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Being overweight and bulimic, I’m very excited about this new anti-obesity drug, Wegovy, which will keep me fit with no effort. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that. I should say overweight, greedy and inactive. And a preference for Hobnob.
Just to clarify, I’m not defaming anyone here. I only speak for myself. Many of the people who will benefit from new drugs have serious metabolic or clinical diseases to contend with. But in my case, the only clinical question about my weight is my weight. This psychological condition makes dieting seem boring.
I’m not sure if all this put me at the end of the queue for a miracle drug. Apparently, those with pre-diabetes or high blood pressure will be favored over those of us who are just craving junk food.
I did manage to lose a lot of weight during the pandemic, when the risk of dying seemed more immediate and imminent. But when we got vaccinated against COVID-19 and the health risks were less immediate, I relaxed into looser clothes. So anyway, I’m pretty excited about these latest medical developments, especially with all the warnings we’re getting about ultra-processed foods now too.
Looks like it has to be some kind of low fat diet for me, but if I can sign up for Wegovy and be on statins for life, I can probably eat what I like. Of course, there are still cancer-related risks with UPF, so it would be nice to get a drug for that too, because I do like a bacon sandwich in the morning.
One of the things that worries me is that Wegovy works to suppress your appetite. It feels like a blunt instrument when it comes to appetite suppression, and I’m wondering if I should stick with more targeted treatments, like curbing my butternut squash cravings instead of curbing my cheeseburger cravings. It would be a blow to me if I started hearing Jedi-like voices telling me, “These aren’t the Pringles you’re looking for” when I walked into a newsstand.
Plus, I don’t want my appetite to be quelled when I’m invited to Bray’s Waterside Inn for a seven-course dinner (I’ve never been, but it’s best to plan for all eventualities). Maybe Wegovy can be administered in a similar fashion to the 5:2 diet so I still have an appetite two days a week.
Also, there are several other areas of medical science that fail me when we do this. My disastrous attempt at water skiing (who knew it was possible to drink the entire ocean?) brutally exposed the failure of Big Pharma to address my lack of upper body strength. And I get a bit out of breath when I climb the emergency stairs in the basement of Covent Garden, so something for that will definitely be a useful addition to my medicine kit. As we used to say, “there’s an app that does that,” maybe soon we’ll be able to talk about “an injection for that.” Sure, maybe what I need is a pill that makes me crave exercise, but a pill that just provides the benefits would be more effective.
Of course, I do understand that in the case of Wegovy, the real patient is not the individual, but the NHS, which stands to save millions, if not billions, of dollars due to the myriad ill effects of not having to treat overweight people. If many costly diseases could be reduced by a simple injection, that would be a good reason. This is pure good news. No need for nanny state sugar taxes when the government can beat you skinny.
But we do need pharmaceutical companies to focus not just on dreary issues like national needs, but on broader personal or parental failures. For example, a drug that keeps people off their phones, or an injection that lets spawners tidy up their rooms and do their homework. Is there a patch that increases your desire to remove items from the dishwasher?
Medicine has not yet made up for our own deficiencies or lack of willpower, there are many problems in life. I realize the public health savings are not the same, but think about the broader benefits.
Svlook
