Doctors worried about latest weight loss trend on social media

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Medical doctors are issuing a warning concerning the newest social media development centering on weight reduction. 

The newest development includes injectables, and medical doctors say when taken incorrectly, what is meant to be a weight reduction answer can simply add extra issues. 

Dr. George Eid, the chair of the Bariatric & Metabolic Institute at Allegheny Well being Community, stated his workplace has been stuffed with calls from individuals who need prescriptions for Ozempic or Wegovy. He stated sufferers can lose about 15 p.c of their weight by taking them. 

Manufactured by the identical firm, Ozempic is promoted for diabetes, whereas Wegovy is promoted for weight reduction. Each share the identical chemical that aids in weight reduction. 

Eid stated the prescribing of those medication has not been effectively managed, and he needs individuals to know they aren’t for everyone. 

“It needs to be utilized in the precise setting. I hate it for use the way in which it is getting used,” he stated. “It needs to be executed within the correct, not simply because any individual has to slot in smaller pants or a gown.”

Manufacturing ramped again up at the start of the yr, however when excessive demand and provide chain points precipitated a Wegovy scarcity final yr, Eid stated individuals had been by some means gaining access to the chemical that makes the medicines work and taking that as an alternative. 

With out correct monitoring, Eid stated these medicines can have severe well being implications. 

“Some sufferers, in case you are not cautious, can have muscle mass loss, which isn’t good. For this reason it is necessary to look at the protein consumption and train to keep up the muscle mass,” Eid stated.