the Wegovy at the time he started. I’m hoping he can get the Wegovy now as the compounded is substantially more expensive!
Correct. I think it can be very effective for individuals who suffer from depression and self medicate with food. H was around food all the time as the result of his work. Now he is around food and doesn’t even think about it - he’s lost the urge to overindulge.
I tried it for a few months about 10 years ago or so, when it first came out. Did nothing. I think it was supposed to curb my appetite or somehting, but nothing changed, it was just another pill. So I stopped.
The main study the linked article is discussing is a case report describing a few patients’ retinopathies (rather than statistically comparing retinopathy rates in groups of patients).
The article also mentions a couple of retrospective studies that DID compare rates of certain retinopathies in groups of patients. All the patients in those studies were diabetic, and the two groups that were compared were diabetic patients on GLP-1 drugs, and diabetic patients on other diabetes drugs.
It looks like the elevated risk of developing the retinopathies in question is very, very low, for patients taking the GLP-1 drugs.
The authors speculate that the etiology of the retinopathies in question is rapidly fluctuating blood sugars.
I’d be VERY curious to see the same studies repeated in non-diabetic patients. I’d also like to see prospective studies as well. Enough people take GLP-1 drugs to make those investigations very feasible, and I predict we’ll start to see reports of such studies fairly soon.
The case report authors say to keep taking the drugs and mention any vision alterations to your prescribing doctor and an ophthalmologist.
Neither of the pathologies reported are commonly associated with diabetes. NAION is associated with aging, and in particular optic nerves that are crowded, the so called “disc at risk.” That would be the first variable I’d look for. They may just have had it irrespective of the drug.