Always think about the risks vs benefit when it comes to health (of anything, for that matter)
The NHS is fantastic when it comes to serious conditions, life or death situations – the risk there is death so that’s too great to even consider, so you would absolutely trust these guys with your life, but, when it comes to prevention or more minor symptoms, it often generalises.
The NHS is overstretched as we know, as it doesn’t have the capacity to really, truly treat people on an individual basis for many more minor, self-limiting conditions. This is where it comes down to you as an individual to make these assessments for yourself – and incorporate diet, a healthy lifestyle, and herbal medicine to support your health in the long-term.
This is where the responsibility really lies with you to do your research or save reseources that you can use to help educate yourself in these areas.
What do the risks vs benefits look like when it comes to the weight loss jabs?
If you are and advanced type II diabetic, as these medications were intended for, by the way, and I do also reiterate ‘advanced’, so, if you’ve tried other methods to lose weight, but it’s now at the point that weight loss is essential and maybe needed quickly, due to side effects of your condition.
At this point, the side effects of your condition, in terms or metabolic or physical effects are going to be significant, and so, perhaps any side effects of these medications might be inferior to those. So this could mean that the benefits are in surplus in this case.
Any other benefits? So, the method of action is that they slow your digestion down, so this may help with people feeling a bit fuller quicker, for longer or it could help to turn off the ’food noise’, that many people struggle with. And this is fair enough - for some people the mental side of eating relationships can be tricky, so this might prove to be a significant benefit for you.
Then there are the benefits of the weight loss and better eating habits themselves which can be significant; metabolically, mentally and physically.
You need to weigh these up with any risks and actually read the patient information leaflet and understand the risks, but also ask your doctor questions if you’re not sure.
Ask yourself: Is this for you? What are the risks vs benefits? What are the short time risks or benefits? But also, in the long-term – do the risks start to outweigh the benefits – this is often the case too, so question if you have been on a medication for a long time – is it still necessary, have your risk factors changed? And your doctor should be able to help answer this in order for you to make an informed decision.
In medicine an informed decision is when you’re able to weight up all the benefits, all the risks and make a decision for you. Without being ill-informed or not fully informed.
What are the associated risks?
The risks of these medications are pretty lengthy and worth considering. Many systems of the body are included in the indicated risks – I’m not going to go into them all, and I’m not claiming to be an expert on them all, but I’ve seen enough to be concerned. And the effects on your digestive system is one key area to consider. Very commonly reported side effects of these medications include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation - to name a few.
I’m a physiologist, nutritionist so I have a huge interest in digestion. Your digestion has a very specific process, our bodies have adapted for millions of years to make these processes work optimally. So, then if we purposely mess them up, we can’t be surprised of the side effects.
On a side note, not to mention some of the ‘newfound’ or ‘unexpected’ side effects such as contraindications with hormonal contraceptives, - and some of these are quite newfound side effects that they don’t fully understand why they are happening, so this is a concern to me too.
But the news headlines that have recently hit are around the effects on the pancreas, and the risk of acute pancreatitis. And do you know which other organ has a direct effect on the pancreas? The gallbladder. And the gallbladder is also indicated separately with these medications – as they can put you at a major risk of gallstones, as well as having a direct influence on the pancreas.
Some of these organs - people might not have heard of them, or assume they aren’t important. But each and every organ in our bodies are hugely important - and they all have their own roles - like the tonsils! Another one that is often overlooked.
But, having to have your gallbladder removed as a result of gallstones would also have knock on effects on your digestion for the rest of your life, so it is something to consider carefully.
Gallstones are becoming more common anyway nowadays, due to diet, stress, dehydration and sluggish digestion as a result of all of these factors.
But by purposely slowing down digestion too much, these jabs are going to contribute further to gallstones - and lo and behold there have been an influx of cases of gallbladder pain, gallstones, with these meds, and now, also as a knock on effect of this, the pancreas issue – all of which can be life threatnening.
So, it’s a bit of a worry guys, but I just wanted to give you some, hopefully quite balanced views of mine, so you can make your own decision and do what’s best for you as an individual.
