Gonk's Daily Dose of Wisdom

[ZippityDooDah]

Put some damn socks on your feet!

It's wonderful and encouraging to see people achieving their weight loss goals, even small victories are still a victory! But damn, if you're going to post a scale picture that includes your feet, do the world a favor and put some damn socks on first! Most feet are simply not presentable in pictures, and whether they are just goofy looking or you have gnarly toenails, nobody needs to see that!

Don't feel bad about it. None of us are models. Since I've been perusing GLP-1 content across various media more frequently lately, it seems like every other picture is someone's ugly ass feet on a scale and it's not nice (it does tend to help with appetite suppression however so there's that...). I don't understand foot fetishes either.

 

[ZippityDooDah]

Autoinjector pens are stupid

While there may be a small percentage of the population whose only and best option is to use an autoinjector pen, for the other 90+% it's an enormous waste of time and money. I've been watching from the sidelines for 2+ years while people spend piles of money trying to find that perfect pen and all the accoutrements to go with it and all the other hoops they have to jump through just to use a pen and wonder when the madness is going to stop. Again, I understand that there are certain people like the elderly and disabled for whom an autoinjector pen is the best solution, but that's a small portion of the community and everyone else just seems to be looking for ways to make simple things complicated.

 

[ZippityDooDah]

Pre-filling syringes is also stupid

(You get a two-fer today since I was busy helping a neighbor finish a deck yesterday.)

People say that they're "saving time" by pre-filling syringes in advance instead of just drawing their dose when it's time to administer it. Those people are liars. They're lying to themselves, and to the rest of us. Putting aside the fact that consumer insulin syringes are not designed or intended for storing fluid for more than the minute or two it takes to draw and inject and that most regular syringes aren't either, there are more concerning potential issues of the plastics and other materials used in the construction of the syringe leaching into and contaminating the fluid within over time, plus the more common problem of the contents simply leaking out.

It takes the exact same amount of time to draw a dose in advance that it does to draw it at time of use. The process of drawing doses in advance to store them is always going to take longer because now you have to put the syringes into "storage", presumably mark/label them to identify what's inside, etc., organize and then later take them out of "storage" to administer, hoping that nothing went wrong.

Many things that people convince themselves are "saving" time are actually doing the exact opposite, and pre-filling syringes is one of those things.

 

[ZippityDooDah]

If you have to ask about a vendor, you're already failing

This is aimed at the newbies. I get it, you're new and looking for answers. You want to be informed. You need information. But if you have to ask whether anyone has heard of a vendor, or you're asking for reviews of that vendor, you're already failing.

The is no lack of discussion about whatever vendors/suppliers are "reputable" on any given day. If you can't find any info it either doesn't exist or you're not trying hard enough. It doesn't matter if it's here on this forum, Reddit, Discord, Peppy's, Facebook or any of the other countless venues out there; if you put in some time and effort you'll be able to easily determine if a vendor has a reputation and gain some guidance as to where you'll be least likely to get screwed. Notice I didn't say you'd find the best vendor with the best products at the best price, I said where you're least likely to get screwed and that's the crux of "comparison shopping" when it comes to buying these products. If you don't understand the difference, you're not ready. I don't know a more polite way of expressing that.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a newbie and starting out in this hobby blind. We've all been there. It can be frightening, intimidating, and overwhelming all at the same time. To be safe and successful however, there's a certain amount of effort that needs to be put in and if you ask "has anyone heard of?" or "how do I order from...?" you're essentially announcing to the world that you haven't put in any or enough effort yet. This is not the time to rush or be lazy.

 

[ZippityDooDah]

The best price does not mean the best deal

It never ceases to amaze me how many people base their purchasing decisions on primarily on price. Regardless of whether you're buying from a compounder via telehealth, a domestic single-vial research vendor, domestic bulk research vendor, or overseas supplier, the reality is that the price differences on each of the various tiers is usually negligible when you break it down to price-per-milligram.

Compare it to buying a 25-slice loaf of Wonder Bread for $2.99 at Kroger or $2.49 at Walmart; in the end most people would think they're "saving" 2 cents a slice at Walmart. Whether you buy one loaf or ten the savings of 2 center per slice remains the same.

The "which is a better deal" aspect comes in by not realizing that the average loaf that Walmart sells is not as fresh and expire an average of 4 days earlier than the fresher loaf the Kroger sells. Then there are the factors not reflected in the price like having to be your own cashier at Walmart if you don't want to wait in line for the one staffed checkout, or being accosted by security on your way out the door to check your receipt while Kroger has plenty of staffed checkouts to get you through quickly while also bagging up everything for you and even offering to help you out to your car without the Gestapo demanding to see your papers on your way out the door. Then finally you get home only to find the loaf from Walmart start to get moldy a couple of days before the expiration date, yet somehow still believe you got the better "deal".

This ties in a bit with yesterday's dose since a lot of the "has anybody bought from ...?" posts are a result of someone thinking they found a better "deal" than what other better known vendors are offering any given day.

I'm not saying you should ignore price differences when selecting a vendor, what I'm saying is that you have to look at the overall picture in terms of their history and reputation built through community experience and not just who has the lowest price. The best price isn't the best deal if you end up with a bad or inferior product compared to the minimally more expensive options, and nobody wants moldy peptides.