Considering Ozempic?

[fdcg27]

Some of us have no trouble maintaining a healthy weight as we age and even meet BMI standards.
I can eat as much as I like without concern, while others on the same diet will pack on the pounds.
They may end up obese even though they may remain fairly active.
For those who cannot manage their weight through diet and exercise, an effective drug may be the best choice.

 

[Pablo]

Some of us have no trouble maintaining a healthy weight as we age and even meet BMI standards.
I can eat as much as I like without concern, while others on the same diet will pack on the pounds.
They may end up obese even though they may remain fairly active.
For those who cannot manage their weight through diet and exercise, an effective drug may be the best choice.

You are lucky, not sure of your age.

That said I think the main point is these drugs are not that effective and the side effects are pretty nasty. So yes some people have to have discipline. And that as you state, is not easy.

I am not so lucky but one thing about "getting there" (weight, fitness, blood glucose, lipids, etc) once you do it, you know it's possible so unless you live in some zen kind of self denial at the 7th level, that nasty finger of blame can only be pointing right back at the finger owner.

 

[Leo99]

So you agree. You describe symptoms and let them tell you what's wrong.


What if your meter is inaccurate or needs recalibrated ? I'd absolutely hope your doctor would double-check to make sure your readings are accurate ! I tell the nurses every time that their weight scale is wrong 'cause ours at home says my weight is lower. Fact is, their scale shows a reduction over time just as ours at home does.

As long as you're happy with your doctor and I'm happy with mine.

So you agree. You describe symptoms and let them tell you what's wrong.


What if your meter is inaccurate or needs recalibrated ? I'd absolutely hope your doctor would double-check to make sure your readings are accurate ! I tell the nurses every time that their weight scale is wrong 'cause ours at home says my weight is lower. Fact is, their scale shows a reduction over time just as ours at home does.

As long as we're both happy with our doctors, all is good.

 

[bbhero]

As long as you're happy with your doctor and I'm happy with mine.

As long as we're both happy with our doctors, all is good.

What you said in that other post was exactly right in my opinion…

A blood pressure cuff is NOT a meter….As you and I both well know.

Furthermore I would bet dollars to donuts you use a Omron blood pressure cuff which are extremely accurate.. . And I’d bet money you could maybe even do your own blood pressure manually if you needed too… Which I have done myself by the way.

And a blood pressure cuff can be simply verified by using a stethoscope over the brachial artery when putting on that blood pressure cuff… I did that with my wife and it verified by that the monitor was indeed right on the money. When I heard the first heart beat and the last it was spot on. And it was a brand new Omron blood pressure monitor.

 

[Leo99]

What you said in that other post was exactly right in my opinion…

A blood pressure cuff is NOT a meter….As you and I both well know.

Furthermore I would bet dollars to donuts you use a Omron blood pressure cuff which are extremely accurate.. . And I’d bet money you could maybe even do your own blood pressure manually if you needed too… Which I have done myself by the way.

And a blood pressure cuff can be simply verified by using a stethoscope over the brachial artery when putting on that blood pressure cuff… I did that with my wife and it verified by that the monitor was indeed right on the money. When I heard the first heart beat and the last it was spot on. And it was a brand new Omron blood pressure monitor.

My dr uses a fancy Omron cuff in his office and puts a stethoscope on my arm. Now I know why he uses the stethoscope.

 

[alarmguy]

...

Furthermore I would bet dollars to donuts you use a Omron blood pressure cuff which are extremely accurate.. . And I’d bet money you could maybe even do your own blood pressure manually if you needed too… Which I have done myself by the way.

And a blood pressure cuff can be simply verified by using a stethoscope over the brachial artery when putting on that blood pressure cuff… I did that with my wife and it verified by that the monitor was indeed right on the money. When I heard the first heart beat and the last it was spot on. And it was a brand new Omron blood pressure monitor.

I too have both, Actually recently in the last year or two replaced the Omron with new. Yes, Cuff.
However because I get free over the counter medical stuff from my health plan for fun I did order and receive a manual bp with stethoscope however I still have not tried it. IN order to verify what the Omron was reading though I know it's in range with various pharmacy machines and doctors office but I wanted to verify the Omron myself. Just haven't looked up where to start because I am clueless on doing it manually. I assume manually is the gold standard.

 

[Pablo]

Blood pressure measurement with any cuff is not an exact science so to speak. Highly variable on the subject, cuff placement, situation etc

People put way way too much faith in a single measurement. At the very least, 3x and toss the outlier.

 

[alarmguy]

Blood pressure measurement with any cuff is not an exact science so to speak. Highly variable on the subject, cuff placement, situation etc

People put way way too much faith in a single measurement. At the very least, 3x and toss the outlier.

Worth it to do a measurement in each arm too. Only on occasion do I
However someone who tracks their BP will know if a number is out of whack and to redo it. Some machines will test 3 times and average results
I also know when I gain weight it goes up, when I weight my proper BMI it is actually on the low side and when, lets say working around the house, down on the floor for some reason, if I get up to fast I have to hold onto the wall sometimes. That is when its runs around 103 to 112 right now I am more like 127 so no problem but it will be again as my weight drops, happens without fail.

 

[oil pan 4]

A distinction without a difference with regards to the potential for abuse.

You must work for a drug company.

 

[Finklejag]

I think they’re running out of funny names for all these new drugs. I’m not a Dwayne Johnson fan but this was a funny skit, so true regarding big pharm commercials.

 

[andyd]

Phbbb. Instead of a coronary artery by pass, I opted for diet and exercise moderation over the last 5 yrs. I retired in '17 weighing 240ish with a 44" waist. Right now, I take 4 heart pills, a pill to manage my stage 4 breast cancer and a happy pill. I also have 2 inhalers to deal with my COPD. I've been toothless since 2022 and that helped get me down below 180/ 34 waist. I walk 3 miles every morning to stimulate correlative artery creation. Without all these drugs, I never would have made it to 60. BTW, teeth are next.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topic...molecular-biology/artery-formation-physiology

 

[bbhero]

Blood pressure measurement with any cuff is not an exact science so to speak. Highly variable on the subject, cuff placement, situation etc

People put way way too much faith in a single measurement. At the very least, 3x and toss the outlier.

Yes and no… Truth in what you are saying to a good degree. And truth that goes against that too.

Blood pressure varies a whole, whole lot….

Mine has been as high as 209/100…. Though typically it is way better than that by a whole lot. Yesterday I got 123/72 while on my couch.

Though let me tell you this much…

I got a manual of 58/36 on a lady after a surgery and her heart rate was in the 130s….

I knew that reading was accurate… She was bleeding internally very badly…

I had a patient who’s blood pressure went from 130s / 60s and he had one measurement it was 69/ 40…

His color was bad, he was sweating a lot… He had abdominal surgery that day…And his JP drains all the sudden were flowing wide open… He was bleeding badly internally… I knew that one blood pressure measurement was accurate. No doubt.

 

[Pablo]

Yes and no… Truth in what you are saying to a good degree. And truth that goes against that too.

Blood pressure varies a whole, whole lot….

Mine has been as high as 209/100…. Though typically it is way better than that by a whole lot. Yesterday I got 123/72 while on my couch.

Though let me tell you this much…

I got a manual of 58/36 on a lady after a surgery and her heart rate was in the 130s….

I knew that reading was accurate… She was bleeding internally very badly…

I had a patient who’s blood pressure went from 130s / 60s and he had one measurement it was 69/ 40…

His color was bad, he was sweating a lot… He had abdominal surgery that day…And his JP drains all the sudden were flowing wide open… He was bleeding badly internally… I knew that one blood pressure measurement was accurate. No doubt.

Good post. Yeah I'm not saying pitch out a perfectly good test unit or don't bother checking BP. By all means.
But I bet anything your two scary examples, someone re-checked.

My mom's arms arm pencil thin. Near impossible to get two readings that are even close.

 

[csandste]

I had bleeding ulcers from the time I was in eighth grade. Starting with "The Day the Music Died" Buddy Holly went down and so did my health. By the late sixties I was losing so much blood that my doctor said "You're in the literature" no one is supposed to be alive with that much blood loss. Was in the hospital in Milwaukee and they brought him in (highball glass in hand), I asked him if I was going to make it and he said "Try to stay awake til midnight, if you're still alive I give you a fifty-fifty chance, but whatever you do, don't get up to go to the bathroom." In 1970 after several of these incidents he sent me to a surgeon who was almost as old as I am now (pushing 80). As they were rolling me in he came over to me and said "I've been doing this surgery since 1922 (it was 1970). When I'm done with you, they're going to be able to drive a g.d. semi straight through your duodenum." Guess I'm lucky I lived and maybe without a fast gut I'd be dead of colon cancer but I get crap from my small intestine washing into my esophagus a couple of times a year and every two years or so it hits my lungs. Not a pleasant way to die, I haven't yet but pulling ropes of bloody mucus out of my lungs for 45 minutes gives a guy thoughts. According to my gastro guy I'm the last one standing that had a Billroth 2 and upon asking how many of them died of upchuck pneumonia he responded "lots of 'em"

Which brings me to Ozempic. I've been a diabetic for a quarter century and keep my a1c in the seven range. Last reading was 7.3. My endocrinologist is happy when I'm 6.9 and unhappy when I'm 7.1. It's all about the numbers. I'm presently doing fairly well with four drugs including Jardiance and metformin but most people's A1c's elevate with age and I'm sure at one point it's going to be you have to get on an injectable because I get rewarded for keeping you under seven. Ozempic will knock off weight which will lower A1c. No matter the dangers, there's not enough of people like me still wandering around to make a statistical blip. Like education, medicine is controlled by numbers, and there's no number for quality of life or the inconvenience of coughing out your lungs while dying on the bathroom floor.