The trend of unproven peptides is spreading through influencers and RFK Jr. allies

I think peptides are popular because medicine has failed us. Docs would've kept giving me insulin and BP meds until my untimely death. All the while, telling me I need to get my weight under control. Insulin caused me to gain weight... The more weight I gained, the more insulin dependent I became. This is some kind of crazy.
 
byefatlicia said:
I think peptides are popular because medicine has failed us. Docs would've kept giving me insulin and BP meds until my untimely death. All the while, telling me I need to get my weight under control. Insulin caused me to gain weight... The more weight I gained, the more insulin dependent I became. This is some kind of crazy.
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And I bet your doctor didn’t even call you “Dear”
 
Yet they don't even mention what's driving people to use peptides and take their chances. It's because they offer health benefits and not staying healthy is the #1 way to go bankrupt in the US. Costs are out of control so who can blame anyone for doing their best to stay away from organized "health care" unless they simply can't avoid it. My RS is down 23 lbs, his BP, LDL, triglycerides and liver enzymes are all significantly lower. So hell yeah, he'll take it.
 
byefatlicia said:
I think peptides are popular because medicine has failed us. Docs would've kept giving me insulin and BP meds until my untimely death. All the while, telling me I need to get my weight under control. Insulin caused me to gain weight... The more weight I gained, the more insulin dependent I became. This is some kind of crazy.
Click to expand...

My first big clue to the brokenness was running across Dr Jason Fung. He is a Canadian nephrologist, and saw the same thing. He saw the standard medicine, insulin, made his patients sicker. He concluded T2 is a disease of too much insulin, and he is pro-keto.

The last 3.5 years of my life has been learning to work the system to not accept what “standard” practice wants me to: I am aging but I am NOT old. I am middle aged, I should not be decrepit or losing my thinking ability.

Don’t want to listen to me enough to find root cause? I’ll solve it myself as safely reasonably as I can but don’t gripe about us going outside a broken system that ignores us.
 
Foggy-Hollow said:
My first big clue to the brokenness was running across Dr Jason Fung. He is a Canadian nephrologist, and saw the same thing. He saw the standard medicine, insulin, made his patients sicker. He concluded T2 is a disease of too much insulin, and he is pro-keto
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I would agree about Keto. I just couldn't stick to it. And really think it works if you can keep with it.
 
byefatlicia said:
I would agree about Keto. I just couldn't stick to it. And really think it works if you can keep with it.
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No judgement! I did keto for a couple months with a lot of prepackaged stuff… glad it works for folks but I couldn’t do it long term either.

My brain likes carbs. Really really likes them.
 
Foggy-Hollow said:
No judgement! I did keto for a couple months with a lot of prepackaged stuff… glad it works for folks but I couldn’t do it long term either.

My brain likes carbs. Really really likes them.
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The best (healthy) diet, just like exercise plan, is the one that you can actually stick to long term. People are so individually different that they need to actively try and find out what works and is sustainable for them. What's a fad to some might be sustainable for others and vice versa.
 
I almost never call my patients Dear or Honey. Or give them Telegram links to Grey ;-)
But I agree, it's been very traditional medicine with T2D for many many years. Not a lot to do.
It's a delight to be able to really help people now.
And SGLT2 has really done a lot too.
In Denmark we still mostly prescribe semaglutide, I think partly because of Novo, but also because Mounjaro is so crazy expensive.
Most of my patients are very happy.
 
I think it's very American to look at the FDA that's approved something or not and decide that is the end-all be-all of it. And also to view so many physicians as infallible gods no matter what they say or do.

I watched my wife struggle with a few medical conditions for DECADES, all the while being ignored by her doctors as "just another fatass" -- and look, she started Tirz and lost 110 pounds with almost no change to her diet. Qualifying with almost because she tightened up her calories a little bit since starting, but we're talking 100-200 a day, not 1,000+ / I was diagnosed with not having sleep apnea because my doctor cocked his head to the side and looked at me for 3 seconds. Guess who has severe sleep apnea that was diagnosed when I had insurance that didn't require a referral to sleep medicine?

People are turning to peptides because they work, and they are affordable. They are breaking the stranglehold modern medicine has over many of us -- not really getting us well, but well enough to not complain.
 
Not_Your_Dad said:
I think it's very American to look at the FDA that's approved something or not and decide that is the end-all be-all of it. And also to view so many physicians as infallible gods no matter what they say or do.

I watched my wife struggle with a few medical conditions for DECADES, all the while being ignored by her doctors as "just another fatass" -- and look, she started Tirz and lost 110 pounds with almost no change to her diet. Qualifying with almost because she tightened up her calories a little bit since starting, but we're talking 100-200 a day, not 1,000+ / I was diagnosed with not having sleep apnea because my doctor cocked his head to the side and looked at me for 3 seconds. Guess who has severe sleep apnea that was diagnosed when I had insurance that didn't require a referral to sleep medicine?

People are turning to peptides because they work, and they are affordable. They are breaking the stranglehold modern medicine has over many of us -- not really getting us well, but well enough to not complain.
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That's called sick care, not health care. So much is reactionary instead of proactive. Great doctors will be proactive and invested in their patients health and don't want to just give the script and wait till the next check up. Yes, they're out there but hard to find and it's not uncommon for them to not even accept insurance and be purely out of pocket so that can actually provide that level of care.

My internist does take insurance but he's part of a small group of physicians that are just internal medicine. He's always taken as much time as needed during appointments. He makes no judgements and want's me to be healthy and monitors everything I do and gives guidance and proper monitoring. My wife sees one of the other internist in the practice and loves her which is high praise seeing as she is an UC/ED pediatric doctor and goes through that meat grind every shift. She's had no problem dumping doctors when she's been unimpressed by them in the past.

Ultimately, everyone needs to remember that you need to be your own health advocate and take control into your own hands.
 
byefatlicia said:
I think peptides are popular because medicine has failed us. Docs would've kept giving me insulin and BP meds until my untimely death. All the while, telling me I need to get my weight under control. Insulin caused me to gain weight... The more weight I gained, the more insulin dependent I became. This is some kind of crazy.
Click to expand...
byefatlicia said:
I think peptides are popular because medicine has failed us. Docs would've kept giving me insulin and BP meds until my untimely death. All the while, telling me I need to get my weight under control. Insulin caused me to gain weight... The more weight I gained, the more insulin dependent I became. This is some kind of crazy.
Click to expand...

Insulin is a peptide.
 
Not_Your_Dad said:
I think it's very American to look at the FDA that's approved something or not and decide that is the end-all be-all of it. And also to view so many physicians as infallible gods no matter what they say or do.

I watched my wife struggle with a few medical conditions for DECADES, all the while being ignored by her doctors as "just another fatass" -- and look, she started Tirz and lost 110 pounds with almost no change to her diet. Qualifying with almost because she tightened up her calories a little bit since starting, but we're talking 100-200 a day, not 1,000+ / I was diagnosed with not having sleep apnea because my doctor cocked his head to the side and looked at me for 3 seconds. Guess who has severe sleep apnea that was diagnosed when I had insurance that didn't require a referral to sleep medicine?

People are turning to peptides because they work, and they are affordable. They are breaking the stranglehold modern medicine has over many of us -- not really getting us well, but well enough to not complain.
Click to expand...

I had a friend who rejected modern medicine. She ended up dying of breast cancer. I had another friend who wouldn't take the recommended statins and high blood pressure medicines. He believed those medicines were unnecessary since he was a long distance runner. He ended up having a widow maker heart attack. He needed a quadruple bypass operation to survive. He is no longer a runner due to the extensive damage to his heart. It's funny how those who criticize doctors for treating health conditions with medication are often those most willing to take multiple untested supplements. I remember watching an interview with RFK Jr. where he stated he takes multiple supplements, but could remember the names of most of the supplements he takes.
 
Not_Your_Dad said:
I think it's very American to look at the FDA that's approved something or not and decide that is the end-all be-all of it. And also to view so many physicians as infallible gods no matter what they say or do.

I watched my wife struggle with a few medical conditions for DECADES, all the while being ignored by her doctors as "just another fatass" -- and look, she started Tirz and lost 110 pounds with almost no change to her diet. Qualifying with almost because she tightened up her calories a little bit since starting, but we're talking 100-200 a day, not 1,000+ / I was diagnosed with not having sleep apnea because my doctor cocked his head to the side and looked at me for 3 seconds. Guess who has severe sleep apnea that was diagnosed when I had insurance that didn't require a referral to sleep medicine?

People are turning to peptides because they work, and they are affordable. They are breaking the stranglehold modern medicine has over many of us -- not really getting us well, but well enough to not complain.
Click to expand...

Yet the solutions that worked were very much products of modern medicine - tirzepatide, a sleep study, and I suspect you use CPAP too. I suspect much of the disillusionment with modern medicine is due to people having an inflated expectation that modern medicine can cure every ailment. Modern medicine is not that powerful. Yet I'm only alive today due to modern medicine, which treated my thyroid cancer.
 
Varixdos said:
So much is reactionary instead of proactive.
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Exactly.

I’m “only” 35 pounds overweight. My blood pressure increasing. It’s getting harder to be active. Otherwise my numbers are fantastic. F48. I asked My GP for help losing weight, I had been logging, small deficit but should have been enough, and things weren’t budging. My GP gave me a recommendation to take a walk after dinner. No mention of even a nutritionist.

This is how people spiral down: they ask for help and aren’t heard. I technically qualify for a GLP-1 with a BMI over 27 and high blood pressure. I didn’t expect to be offered it out of the chute but “take a walk after dinner” was not on my radar.

Aging - especially - has been a thousand small cuts. I am learning more by reading imaging reports than what docs are telling me.

“Harm none” seems to have turned into taking no action until harm is happening. That’s not quite how I want to take care of me.

keangkong said:
Yet I'm only alive today due to modern medicine, which treated my thyroid cancer.
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That’s the twist of it, isn’t it? We can do amazing things to save lives, but the system is broken enough to not tip the “slightly unhealthy” back to healthy.

Shouldn’t be so hard for those of us who want to do better.
 
keangkong said:
Yet the solutions that worked were very much products of modern medicine - tirzepatide, a sleep study, and I suspect you use CPAP too. I suspect much of the disillusionment with modern medicine is due to people having an inflated expectation that modern medicine can cure every ailment. Modern medicine is not that powerful. Yet I'm only alive today due to modern medicine, which treated my thyroid cancer.
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I'm happy for that, Keangkong !
And I do vote to your words.
I can't believe how many of my patients think, I'm their doctor, their psychologist, their social worker, their friend, their priest, their...
I feel, it's changed in the last 20 years a lot.
It's like I'm responsible for their lives, yet people won't do the necessary themselves.
I have a patient with very dysregulated T2DM, it doesn't matter what I tell her, she still eats whatever and doesn't work out.
How can I cure that.
It's just very complex.
I always respect their choice, but I won't hold back saying what I find necesary, - it is my job.
 
Foggy-Hollow said:
Exactly.

I’m “only” 35 pounds overweight. My blood pressure increasing. It’s getting harder to be active. Otherwise my numbers are fantastic. F48. I asked My GP for help losing weight, I had been logging, small deficit but should have been enough, and things weren’t budging. My GP gave me a recommendation to take a walk after dinner. No mention of even a nutritionist.
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Oh I get so angry with that. WTF.
I never deny a patient glp's, if they are a candidate. Why would I ?
And why would the doctor decide what is good for you, it's your choice.
We lay out the options, patients decide.
And that includes glp1.
I think, I was 40-45 pounds overweight and insulin resistant + high lipids + perimenopause, how was a walk gonna help me.
I was hungry all the time because of the metabolic dysfunction.
Great advice lol.
 
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keangkong said:
I had a friend who rejected modern medicine. She ended up dying of breast cancer. I had another friend who wouldn't take the recommended statins and high blood pressure medicines. He believed those medicines were unnecessary since he was a long distance runner. He ended up having a widow maker heart attack. He needed a quadruple bypass operation to survive. He is no longer a runner due to the extensive damage to his heart. It's funny how those who criticize doctors for treating health conditions with medication are often those most willing to take multiple untested supplements. I remember watching an interview with RFK Jr. where he stated he takes multiple supplements, but could remember the names of most of the supplements he takes.
Click to expand...
My husband was the opposite. He took his medicine like a good little boy and they nearly killed him. They said he had high cholesterol and gave him half of the maximum dose of lipitor right out of the gate. 2 weeks later he had a heart attack. They did a cardiac cath and saw that everything was fine. No plaque build up and no blockages. So they put him at the maximum dose of lipitor and added tricor. 2 months later he had another heart attack. Did another cardiac cath .. again nothing. Messed around with his meds some more and over the next 3 years he had 2 strokes, a 3rd heart attack and developed diabetes. Doctors told me that lipitor couldn't possibly have caused the diabetes or trigger the heart attacks. While I was telling everyone that he was fine before they put him on the pills. 100% fine. The pills made him sicker and sicker. So finally he listens to me and weans himself off the meds except for the diabetes stuff. He slowly got better. That was 22 years ago. The damage to his pancreas is permanent so he will always be a diabetic now. Yes, he still has slightly high cholesterol too. big deal.

Oh, and before anyone asks, he has never been overweight. Furthermore lipitor was linked to pancreatitis later on and that can lead to diabetes. But I was the crazy one back then.
 
MsGizmo said:
My husband was the opposite. He took his medicine like a good little boy and they nearly killed him. They said he had high cholesterol and gave him half of the maximum dose of lipitor right out of the gate. 2 weeks later he had a heart attack. They did a cardiac cath and saw that everything was fine. No plaque build up and no blockages. So they put him at the maximum dose of lipitor and added tricor. 2 months later he had another heart attack. Did another cardiac cath .. again nothing. Messed around with his meds some more and over the next 3 years he had 2 strokes, a 3rd heart attack and developed diabetes. Doctors told me that lipitor couldn't possibly have caused the diabetes or trigger the heart attacks. While I was telling everyone that he was fine before they put him on the pills. 100% fine. The pills made him sicker and sicker. So finally he listens to me and weans himself off the meds except for the diabetes stuff. He slowly got better. That was 22 years ago. The damage to his pancreas is permanent so he will always be a diabetic now. Yes, he still has slightly high cholesterol too. big deal.

Oh, and before anyone asks, he has never been overweight. Furthermore lipitor was linked to pancreatitis later on and that can lead to diabetes. But I was the crazy one back then.
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I'm sorry for you, I never heard about that. It's not on the side effects list in Denmark, the pancreatitis, but the hyperglycæmia is.
I'm glad you found you own way and kept listening to yourself.
Modern medicine is limited in many ways, and marvellous in others, no doubt about it.
I sometimes meet patients who have some really rare side effects to different medicines, and not listed ones.
 
keangkong said:
Yet the solutions that worked were very much products of modern medicine - tirzepatide, a sleep study, and I suspect you use CPAP too. I suspect much of the disillusionment with modern medicine is due to people having an inflated expectation that modern medicine can cure every ailment. Modern medicine is not that powerful. Yet I'm only alive today due to modern medicine, which treated my thyroid cancer.
Click to expand...
I don't have any beef with modern medicine. We've been able to do some remarkable things in the past 100 years or so that have dramatically improved the quality and quantity of life for the majority of humanity.

What I have a beef with is the way modern medicine is often dispensed, at least based on my experiences in the United States. I go to see a physician (well, not any more, usually an APRN or PA now), who is quadruple booked all day long to keep that fucking insurance revenue flowing, because the CEO of the healthcare group has a Porsche in the driveway and SOMEONE needs to make the payment on it. I get 15 actual seconds of this person paying attention to me - the rest of their time is ticking boxes on an iPad or clicking through shit on a computer. And in that 15 seconds they decide what is wrong, no matter what I actually have to say.

But now, I have access to some of this advanced technology medicine on my own. I don't have to be some insurance company's bitch. I don't have to jump through all these hoops and hope, and beg, and cajole on the chance that lightning will strike and not only will a provider listen to me but insurance will decide I'm allowed to have a medicine that a provider thinks I need and would help me. I can learn, research, educate myself, and make some decisions for ME (nb. not decisions for you or anyone else, just me), but FDA has a problem with that. And FDA has a problem with that because, just like the assholes who used to work at Treasury and then move to private finance and have a problem with regulation, the same assholes who used to work at FDA now work in Pharma, and what is Pharma's primary objective? R.O.I to their investors. And we can't be having Tirz available at some price other than $1400 / month, now can we?

Anyway, that's where I'm coming from on this particular topic.

And I'm glad you beat the thyroid cancer and are here!
 
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