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Is it a “Miracle Drug”?...if it Costs a Fortune and Creates Lifelong Dependency...&...Saggy Faces!?

[It’s been a while since our last blog post.  A lot has happened since–including some “miracles”! So we’re going to do two posts in a row…]

Normally we should all be happy about miracle drugs...shouldn't we?


Yes, there is lots of upside from taking semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy), tirzepatide (Montjaro)--and upcoming new, even-more-miraculous drugs TBD:  losing huge amounts of weight quickly, a much lower risk of diabetes–and probably less heart disease and other chronic conditions as well. 


But what if the “miracle” requires:  

  • $200-300/week, with a lifetime cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars… 

  • a drug that you can never quit…because if you stop taking it, you gain back all the weight it helped you lose–not to mention the chronic diseases which the drugs kept at bay…

  • and it leaves your face (and the rest of your skin?) sagging…   

  • (plus, it’s so new at such high dosages–who knows what happens after years of use…?)


No doubt, in spite of this--many people with severe obesity or (pre)diabetes will need a miraculous solution.  But why has it come to this?


What if they had been active enough and had healthy enough nutrition from an early age:

  • to never have become one of the 10% of teens with severe obesity (and 30% of adults by 2050)? 

  • to not have become the 1 of every 3 teens now developing prediabetes in adolescence (and 1 in 3 adults with diabetes by 2050)?--whether from communities of white or color, whether low-income, working-, or middle-class...


Tragically, we never gave them that chance. We abandoned the one realistic, affordable way to get the entire population on the right track–through K-12 schools. 


And we have done almost nothing with any other public policies–to encourage activity and discourage unhealthy eating and drinking. 


(We gave people Nutrition Facts on the label–but never developed their health attitudes and behaviors in childhood and never reinforced them during adulthood–to empower our people to actually take advantage of that information.)


Now compare that to everything we did to reduce youth tobacco usage from 36% to 6% of teens in just over two decades...


Health knowledge without healthy-habit follow-through does not improve our health!  


More activity and healthier nutrition are a much better alternative–a much better way for our children to grow up–than the very mixed blessings of a life sentence to “miracle drugs”.


Comments

  1. daniel lisaApril 21, 2024 at 2:51 PM

    Hope fatigue, a state of emotional exhaustion resulting from repeatedly unmet expectations or prolonged struggles, often leads to feelings of hopelessness. While there's no simple "cure," addressing it requires a combination of emotional support, psychological strategies, and sometimes medical intervention.

    Regarding "Rybelsus UK," this keyword doesn't directly connect to hope fatigue, but Rybelsus is a medication used to manage type 2 diabetes. The relevance of this medication to hope fatigue might lie in the broader context of managing chronic conditions. Individuals coping with long-term illnesses often experience hope fatigue due to the ongoing challenges they face.

    Overcoming hope fatigue involves reconnecting with sources of inspiration, seeking therapy, maintaining a support network, and setting realistic goals. Although Rybelsus addresses diabetes management in the UK, it reminds us that managing chronic conditions requires both physical and emotional resilience.

    ReplyDelete

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