Weight Loss Drugs Cause Problems with Plumbing 💩 💩 What they don't tell you about weight loss: Part 1
On the quest to decreased appetite, some people are literally stuck with blocked intestines with the latest popular weight loss drugs.
Problems with the Plumbing.
Over this last week, news came out that the FDA had updated the list of COMMON side effects with the use of popular weight loss drugs, Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro.
For example, with Ozempic, the most commonly reported side effects include: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach (abdominal) pain, and constipation. But now the FDA has added BLOCKED INTESTINES as one of the potential side effects of using these drugs. People may also experience gas, bloating, acid reflux, excess burping, and general upset stomach or abdominal discomfort.
As a clinician, I have a primary motive to help people achieve sustainable results with lasting improvements, you know… benefits that last a lifetime without the risks of losing an arm and a leg economically, literally, or metaphorically.
I’ve seen people heal their relationship with food addiction through the use of closely monitored GLP1 receptor agonist medication or glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptides. I’ve also seen some people fail with this medication, grow increasingly nauseas and end up with a general distaste and malaise when even thinking about food. These experiences snowball into causing some patients to consume what we call in the nutrition world to be a “very low calorie diet” under 800 kilocalories per day.
Rather than the stereotypical 300-500 kcal deficit per day for sustainable healthy weight loss, these more restrictive calorie approaches come with increased negative effects and lack of sustainability when practiced long-term.
Simply put, they are unsustainable and most - if not all - clinicians know this.
These diets are typically deployed for 3 weeks to 3 months max, but pose significant risks for failure, loss of lean muscle mass, nutrient deficiencies, and leave individuals with even more sluggish metabolisms than when they started the program. And now that they hold less muscle on their body, they typically are at an even greater disadvantage to burn fat, increase fitness, and maintain a healthy body composition balance for general health measured by body fat % and particular locations for adipose tissue on the body (e.g. visceral fat around organs, chest or belly fat, thigh and booty, etc.).
In addition, when we think about prolonged nutritional deficiencies that can commonly occur in restrictive weight loss programs, we must acknowledge the legitimate risks for bone loss due to prolong nutritional insufficiency in which the body will extract nutrients from the bone in order to maintain a highly specific equilibrium requirement for particular vitamins and minerals needed for distribution in the bloodstream.
As I’ve continued to follow the ongoing developments and public surge of interest in these routes for weight loss, I’ve tried to pursue learning with an open mind and open heart in both clinical practice and qualitative testimony listening to other physicians. I understand that many people struggle with weight loss in ways that other human body types cannot quite comprehend because we all live within a very unique mental, emotional, and spiritual frame surrounded in a warm layer of skin… or a “meat suit” as Lex Fridman puts it.
I know patients who have been yo-yo dieting for 40 years and still struggle to feel strong, confident, and happy in their own body. Time after time they try to lose the weight, perform well in the beginning, hit a wall, and tend to gain the weight back plus a few more pounds. It puts a toll on these individuals who have quite literally tried ALL THE THINGS. They’ve spent 10,000 hours and often have put in equal financial investment if not more in hopes to lose weight and keep the weight off for good.
Medications may play a role, but they cannot be seen as the only hope. I have a high regard for informed consent with synthetic drugs and any potential medication use for patients.
“Why?” You might ask…
Well, it’s because I’ve seen time and time again that patients are not given a fully formed informed consent before they start most medications. Most doctors themselves aren’t fully informed from the pharmaceutical behemoths that formulated the drug they are now encouraged to recommend. Research can be skewed, corruption can occur - and has, many times.
So with the latest update for risks of side effects for Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro it shouldn’t come at any surprise that…
So with the latest update for risks of side effects for Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro it shouldn’t come at any surprise that we see more amendments and real risks never mentioned before.
This is standard practice and has come to be expected in this industry. Since it seems that 99% of my patients and clients with or without weight loss are also interested in bowel regularity and full clearance of the bowel… It seems so counterintuitive that we would forcibly promote constipation in hopes to drive down appetite and suppress cravings and caloric intake.
People be trying all the things in a desperate attempt to just go poop.
💩 “smooth move” teas
💩 apple cider vinegar
💩 lemon juice
💩 coffee
💩 eliminating dairy and gluten
💩 hypnotherapy
💩 sauerkraut
💩 kombucha
💩 chewing ginger
💩 chewing gum
💩 yoga poses
💩 pelvic floor therapy
💩 breath work
💩 drinking 1+ gallon(s) water per day
💩 baking soda
💩 psyllium husk
💩 wheat grass shots
💩 juice cleanse
💩 miralax (daily)
💩 carnivore diet
💩 vegan diet
💩 Low-FODMAP diet
💩 all the fiber supplements
💩 all the fermented foods
💩 all the probiotics
Surely there’s got to be a better way?!
There is… but most people don't fully understand.
Many of these above-mentioned tools and tactics CAN be helpful at times but I’ve seen plenty of people grow into a hopeless panic when they can’t fully release their bowels. It’s like a small-scale paranoia that comes on when people struggle to go and fear they won’t be able to dump their wastes later on.
The thought of being bloated, constipated, and backed up alone is enough to upset your stomach by mind and emotions alone, that’s not even to mention the physiological effects that happen in the gut.
The last thing I want for someone struggling with one health issue is to be weighed down by yet another issue as a result of a side effect from any given medication.
And while these weight loss drugs have absolutely exploded on the market and blew up the marketplace with patients and physicians, even celebrities, and weight cosmetic clinics, we have to be cognizant of the bigger picture for 1) how we got here aka what’s the root cause 2) what are we not seeing aka what do we not fully understand about the situation, and 3) what else can we do to influence the situation outside of using expensive weight loss drugs that come with their fair share of risks for side effects?
That’s what led me to jot down a handful of thoughts and ideas last week when I was thinking about this topic more. Each day I read more new headlines it seems. The news is always spewing information about politics, weight loss, or covid these days. I’ll be sharing more in the coming days, so be on the lookout.
On Deck: The Dietitian’s Dilemma: Weight | Weight Loss | Weight Inclusive | HAES | Intuitive Eating