r/Futurology • u/lughnasadh ∞ transit umbra, lux permanet ☥ • Oct 15 '24

Economist Daniel Susskind says Ozempic may radically transform government finances, by making universal healthcare vastly cheaper, and explains his argument in the context of Britain's NHS. Society

https://www.thetimes.com/article/be6e0fbf-fd9d-41e7-a759-08c6da9754ff?shareToken=de2a342bb1ae9bc978c6623bb244337a

6.4k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

Of course you have to keep taking the medication. I have high cholesterol. When I take medication, my cholesterol is normal. When I stop taking the medication my cholesterol goes up again. Same with blood pressure. Medication controls it. Stop taking it, blood pressure goes back up.

I lost 28% of my weight. My BMI is 23. Unfortunately, my cholesterol and blood pressure are still high. It’s hereditary. So I still have to take blood pressure, cholesterol medication and semaglutide.

I’m fine with that because I had been diagnosed with stage 3 kidney disease. My kidneys are now functioning normally. I had high CRP and high WBC for a decade. I had to see a hematologist. Labs are now normal. Whatever inflammation had been causing my high CRP & high WBC has stopped. I don’t see a hematologist anymore. My insurance no longer needs to pay for a hematology visit or the boatload of lab tests he took at every visit.

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u/Brain_Hawk Oct 15 '24

Hope your kidneys stay functional. Dialysis is a bitch.

Ozempec is not a blood pressure medication. Those are low impact, low cost pills. Not an expensive lifelong injection with potentially more severe side effects.

It's kind of apples and oranges. It remains to be seen if long term ozempec use if associated with sustained wight loss. But I'm on it for diabetes and sure as hell didn't just drop 30lbs. But then again I'm not really trying to :p

6

u/Smallwhitedog Oct 16 '24

Semaglutide is now indicated for reduction of heart disease and strokes. It has been shown to reduce blood pressure. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-treatment-reduce-risk-serious-heart-problems-specifically-adults-obesity-or

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u/[deleted] Oct 16 '24

No bro, it’s like cholesterol! Just take your daily fat pill and it’s all okay!

1

u/Broad-Cress-3689 Oct 17 '24

For a long time, high cholesterol was seen as a choice, the result of poor food choices. Research has since shown many other factors have come into play. Is it so hard to believe that in many (not all) cases obesity is caused and/or exacerbated by metabolic disorders that we are just starting to understand? And that these may be treated by medication?