this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2023
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So, it’s an antidiabetic that can be injected subcutaneously in addition to orally, neat but why? Diabetes and pre-diabetes are known risk factors for atherosclerosis and heart disease, so the antidiabetic drug is being used for people that may or may not be diabetic but want to lose weight? Wouldn’t it have less risk for pancreatitis to do a weight loss coaching?
The point is that, for many people, no amount of telling them to eat less and exercise more will actually result in them doing it, and so given that reality, a drug that actually results in real change, even with moderate side effects, can still be a net positive.
To throw another example at you, high blood pressure can often be eliminated with cardiovascular exercise, and it's probably better to do that than to take a drug. But, if the person simply is not going to exercise, then the choice is to either give them a drug that resolves the problem or to not and have them walk around with hypertension.
Solutions that some people won't actually adhere to are not useful solutions to those people. You can criticize them, say they lack willpower, are lazy, or whatever else, and you might even be correct, but that doesn't change the medical facts of the situation.
Yeah I suppose you have a point. I guess I’m not trying to criticize that approach but trying to understand why the article says this drug will “shift perspectives.” Are they implying that instead of waiting until a patient develops symptoms of heart disease, they will prescribe meds to help control weight? Is that not what is already happening now?