October 6, 2025 • 35 mins
I've wanted to do this show for a long time. It's personal to me. This is on what I call the big four weight loss drugs. Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound and Mountjaro. And the reason I wanted to do this show was because I was struggling with some weight issues and went to see my primary care doc, and she goes, well, let's just go ahead and give you Wegovy. And I thought, you know, I think I'm going to go find a weight loss clinic. I'm going to get into a program and see what I can do. And I did. So I’ll let you know how that went, but also that it made me think about these products and I started doing a little research, started looking around, and I'm like, you know what?
We don't know what we don't know. And it gave me, some significant hesitation about using these, so this show today is about that. It's about what do we know? What don't we know?
What do we know that are side effects, potential problems down the road for other kinds of diseases and comorbidities because most studies go back only 3.5 years or less. Some additional questions are: What are the long-term effects and what happens if you’re on them on them for a lifetime?
I’ll also review the manufacturer country Green List, so if you are getting one of these from another country to save cost, which are considered safest. We have the research, and I'll lay it out in detail in this episode and I’ll let you know what I think. The studies we've referenced are listed below.
This is episode 2129 of America's Healthcare Advocate. I'm Cary Hall. As always, if you need help or have something to share contact me with this form on my website and let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns. Visit: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us
Episode Producers:
Audio: Garner Cowdry
Camera: David Thiessen
Research - Nathan Haldeman
Research links for this episode went over the character limit here, so we have posted them here:
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
And now America's
Healthcare Advocate, Cary Hall.
Hello, America.
Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocate.
Show broadcasting coastto coast across the USA.
Here on the HIA Radio Network,you can find out more about us
by going to the websiteAmericasHealthcareAdvocate.com.
Also our YouTube channel.
Almost half a million views up there now.
(00:22):
So we appreciate all of you out therewho go up on YouTube and follow our show.
And in addition to that, youryour favorite podcast channel,
whatever it might be.
SoundCloud, Rumble, Spotify,we're on system.
All the shows are up there as well.
Also,if you are chronologically challenged
or if you are looking for ACA,
there's going to be major changesin this market this year on the ACA.
(00:46):
In the Medicare plans,you need to talk to somebody.
I'm going to suggestyou call Carolee Steele that 877-385-2224.
She's over at RPS Benefits by Design.
She is a certified expertin Medicare and ACA,
and she can help you anywherein the country.
There going to be some big increases,some plan changes.
All the rest of it.
If you need help,give her a call at 877-385-2224.
(01:11):
And if you're an employer.
We were just talking about this with Davebefore we went on the air.
And you're one of these small, employersunder 50 lives,
and you're getting hitwith big premium increases,
and there are going to be big premiumincreases this year.
Maria Ahlers can help you see some ofthese alternative plans that are out there
that can get these costs in line877-385-2224.
(01:34):
All right.
This show.
I've wanted to do thisshow for a long time.
It's personal to me.
This is on what I call the big four weightloss drugs.
Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound and Mountjaro.
Okay.
And the reason I wanted to do this
show was because I was strugglingwith some weight issues.
And, went to a first of all, I would see
(01:55):
my primary care doc, and she goes, well,let's just go ahead and give you Wegovy.
Oh, okay.
And then, of course, I wentand found out that cost $1,100 a month.
That kind of chilled me a little bit.
And I thought, you know, I think I'mgoing to go find a weight loss clinic.
I'm going to I'm going to go getinto a program and see what I could do.
And I did,and I think I've talked about this before.
(02:15):
I went on metformin for about six monthsand changed my diet around,
went from250 to 235 and I'm holding about 235.
I probably should get downanother 10 pounds, but
that's going to be the hardest one to do.
I was very tempted, okay, to use oneof these drugs because it's instantaneous.
You start using it,you start shedding pounds.
(02:38):
Well, I started doing a little research,started looking around, and I'm like,
you know what?
We don't know what. We don't know.
And it gave me, somesignificant hesitation about doing this.
So this show today is about that.
It's about what do we know?
What don't we know?
What do we know that are side effects,potential problems
(02:59):
down the road for other kinds of diseases,comorbidities.
And I'm going to talk about that. Okay.
What do we know in the short term
are the issuesthat you're going to have to deal with
if you take all of these drugs? Here'sthe other thing.
I can't even count on two hands.
The number of friends I havewho are taking these medications.
Look, I'm not saying that you shouldn'ttake them or they're bad for you.
(03:22):
What I am saying is people needto understand what they're doing,
and you're not necessarily.
I didn't hear it from my primary care doc.
She didn't say anything to meabout possible issues going down the road.
What could the comorbidities be?None of that.
So I decided to do it. Do this show.
And bring some of this to your attention.
(03:44):
So these blockbuster weight loss drugs
work by slowing stomach emptying.
That's what they work.
They they alter the gut hormone signaling.
It's time to empty your stomach. Okay?
That's what they do.
So it's really as simple as that.
They're slowing downthe digestive process.
They deliver large short-term weight loss.
(04:05):
But the problem is the safety warningsand the knowledge gaps are significant.
So that's what we're going to talk about.
So what happens when you take these drugslong term.
Well here's part of the problem.
The studies that have been done on Wegovy,which is about 3.3 years,
they lack the decade long studies
(04:26):
that we typically usewhen we're grading how a drug works.
So we're talking abouthow does it affect the organs.
What kind of cancerscould it possibly cause?
What are the neuropsychiatricside effects?
Now that was somethingI never even thought of.
Well guess what?
There are some neuropsychiatric sideeffects from this medication.
There can be for certain people, andthese are outcomes in non-diabetic users.
(04:48):
The New EnglandJournal of Medicine is saying.
We typically do this for ten years.
Well,we've only had these for 2 or 3 years.
So again, you know, the unknown risks.
What are they.
And then we how do we balance thatwith the need for this medication.
You know, it's funny in this country,that I'm sure you all will understand
this. We like instantaneous gratification.
(05:12):
All these three, these four drugs,they will give you instantaneous
gratification.
The question becomes, nowwhat does long term use look like?
How effective are they in the long term.
And then what are the side effects.
What are the issuesthat you're going to deal with.
So long term is, you know, randomized datafor patients 1 to 2 years.
(05:34):
The largest cardiovascular outcome trialswith Wegovy,
followed patientsa medium of 3.3 years, far from the 10
to 20 years, on the horizonthat people typically care about.
So right there,they did a study 3.3 years.
This was limitedto how it was going to affect
cardiovascular issues,but it only went for 3.3 years.
(05:56):
Well, typical studieswould come out for these things,
are ten years, to give you a clearunderstanding of what the effects of that
particular medication are going forwardand how they're going to affect you.
So what I'm showing here is we havea very short window of data to deal with.
And that window of datadoesn't tell us enough to know
(06:17):
in some cases, what are the long termeffects of these medications.
The other problem is typically afteryou stop these drugs like, Wegovy,
two thirds of the
people that had weight lossgained it back.
All right.
So now we're into whatI call the Yo-Yo effect.
This is the problem that many,
(06:38):
many of the weight loss programs, weightloss drugs.
You know, before these drugs came out,there were a host of other programs.
Weight Watchers, go down the list,and you have people go on these diets
and they go on these programs,and they work.
And then they yo yo back up.
Well,the problem with this medication is right,
that if you go off of it,two thirds of the people
(07:00):
after they went off,it started gaining the weight back.
So what happens then with weight lossversus continued use?
What happensif you continue to use this drug
for not one year, but two years,three years, four years, five years?
How long can you do this
without incurringsignificant risk down the road?
(07:22):
For some of the thingswe're going to talk about today.
Damage to your organs? Cancer?
These psychiatric issues.
There are a host of things like this.
Thyroid issues.
We're going to talk about all thatand try to get information out to you
so that you understand.
Once again, I'm not saying thatthese drugs aren't safe.
The FDA has approved them.
(07:42):
But I am saying that there's not enoughinformation out there.
And the reason I chose not to usethe medication was just that.
I didn't need to open up an opportunityfor other long term problems for me.
I'm already in the Agent Orange program.I've talked about this before.
I certainly didn't want to do anythingto compound that issue.
(08:02):
So what we're trying to do todaybasically, is go through this and talk
about how these medications affect people,what are the side effects,
what do they do for peoplethat have other comorbidity issues?
When we come back from the break we’regoing to talk about that.
We'll talk about IBS, we'll talk aboutCrohn's and we'll talk about colitis.
And do they impact those things?
Rememberyou're dealing with your gut health here.
(08:25):
When you take this medication.
That has a lot to do with how you feel,how you function and your overall health.
So when you start playing aroundwith your gut health,
by slowing down this digestive process,what happens
and what are the side effects,what occurs after you do all that?
So, when we come back from the break.We'll get into some of that.
We'll talk about very specific things,
(08:45):
that these four medications can causeand do cause in people to use them.
Stay tuned.We'll be right back after the break.
You're listening to America'sHealthcare Advocate
broadcasting here on the HIARadio Network.
Coast to coast across the USA.
We'll be back with more. Stay right there.
(09:14):
Welcome back to America's HealthcareAdvocate
show broadcasting coastto coast across the USA.
Here on the HIA Radio Network.
You can find out
more about us by going to the websiteAmerica's Healthcare Advocate.com.
All these shows are posted upon the YouTube, on the website,
and all the podcast platforms.
So maybe you're considering this.
Somebody in your family is.
(09:35):
You might want to have a list of thisand kind of learn what the problems are,
what the exposureis for taking these four medications.
So let's keep going.
Switching from Wegovy to a placebo.
Weight gain versus continued lossif the treatment continued.
This suggests many patientsare going to need ongoing therapy
(09:55):
to maintain the benefits.
Meaning when they went to the placebo,they started gaining weight again.
All right.
So short term they work.
Long term?
We're going to talk about that.
Can you keep taking these things forever.
Do you have to stop, regroup or changemeds.
Suicidal thoughts.This is under review right now.
There is no casual link to date.
(10:17):
However, the FDA's 2024 review reports
did not find evidencethat the drugs cause suicidal thought.
But the monitoring continuesin a large 2025 study.
They also found that no increasedrisk versus the medication.
So right nowthe issues regarding your mental health,
they're saying this is not having any longterm effects.
(10:40):
They haven't seen it.But remember what I said.
They only got two yearsthree years worth of data here to study.
So they don't know.
All right.
They're monitoring. That's a good deal.
Here's where I think it really gets to besignificant:
Gastrointestinal complications.
So this is an issue.
A study (10:58):
“higher risks” of listen to this
pancreatitis, bowelobstruction and gastroparesis.
And what that is that's IBS.
That's Crohn's and colitis.
That's what that is.
Okay. That's a large wordfor those three things.
So you know if you've got Crohn'sor you've got IBS.
I have friends that have it.
(11:19):
My wife has ongoing issues with itfrom time to time.
What they're saying here isyou've got a significant risk here.
Higher risk that you're going to irritatethat and make it worse.
So that's one of the side effects.
Here's another one.
What they've noticed in thyroidswith Wegovy and Zebound
is that there's a warningwith the medication that says
(11:40):
they are producing thyroid C-cell tumorsin rodents.
Well, okay.
It's in rodents, right.
But typically,where do they test these kind of things?
Well, they test them short-term, obviouslyin rats, in mice and all the rest of it.
And what they're findingis that it's impacting in the thyroid.
So now, you know,you add to the gastrointestinal
(12:01):
this piece of the thyroid.
And now we're talkingabout some significant risk.
In my mind that would be a deterrentfor me wanting to take these meds because
that's a
problem you don't need to have.
So decade long safety data are lacking.
And so the problem is weight often returnsafter you stop using it.
(12:23):
That then becomes,
you're going to have chronic use.
Are you going to have to use itcontinually.
And then where does that fall when we'retalking about these other issues
that could be a result of this medicationlong term.
Once again the suicide issuehas not been found to be significant.
But they are observingsignals, that caution.
(12:44):
And they're advising doctors, specialiststo be careful with these medications
because they do cause issues for peoplethat have,
IBS, Crohn's, colitis,and they can affect it.
Another issue,obviously, on this cancer thing.
So the cancer warning, it reflects cancer.
They're finding cancer in these animals
(13:08):
when they give them these medicationsover a period of time.
So what does that mean to youif your thyroid,
you have cancer in your thyroid?
I've had many people that were clients ofmine over the years on the insurance side
that had these issues.And it can be very difficult.
There’s surgeries involved.
There's radiation, there's chemo,there's all these things that,
(13:28):
literally change how someone livesbecause your thyroid
has been significantly damaged.
So, you know, again,
what I find interesting about this,I love my doctor, my primary care doc.
She's amazing. Okay.
But we didn't talk about any of this.
Not okay. There was no mention of it.
It was like, okay, here you know,
you want to try this medication?
(13:50):
It'll certainly help you lose the weight.
So you know that's the issue now.
All right.
What we don't again, as I’vebeen saying earlier,
we don’t know what we don't know,and the FDA doesn't know, all right?
And doctors are not necessarilyputting an emphasis on this.
But if you're the person that goes inand you get the med.
(14:11):
And you've got IBS or you've got Crohn's,you got ulcerative colitis
and you start taking this and all of asudden you start getting very, very sick.
That means that this medication iswhat's causing that issue.
Again, you know, you go inand you get your thyroid checked.
When you get a physical,they check your thyroid.
Well, all of a suddenyour thyroid is out of whack.
(14:33):
And they want to put you on a medicationfor thyroid.
Is somebody going to make a link between,oh, I'm taking Wegovy
or I'm taking Zepboundor, you know, whatever it is.
And, andperhaps that's causing this problem.
So that's where you kind ofhave to be your own advocate,
which is what I kind of didwhenever I was looking at doing this.
(14:55):
I didn't want to take these medsuntil I knew what I was getting into.
And this is what I discoveredafter I did the research and looked around
and all of these sources.
By the way, when we post these podcasts,we put all the sources
where we're getting this stuff from.
So whether it's New EnglandJournal, medicine or the FDA
or US Food and Drug Administration,we put all that information up there.
(15:17):
So what I'm giving you here is actual dataand information,
from these the government, entitiesthat are tracking this
and entities like the New EnglandJournal of Medicine, etc., etc.,
who've actually looked into this.
And so we're kind of like what I said.
We don't know.
We don't know.
We know that there are issuessurrounding this.
(15:37):
We know what some of those issues are.
When I come back from the break
now we're going to talk aboutso where do we go from here?
What does this mean.
All right. Canyou should you keep doing this.
Or maybe you need to start looking atis this a smart way to move?
I mean, you look at Oprah Winfrey.
She swears by thisnow. She's finally lost weight.
(15:57):
She's able to keep it off.She's not doing it on Weight Watchers.
You know what is? That's great.
But what's she gonna look likein five years?
Six years, seven years,eight years, nine years, ten years?
And is she going to get sick long termfrom using these medications?
Is she going to have a thyroid cancerissue?
You know, is she going to haveanother gastrointestinal issue?
They haven't said anything about cancerlinks to this as far as gastrointestinal.
(16:21):
That's going to be another question downthe road. It has to be.
All right.
So when we come back from the break.
We'll talk about
where do we go from here, and what's safeand what's not safe to do.
Stay tuned.We'll be right back after the break.
You're listening to America's
Healthcare Advocate,broadcasting on the HIA Radio Network.
Coast to coast across the USA.
We'll be right back with more.
(16:51):
Welcome back.
You're listening to America's Healthcare
Advocate Show, broadcasting coastto coast across the USA.
Here on the HIA Radio Network.
You can find out more about usby going to our website.
AmericasHealthcareAdvocate.com.
A little shout out to our affiliatein Topeka,
Kansas, KMAJ 1440 The Big Talker.
(17:12):
We are on Saturday mornings at 10:30am.
Very happy to be on in Topeka, Kansas,the capital of the state of Kansas.
All right, so let's continue talking.
So, here we see that stopping
these drugs often timeleads to weight regain.
So with Wegovy, two thirds of the weightthat was lost
was regainedafter they stopped using Wegovy.
(17:34):
For one year.
All right.
So with Zepbound,they gained substantial weight.
In fact, they gained more than they hadlost when they stopped using it.
So this is to the what I call the Yo-Yoeffect.
Short term?
Yes. Long term.
How do you treat that?
Then it becomes a chronic issue, meaningyou're going to repeat using that over
(17:56):
and over again.
Look, if you're morbidly obeseand you've got all these other comorbidity
issues, you're a type one diabetic,you're a type two diabetic,
and you've got heart issues.
You've got joint issues because you'recarrying all this extra weight around.
This is a great short term solution.
The question isthen where do you go from there.
(18:18):
It seems to me that
if you're going to do this,what you need to do is you go on the med
and then you get into a programsomewhere like,
you know, the old, weight loss programsthat are out there.
You go to a client that specializesin this stuff, and then how,
how do I start changing my habits
so that taking this made a differenceand now I can maintain it?
(18:39):
That seems to meto be the logical approach.
But again,if you're somebody that's morbidly obese
and you're suffering with co-morbidityissues, with heart attack, heart,
high blood pressure, cholesterol,you've got joint problems.
Knee replacements, hip replacements,all of that.
Yes, youdefinitely will find benefit in this.
(18:59):
And does that offset the risk?
More than likelyfor someone in that situation it does.
If you're taking this to lose 10 poundsor 15 pounds, that's vanity.
I mean that's really what it amounts to.
All right.
That can be donethrough diet and exercise.
But for peoplethat seriously need this medication.
It certainly does make a differencein their lives.
(19:22):
It could certainly help. But,let's keep going.
So one of the other things they found outis a delay in gastric
emptying nowcauses issues with pulmonary aspiration.
So they don't basicallywant you having surgery
where you're going to go undera general anesthetic if you haven't
stopped taking this for at least 24 hoursand gone on a liquid diet.
(19:43):
So there's another issue.
And that's really kind of funny,because, Laurie just had a procedure here
not very long ago,and now she's thin and she's tall.
But nobody asked about whether you hadwhen the anesthesiologist came in.
I just remember this.
Nobody askedif you were taking these meds.
Which could cause, an aspiration risk,while you were under
(20:05):
the general anesthetic.
So I thought that was kind of interesting.
The GI events.
So once again,they're talking about obstruction,
gastroparesis,which is Crohn's, you know, IBS,
ulcerative colitis, that that comesfrom the Journal of American Medicine.
And they are they say they are debatingthis issue, but it's definitely out there.
(20:27):
They're definitely saying that it's there.
It's one of those thingsthat has to be evaluated.
The warning again,you know, on the C-cell for the thyroid
that is actually in the materialyou get when you take the medication.
So there is a warning, on the issue
of taking the medication and the riskit does to your thyroid.
On the gallbladder diseaseand pancreatitis.
(20:49):
That's also now an actual warningthat comes with the medication.
So while they're debating it,
they're making you awarethat there's definitely an issue there.
And it's somethingthat you need to think about and something
you need to look intoif you're going to take these medications.
So here's some other issues that and thissurprised me because I didn't know it.
(21:10):
There's a green list of sourcesthat these medications can come from.
There's a couple here that I don't havea problem with Belgium and Canada,
but they're also China and India on here.
And I will tell you this straight up,
if I were goingto take one of these medications,
I would make damn sureit wasn't coming from China or India.
All right.
(21:31):
You know, we know for a factthat the Chinese cut corners.
They play games.
They don't do thingsthe way they're supposed to do them.
There's no way on God's green earththat I know I'm going to hear it.
Well, we get a lotof the generic medications from China.
I know we do. Okay.
And it's a deep concern. I don't know why.
I know that there's a movenow in the Trump
(21:53):
administration to get away from that.
But it's been like that for years.
And it's definitely a problem.
But I certainly would be concernedabout taking any
one of these four medicationsif they came from China.
You know, they're also talkingabout compound pharmacies here.
And what kind of an issue that presents,because we have these pharmacies
out there,
(22:14):
they put different medications togetherand put together compound
pharmaceutical products.
Well, these are unapproved versionsof any of these medications.
So they're saying basically,you don't go to a compound pharmacy
and get a mix of a, Wegovy and a Mounjaroor a Wegovy and some other medication.
That's 100% wrong.
(22:35):
And they are not approved,
and they're telling you to stickto only approved products.
So I know there are a lot of people outthere like these compound pharmacies.
A lot of women use them for issues around,
menopause and other kinds of issuesthat they help with, and that's great.
But in this case, the FDA is sayingabsolutely
do not use these medicationsin a compounded format.
(22:58):
And they said stickonly to the approved models.
That's the way they're supposed to work.
So here's, so what do these dowhen it comes to weight loss.
So mostly they cause fat to disappear.
But here's another piece.
And you need to understand this,
especially if you don't exerciseand you're not getting enough protein.
(23:18):
They also delete lean mass.
What does that mean.That means muscle mass.
All right.
So in addition to getting rid of the fat,
long termfunctional outcomes and bone effects
need more data.
This is what we don't know.
All right.
Need more data.
So there's an issue. All right.
(23:40):
So it showsthe majority of the loss is fat loss.
But once againnow they're talking about bone effects.
So let's say you have osteoporosisand you're going to take this medication.
Hopefully your doctor is going to say,well, hang on a minute,
I need to make you awarethat if you've got osteoporosis
(24:00):
and you take this, you're going to furtherdamage your bone health.
Possibility.
Or long term functional outcomes.
In other words losing muscle mass.
If you're taking these meds,you're on a diet.
I remember when I went into this weightloss program,
getting enoughprotein was a really big deal.
(24:21):
Every day.
It was get off of the carbs, you know?
And the other things you don't need to bedoing, sugar all the rest of it.
But the key was to getting enough protein,
making sure you're gettingx number of grams of protein.
I think it's like 90 a day.
I can't remember specifically.
But the idea isthat you have to have enough protein.
(24:41):
In order to, your body mass,
especially your muscle mass, to be ableto continue like it's supposed to.
So they're telling you right here, the FDAis telling you there's a trade off.
This is the verbiage from the FDA.
There's a trade off. It's mostly fat.
But you're also going to have muscle lossand you're going to have mass loss.
(25:02):
And then
this side
effect on issues with regard to bone.
So if you have osteoporosisthis is definitely something
you need to look into and ask questionsabout before you go on this medication.
Again understand why I'm doing this.
This is like a rage in this countryright now.
You know,they're dropping the prices down.
(25:24):
I've seen a couple of them nowthey're coming for 120, $90 a month, etc..
So that you can buy the medications,but do understand
that there is a risk involved.
And I'm going to repeat what I said.
If you're somebody that's morbidly obese,I would tell you to do this
in a New York minute,at least get the weight off
and then see if you can get into a programwhere you can keep it off.
(25:47):
But what I'm saying, basically, is this.
If you use this, it'snot a long term solution.
It's not.
You're going to have to makesome lifestyle adjustments
once you get rid of the weightin order to keep the weight off.
We'll be right back after the break.
You're listening to America's
Healthcare Advocatebroadcasting on the HIA Radio Network.
Coast to coast, across the USA.
(26:08):
When I come back from the break,we'll talk about the green list.
That's the list of foreign manufacturersthat the FDA says you can rely on.
And we'll talk aboutsome of the other issues in terms of
how these medications are being used,who's manufacturing them,
and what do they mean to youwhen you go out and start using them.
Stay right there. We'll be right backafter the break.
You're listening
(26:29):
to America's Healthcare Advocate,broadcasting on the HD radio network.
Coast to coast across the USA.
We'll be right back with more.
Welcome back.
You're listening to America'sHealthcare Advocate show, broadcasting
coast to coast across USA here on the HIARadio Network.
(26:51):
All these shows posted on the podcastplatforms and YouTube.
If you want to go up and tell somebodyabout and have them listen to it.
This is oneI’m probaly going get a lot of listeners.
There are a lot of people interestedin these medications.
So let's talk about some ofthe other issues that are out there.
So there is a retinopathy issue here
with regard to your your visionand your eye health.
(27:13):
So basically what they're sayingis that if you have
any of these issueswith regard to your vision
and your vision health,this can exacerbate that problem.
These medications can.
So that's another one that wethat we haven't talked about.
The green list from the FDA doesinclude Belgium and Canada.
I told you China and India on here.
But here's what’s interesting.
(27:34):
In a compliance snapshot they reviewed48 overseas manufacturing facilities.
This is what I find interesting.
This is totally the oppositeof what they just said in the other
in the other piece.
21 of those facilities ofthe 48 were in noncompliance.
So what were they doing?
What were they adding? Were the addingbaby powder to the medication?
(27:56):
I don't know.
I mean, we know some of the thingsthat go on in China, right?
You know, you tell me I don't know.
Well,but this is funny because they're saying
that Belgium, Canada,China and India are Green listed.
And then they're saying when they checked48 of these overseas facilities,
21% of them were non-compliant.
Let me make a, take a guess here of the 21that were in noncompliance.
(28:20):
20 of them were in India and China.
There might have been one in Canadaor Belgium that didn't comply.
But I'd be willing to bet
that the majority of those were in eitherone of those places.
Once again,I'm going to say what I said earlier.
If it's coming from China or India,I'm probably not going to be taking it.
All right.
I mean, that'sdefinitely as far as I'm concerned.
That's an issue. Those people do not.
(28:41):
Especially the Chinese,do not have our best interests at heart.
If they did, they wouldn't be shippingmillions, millions of pounds of fentanyl
materials over here for the cartelsto make drugs
to run into this countryfor methamphetamine and fentanyl.
So you're never going to convince methat the Chinese have anything good
in terms of their intentionstowards this country?
(29:02):
Let's keep going.
Birth control and pregnancy.
All right.
If this is really an issue,it is unapproved
for folks that, women that are pregnant.
And there is an issue with
if you're on birthcontrol, you're taking these medications
that it affectsthe birth control medications.
(29:22):
So meaning that they may not work.
All right.
So once again you know you're ayoung woman and you've got weight issues.
And you you know, want to make yourselfmore attractive.
You take these meds but you're also ona birth control, medication.
You need to really checkand see if this makes sense.
All right.
And can
(29:43):
you take this medicationand not have issues?
That's from the FDA.
I'm going to go back to this issue with
eye health.
Diabetic retinopathy complications.
So again these meds are typically theywere originally designed for diabetics.
And if you're on an ACAplan-Obamacare plan,
(30:03):
or they've just been approved for partD Medicare,
you can get these medicationsif you're diabetic.
Now they're saying that
this is the New EnglandJournal of Medicine saying
this can very serious this can causevery serious problems with vision.
So here's another side effectyou need to be aware of.
Pregnancy and fertility.
Once again,if you're taking this medication
(30:25):
when you’re pregnant,you're going to have issues with it
and an oral contraceptiveeffect of this can be reduced.
This is part of the study from the FDA.
You're taking those birth control pills,
which means you can get pregnantwhile you're taking it.
Drug interactions.
Delayed gastro emptying.
We've talked about that.
And the absorption of other medications.
(30:48):
So now you're taking this is not unusualfor people that are overweight.
And I take bloodpressure and cholesterol meds.
You're taking bloodpressure and cholesterol.
And what we're hearing here is that thisimpacts the absorption rate of those meds.
Well, how about those daily vitaminsyou're taking
and those supplements you'retaking to try to keep yourself healthy?
(31:09):
Is it going to impact those as well?
So somehow this impacts your absorptionrate of these medications.
All right.
So you know to recap some of thispregnancy and birth control issues.
Definitely an issue here in terms.
And you should not take thiswhile you're pregnant.
Lean mass loss does happen.
All right. It's mostly body fat.
(31:31):
But there are going to be leanmass losses.
The co-morbiditieswith gastrointestinal issues.
Anytime you start playing with
gut healthyou've got a significant issue there okay.
And if you've got Crohn's,if you've got IBS,
if you’ve got any of these other issues,you're probably going to exacerbate it.
The FDA is cracking downon ingredient imports.
(31:53):
They are concerned about thisbecause of physical contamination.
They've detained shipments on this.
Again, I'm going to go back to this.
Get something that's made in this countryor made in Canada.
Or made in Belgium.
They're certainly available.
I know a lot of people are using methodsto import this stuff.
If you're going to import it, bring it outof Canada, New Zealand, Australia.
(32:15):
I did a broadcast on this years ago.
It's important to understandthose formularies in those countries
are identicalto the formulary in this country.
The only difference is the governmentregulates the price of the medication.
So as an example,if you want to take Wegovy,
and through, let's say one of thema plan like GigCare
which is our productfor 1099 folks out of Detego.
(32:38):
We can bring that...
It's $1,100 a month to buy it.
If you don't have,if you're not a diabetic
and you're not getting itfor medical use, right?
We can bring it in from Canada for $88.
Okay.
Yeah.
Now, if you can get it from Chinafor $40, I'm
going to suggest you probably not do thatright.
That'sprobably not going to be a good idea.
(32:59):
But you can bring it infrom Canada for $88.
So if you do want to take thisand you make a decision to do it, and you,
you're using one of these methodologieswhere you can call up,
get your prescription
and you hear me advertised on the radioand you can get your prescriptions.
You can turn around,and have it shipped into you,
make sure you're getting it from someplacelike Canada, New Zealand or Australia.
(33:20):
And they've said Belgium as well.
Okay. Not from China. All right.
All right.Thank you all for listening today.
The whole purpose of this show,once again,
was to educate and inform that there is,
an enormouspopularity of these medications out there.
They certainly have a place.
They certainly help peoplethat are morbidly obese, people
(33:40):
that are significantly overweight,that have other comorbidity issues.
You know, if you've got, a heart attack,stroke, those kinds of issues from weight,
weight issues,this is a way to overcome that.
And it's a way to lose the weight.
The question is, what do you do long term?
What I'm suggesting isif you take these meds for a year
(34:01):
and you get yourself on trackwhere you want to be,
you need to go into a programwhere you can keep the weight off
and that doesn't mean...
you can’t keep taking this stuff forever.
That's part of the problem with it. Okay.
Because it increases the opportunitiesfor other comorbidities to take place.
Thank you for listening today.
And now I leave youwith this thought from Albert Einstein,
(34:21):
the one who follows the crowd.
You usually get no further than the crowd.
The one who walks alone is likely to findhimself in places no one's ever been.
Remember,friends, is the funny thing about life.
You refused to accept anythingbut the very best.
You most often get it.
Thank you for listening to America'sHealthcare Advocate show.
Broadcasting coast to coast across the USAhere on the HIA Radio Network.
(34:44):
Goodbye, America.
And now America's
Healthcare Advocate, Cary Hall.
Hello, America.
Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocate.
Show broadcasting coastto coast across the USA.
Here on the HIA Radio Network,you can find out more about us
by going to the websiteAmericasHealthcareAdvocate.com.
Also our YouTube channel.
Almost half a million views up there now.
(00:22):
So we appreciate all of you out therewho go up on YouTube and follow our show.
And in addition to that, youryour favorite podcast channel,
whatever it might be.
SoundCloud, Rumble, Spotify,we're on system.
All the shows are up there as well.
Also,if you are chronologically challenged
or if you are looking for ACA,
there's going to be major changesin this market this year on the ACA.
(00:46):
In the Medicare plans,you need to talk to somebody.
I'm going to suggestyou call Carolee Steele that 877-385-2224.
She's over at RPS Benefits by Design.
She is a certified expertin Medicare and ACA,
and she can help you anywherein the country.
There going to be some big increases,some plan changes.
All the rest of it.
If you need help,give her a call at 877-385-2224.
(01:11):
And if you're an employer.
We were just talking about this with Davebefore we went on the air.
And you're one of these small, employersunder 50 lives,
and you're getting hitwith big premium increases,
and there are going to be big premiumincreases this year.
Maria Ahlers can help you see some ofthese alternative plans that are out there
that can get these costs in line877-385-2224.
(01:34):
All right.
This show.
I've wanted to do thisshow for a long time.
It's personal to me.
This is on what I call the big four weightloss drugs.
Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound and Mountjaro.
Okay.
And the reason I wanted to do this
show was because I was strugglingwith some weight issues.
And, went to a first of all, I would see
(01:55):
my primary care doc, and she goes, well,let's just go ahead and give you Wegovy.
Oh, okay.
And then, of course, I wentand found out that cost $1,100 a month.
That kind of chilled me a little bit.
And I thought, you know, I think I'mgoing to go find a weight loss clinic.
I'm going to I'm going to go getinto a program and see what I could do.
And I did,and I think I've talked about this before.
(02:15):
I went on metformin for about six monthsand changed my diet around,
went from250 to 235 and I'm holding about 235.
I probably should get downanother 10 pounds, but
that's going to be the hardest one to do.
I was very tempted, okay, to use oneof these drugs because it's instantaneous.
You start using it,you start shedding pounds.
(02:38):
Well, I started doing a little research,started looking around, and I'm like,
you know what?
We don't know what. We don't know.
And it gave me, somesignificant hesitation about doing this.
So this show today is about that.
It's about what do we know?
What don't we know?
What do we know that are side effects,potential problems
(02:59):
down the road for other kinds of diseases,comorbidities.
And I'm going to talk about that. Okay.
What do we know in the short term
are the issuesthat you're going to have to deal with
if you take all of these drugs? Here'sthe other thing.
I can't even count on two hands.
The number of friends I havewho are taking these medications.
Look, I'm not saying that you shouldn'ttake them or they're bad for you.
(03:22):
What I am saying is people needto understand what they're doing,
and you're not necessarily.
I didn't hear it from my primary care doc.
She didn't say anything to meabout possible issues going down the road.
What could the comorbidities be?None of that.
So I decided to do it. Do this show.
And bring some of this to your attention.
(03:44):
So these blockbuster weight loss drugs
work by slowing stomach emptying.
That's what they work.
They they alter the gut hormone signaling.
It's time to empty your stomach. Okay?
That's what they do.
So it's really as simple as that.
They're slowing downthe digestive process.
They deliver large short-term weight loss.
(04:05):
But the problem is the safety warningsand the knowledge gaps are significant.
So that's what we're going to talk about.
So what happens when you take these drugslong term.
Well here's part of the problem.
The studies that have been done on Wegovy,which is about 3.3 years,
they lack the decade long studies
(04:26):
that we typically usewhen we're grading how a drug works.
So we're talking abouthow does it affect the organs.
What kind of cancerscould it possibly cause?
What are the neuropsychiatricside effects?
Now that was somethingI never even thought of.
Well guess what?
There are some neuropsychiatric sideeffects from this medication.
There can be for certain people, andthese are outcomes in non-diabetic users.
(04:48):
The New EnglandJournal of Medicine is saying.
We typically do this for ten years.
Well,we've only had these for 2 or 3 years.
So again, you know, the unknown risks.
What are they.
And then we how do we balance thatwith the need for this medication.
You know, it's funny in this country,that I'm sure you all will understand
this. We like instantaneous gratification.
(05:12):
All these three, these four drugs,they will give you instantaneous
gratification.
The question becomes, nowwhat does long term use look like?
How effective are they in the long term.
And then what are the side effects.
What are the issuesthat you're going to deal with.
So long term is, you know, randomized datafor patients 1 to 2 years.
(05:34):
The largest cardiovascular outcome trialswith Wegovy,
followed patientsa medium of 3.3 years, far from the 10
to 20 years, on the horizonthat people typically care about.
So right there,they did a study 3.3 years.
This was limitedto how it was going to affect
cardiovascular issues,but it only went for 3.3 years.
(05:56):
Well, typical studieswould come out for these things,
are ten years, to give you a clearunderstanding of what the effects of that
particular medication are going forwardand how they're going to affect you.
So what I'm showing here is we havea very short window of data to deal with.
And that window of datadoesn't tell us enough to know
(06:17):
in some cases, what are the long termeffects of these medications.
The other problem is typically afteryou stop these drugs like, Wegovy,
two thirds of the
people that had weight lossgained it back.
All right.
So now we're into whatI call the Yo-Yo effect.
This is the problem that many,
(06:38):
many of the weight loss programs, weightloss drugs.
You know, before these drugs came out,there were a host of other programs.
Weight Watchers, go down the list,and you have people go on these diets
and they go on these programs,and they work.
And then they yo yo back up.
Well,the problem with this medication is right,
that if you go off of it,two thirds of the people
(07:00):
after they went off,it started gaining the weight back.
So what happens then with weight lossversus continued use?
What happensif you continue to use this drug
for not one year, but two years,three years, four years, five years?
How long can you do this
without incurringsignificant risk down the road?
(07:22):
For some of the thingswe're going to talk about today.
Damage to your organs? Cancer?
These psychiatric issues.
There are a host of things like this.
Thyroid issues.
We're going to talk about all thatand try to get information out to you
so that you understand.
Once again, I'm not saying thatthese drugs aren't safe.
The FDA has approved them.
(07:42):
But I am saying that there's not enoughinformation out there.
And the reason I chose not to usethe medication was just that.
I didn't need to open up an opportunityfor other long term problems for me.
I'm already in the Agent Orange program.I've talked about this before.
I certainly didn't want to do anythingto compound that issue.
(08:02):
So what we're trying to do todaybasically, is go through this and talk
about how these medications affect people,what are the side effects,
what do they do for peoplethat have other comorbidity issues?
When we come back from the break we’regoing to talk about that.
We'll talk about IBS, we'll talk aboutCrohn's and we'll talk about colitis.
And do they impact those things?
Rememberyou're dealing with your gut health here.
(08:25):
When you take this medication.
That has a lot to do with how you feel,how you function and your overall health.
So when you start playing aroundwith your gut health,
by slowing down this digestive process,what happens
and what are the side effects,what occurs after you do all that?
So, when we come back from the break.We'll get into some of that.
We'll talk about very specific things,
(08:45):
that these four medications can causeand do cause in people to use them.
Stay tuned.We'll be right back after the break.
You're listening to America'sHealthcare Advocate
broadcasting here on the HIARadio Network.
Coast to coast across the USA.
We'll be back with more. Stay right there.
(09:14):
Welcome back to America's HealthcareAdvocate
show broadcasting coastto coast across the USA.
Here on the HIA Radio Network.
You can find out
more about us by going to the websiteAmerica's Healthcare Advocate.com.
All these shows are posted upon the YouTube, on the website,
and all the podcast platforms.
So maybe you're considering this.
Somebody in your family is.
(09:35):
You might want to have a list of thisand kind of learn what the problems are,
what the exposureis for taking these four medications.
So let's keep going.
Switching from Wegovy to a placebo.
Weight gain versus continued lossif the treatment continued.
This suggests many patientsare going to need ongoing therapy
(09:55):
to maintain the benefits.
Meaning when they went to the placebo,they started gaining weight again.
All right.
So short term they work.
Long term?
We're going to talk about that.
Can you keep taking these things forever.
Do you have to stop, regroup or changemeds.
Suicidal thoughts.This is under review right now.
There is no casual link to date.
(10:17):
However, the FDA's 2024 review reports
did not find evidencethat the drugs cause suicidal thought.
But the monitoring continuesin a large 2025 study.
They also found that no increasedrisk versus the medication.
So right nowthe issues regarding your mental health,
they're saying this is not having any longterm effects.
(10:40):
They haven't seen it.But remember what I said.
They only got two yearsthree years worth of data here to study.
So they don't know.
All right.
They're monitoring. That's a good deal.
Here's where I think it really gets to besignificant:
Gastrointestinal complications.
So this is an issue.
A study (10:58):
“higher risks” of listen to this
pancreatitis, bowelobstruction and gastroparesis.
And what that is that's IBS.
That's Crohn's and colitis.
That's what that is.
Okay. That's a large wordfor those three things.
So you know if you've got Crohn'sor you've got IBS.
I have friends that have it.
(11:19):
My wife has ongoing issues with itfrom time to time.
What they're saying here isyou've got a significant risk here.
Higher risk that you're going to irritatethat and make it worse.
So that's one of the side effects.
Here's another one.
What they've noticed in thyroidswith Wegovy and Zebound
is that there's a warningwith the medication that says
(11:40):
they are producing thyroid C-cell tumorsin rodents.
Well, okay.
It's in rodents, right.
But typically,where do they test these kind of things?
Well, they test them short-term, obviouslyin rats, in mice and all the rest of it.
And what they're findingis that it's impacting in the thyroid.
So now, you know,you add to the gastrointestinal
(12:01):
this piece of the thyroid.
And now we're talkingabout some significant risk.
In my mind that would be a deterrentfor me wanting to take these meds because
that's a
problem you don't need to have.
So decade long safety data are lacking.
And so the problem is weight often returnsafter you stop using it.
(12:23):
That then becomes,
you're going to have chronic use.
Are you going to have to use itcontinually.
And then where does that fall when we'retalking about these other issues
that could be a result of this medicationlong term.
Once again the suicide issuehas not been found to be significant.
But they are observingsignals, that caution.
(12:44):
And they're advising doctors, specialiststo be careful with these medications
because they do cause issues for peoplethat have,
IBS, Crohn's, colitis,and they can affect it.
Another issue,obviously, on this cancer thing.
So the cancer warning, it reflects cancer.
They're finding cancer in these animals
(13:08):
when they give them these medicationsover a period of time.
So what does that mean to youif your thyroid,
you have cancer in your thyroid?
I've had many people that were clients ofmine over the years on the insurance side
that had these issues.And it can be very difficult.
There’s surgeries involved.
There's radiation, there's chemo,there's all these things that,
(13:28):
literally change how someone livesbecause your thyroid
has been significantly damaged.
So, you know, again,
what I find interesting about this,I love my doctor, my primary care doc.
She's amazing. Okay.
But we didn't talk about any of this.
Not okay. There was no mention of it.
It was like, okay, here you know,
you want to try this medication?
(13:50):
It'll certainly help you lose the weight.
So you know that's the issue now.
All right.
What we don't again, as I’vebeen saying earlier,
we don’t know what we don't know,and the FDA doesn't know, all right?
And doctors are not necessarilyputting an emphasis on this.
But if you're the person that goes inand you get the med.
(14:11):
And you've got IBS or you've got Crohn's,you got ulcerative colitis
and you start taking this and all of asudden you start getting very, very sick.
That means that this medication iswhat's causing that issue.
Again, you know, you go inand you get your thyroid checked.
When you get a physical,they check your thyroid.
Well, all of a suddenyour thyroid is out of whack.
(14:33):
And they want to put you on a medicationfor thyroid.
Is somebody going to make a link between,oh, I'm taking Wegovy
or I'm taking Zepboundor, you know, whatever it is.
And, andperhaps that's causing this problem.
So that's where you kind ofhave to be your own advocate,
which is what I kind of didwhenever I was looking at doing this.
(14:55):
I didn't want to take these medsuntil I knew what I was getting into.
And this is what I discoveredafter I did the research and looked around
and all of these sources.
By the way, when we post these podcasts,we put all the sources
where we're getting this stuff from.
So whether it's New EnglandJournal, medicine or the FDA
or US Food and Drug Administration,we put all that information up there.
(15:17):
So what I'm giving you here is actual dataand information,
from these the government, entitiesthat are tracking this
and entities like the New EnglandJournal of Medicine, etc., etc.,
who've actually looked into this.
And so we're kind of like what I said.
We don't know.
We don't know.
We know that there are issuessurrounding this.
(15:37):
We know what some of those issues are.
When I come back from the break
now we're going to talk aboutso where do we go from here?
What does this mean.
All right. Canyou should you keep doing this.
Or maybe you need to start looking atis this a smart way to move?
I mean, you look at Oprah Winfrey.
She swears by thisnow. She's finally lost weight.
(15:57):
She's able to keep it off.She's not doing it on Weight Watchers.
You know what is? That's great.
But what's she gonna look likein five years?
Six years, seven years,eight years, nine years, ten years?
And is she going to get sick long termfrom using these medications?
Is she going to have a thyroid cancerissue?
You know, is she going to haveanother gastrointestinal issue?
They haven't said anything about cancerlinks to this as far as gastrointestinal.
(16:21):
That's going to be another question downthe road. It has to be.
All right.
So when we come back from the break.
We'll talk about
where do we go from here, and what's safeand what's not safe to do.
Stay tuned.We'll be right back after the break.
You're listening to America's
Healthcare Advocate,broadcasting on the HIA Radio Network.
Coast to coast across the USA.
We'll be right back with more.
(16:51):
Welcome back.
You're listening to America's Healthcare
Advocate Show, broadcasting coastto coast across the USA.
Here on the HIA Radio Network.
You can find out more about usby going to our website.
AmericasHealthcareAdvocate.com.
A little shout out to our affiliatein Topeka,
Kansas, KMAJ 1440 The Big Talker.
(17:12):
We are on Saturday mornings at 10:30am.
Very happy to be on in Topeka, Kansas,the capital of the state of Kansas.
All right, so let's continue talking.
So, here we see that stopping
these drugs often timeleads to weight regain.
So with Wegovy, two thirds of the weightthat was lost
was regainedafter they stopped using Wegovy.
(17:34):
For one year.
All right.
So with Zepbound,they gained substantial weight.
In fact, they gained more than they hadlost when they stopped using it.
So this is to the what I call the Yo-Yoeffect.
Short term?
Yes. Long term.
How do you treat that?
Then it becomes a chronic issue, meaningyou're going to repeat using that over
(17:56):
and over again.
Look, if you're morbidly obeseand you've got all these other comorbidity
issues, you're a type one diabetic,you're a type two diabetic,
and you've got heart issues.
You've got joint issues because you'recarrying all this extra weight around.
This is a great short term solution.
The question isthen where do you go from there.
(18:18):
It seems to me that
if you're going to do this,what you need to do is you go on the med
and then you get into a programsomewhere like,
you know, the old, weight loss programsthat are out there.
You go to a client that specializesin this stuff, and then how,
how do I start changing my habits
so that taking this made a differenceand now I can maintain it?
(18:39):
That seems to meto be the logical approach.
But again,if you're somebody that's morbidly obese
and you're suffering with co-morbidityissues, with heart attack, heart,
high blood pressure, cholesterol,you've got joint problems.
Knee replacements, hip replacements,all of that.
Yes, youdefinitely will find benefit in this.
(18:59):
And does that offset the risk?
More than likelyfor someone in that situation it does.
If you're taking this to lose 10 poundsor 15 pounds, that's vanity.
I mean that's really what it amounts to.
All right.
That can be donethrough diet and exercise.
But for peoplethat seriously need this medication.
It certainly does make a differencein their lives.
(19:22):
It could certainly help. But,let's keep going.
So one of the other things they found outis a delay in gastric
emptying nowcauses issues with pulmonary aspiration.
So they don't basicallywant you having surgery
where you're going to go undera general anesthetic if you haven't
stopped taking this for at least 24 hoursand gone on a liquid diet.
(19:43):
So there's another issue.
And that's really kind of funny,because, Laurie just had a procedure here
not very long ago,and now she's thin and she's tall.
But nobody asked about whether you hadwhen the anesthesiologist came in.
I just remember this.
Nobody askedif you were taking these meds.
Which could cause, an aspiration risk,while you were under
(20:05):
the general anesthetic.
So I thought that was kind of interesting.
The GI events.
So once again,they're talking about obstruction,
gastroparesis,which is Crohn's, you know, IBS,
ulcerative colitis, that that comesfrom the Journal of American Medicine.
And they are they say they are debatingthis issue, but it's definitely out there.
(20:27):
They're definitely saying that it's there.
It's one of those thingsthat has to be evaluated.
The warning again,you know, on the C-cell for the thyroid
that is actually in the materialyou get when you take the medication.
So there is a warning, on the issue
of taking the medication and the riskit does to your thyroid.
On the gallbladder diseaseand pancreatitis.
(20:49):
That's also now an actual warningthat comes with the medication.
So while they're debating it,
they're making you awarethat there's definitely an issue there.
And it's somethingthat you need to think about and something
you need to look intoif you're going to take these medications.
So here's some other issues that and thissurprised me because I didn't know it.
(21:10):
There's a green list of sourcesthat these medications can come from.
There's a couple here that I don't havea problem with Belgium and Canada,
but they're also China and India on here.
And I will tell you this straight up,
if I were goingto take one of these medications,
I would make damn sureit wasn't coming from China or India.
All right.
(21:31):
You know, we know for a factthat the Chinese cut corners.
They play games.
They don't do thingsthe way they're supposed to do them.
There's no way on God's green earththat I know I'm going to hear it.
Well, we get a lotof the generic medications from China.
I know we do. Okay.
And it's a deep concern. I don't know why.
I know that there's a movenow in the Trump
(21:53):
administration to get away from that.
But it's been like that for years.
And it's definitely a problem.
But I certainly would be concernedabout taking any
one of these four medicationsif they came from China.
You know, they're also talkingabout compound pharmacies here.
And what kind of an issue that presents,because we have these pharmacies
out there,
(22:14):
they put different medications togetherand put together compound
pharmaceutical products.
Well, these are unapproved versionsof any of these medications.
So they're saying basically,you don't go to a compound pharmacy
and get a mix of a, Wegovy and a Mounjaroor a Wegovy and some other medication.
That's 100% wrong.
(22:35):
And they are not approved,
and they're telling you to stickto only approved products.
So I know there are a lot of people outthere like these compound pharmacies.
A lot of women use them for issues around,
menopause and other kinds of issuesthat they help with, and that's great.
But in this case, the FDA is sayingabsolutely
do not use these medicationsin a compounded format.
(22:58):
And they said stickonly to the approved models.
That's the way they're supposed to work.
So here's, so what do these dowhen it comes to weight loss.
So mostly they cause fat to disappear.
But here's another piece.
And you need to understand this,
especially if you don't exerciseand you're not getting enough protein.
(23:18):
They also delete lean mass.
What does that mean.That means muscle mass.
All right.
So in addition to getting rid of the fat,
long termfunctional outcomes and bone effects
need more data.
This is what we don't know.
All right.
Need more data.
So there's an issue. All right.
(23:40):
So it showsthe majority of the loss is fat loss.
But once againnow they're talking about bone effects.
So let's say you have osteoporosisand you're going to take this medication.
Hopefully your doctor is going to say,well, hang on a minute,
I need to make you awarethat if you've got osteoporosis
(24:00):
and you take this, you're going to furtherdamage your bone health.
Possibility.
Or long term functional outcomes.
In other words losing muscle mass.
If you're taking these meds,you're on a diet.
I remember when I went into this weightloss program,
getting enoughprotein was a really big deal.
(24:21):
Every day.
It was get off of the carbs, you know?
And the other things you don't need to bedoing, sugar all the rest of it.
But the key was to getting enough protein,
making sure you're gettingx number of grams of protein.
I think it's like 90 a day.
I can't remember specifically.
But the idea isthat you have to have enough protein.
(24:41):
In order to, your body mass,
especially your muscle mass, to be ableto continue like it's supposed to.
So they're telling you right here, the FDAis telling you there's a trade off.
This is the verbiage from the FDA.
There's a trade off. It's mostly fat.
But you're also going to have muscle lossand you're going to have mass loss.
(25:02):
And then
this side
effect on issues with regard to bone.
So if you have osteoporosisthis is definitely something
you need to look into and ask questionsabout before you go on this medication.
Again understand why I'm doing this.
This is like a rage in this countryright now.
You know,they're dropping the prices down.
(25:24):
I've seen a couple of them nowthey're coming for 120, $90 a month, etc..
So that you can buy the medications,but do understand
that there is a risk involved.
And I'm going to repeat what I said.
If you're somebody that's morbidly obese,I would tell you to do this
in a New York minute,at least get the weight off
and then see if you can get into a programwhere you can keep it off.
(25:47):
But what I'm saying, basically, is this.
If you use this, it'snot a long term solution.
It's not.
You're going to have to makesome lifestyle adjustments
once you get rid of the weightin order to keep the weight off.
We'll be right back after the break.
You're listening to America's
Healthcare Advocatebroadcasting on the HIA Radio Network.
Coast to coast, across the USA.
(26:08):
When I come back from the break,we'll talk about the green list.
That's the list of foreign manufacturersthat the FDA says you can rely on.
And we'll talk aboutsome of the other issues in terms of
how these medications are being used,who's manufacturing them,
and what do they mean to youwhen you go out and start using them.
Stay right there. We'll be right backafter the break.
You're listening
(26:29):
to America's Healthcare Advocate,broadcasting on the HD radio network.
Coast to coast across the USA.
We'll be right back with more.
Welcome back.
You're listening to America'sHealthcare Advocate show, broadcasting
coast to coast across USA here on the HIARadio Network.
(26:51):
All these shows posted on the podcastplatforms and YouTube.
If you want to go up and tell somebodyabout and have them listen to it.
This is oneI’m probaly going get a lot of listeners.
There are a lot of people interestedin these medications.
So let's talk about some ofthe other issues that are out there.
So there is a retinopathy issue here
with regard to your your visionand your eye health.
(27:13):
So basically what they're sayingis that if you have
any of these issueswith regard to your vision
and your vision health,this can exacerbate that problem.
These medications can.
So that's another one that wethat we haven't talked about.
The green list from the FDA doesinclude Belgium and Canada.
I told you China and India on here.
But here's what’s interesting.
(27:34):
In a compliance snapshot they reviewed48 overseas manufacturing facilities.
This is what I find interesting.
This is totally the oppositeof what they just said in the other
in the other piece.
21 of those facilities ofthe 48 were in noncompliance.
So what were they doing?
What were they adding? Were the addingbaby powder to the medication?
(27:56):
I don't know.
I mean, we know some of the thingsthat go on in China, right?
You know, you tell me I don't know.
Well,but this is funny because they're saying
that Belgium, Canada,China and India are Green listed.
And then they're saying when they checked48 of these overseas facilities,
21% of them were non-compliant.
Let me make a, take a guess here of the 21that were in noncompliance.
(28:20):
20 of them were in India and China.
There might have been one in Canadaor Belgium that didn't comply.
But I'd be willing to bet
that the majority of those were in eitherone of those places.
Once again,I'm going to say what I said earlier.
If it's coming from China or India,I'm probably not going to be taking it.
All right.
I mean, that'sdefinitely as far as I'm concerned.
That's an issue. Those people do not.
(28:41):
Especially the Chinese,do not have our best interests at heart.
If they did, they wouldn't be shippingmillions, millions of pounds of fentanyl
materials over here for the cartelsto make drugs
to run into this countryfor methamphetamine and fentanyl.
So you're never going to convince methat the Chinese have anything good
in terms of their intentionstowards this country?
(29:02):
Let's keep going.
Birth control and pregnancy.
All right.
If this is really an issue,it is unapproved
for folks that, women that are pregnant.
And there is an issue with
if you're on birthcontrol, you're taking these medications
that it affectsthe birth control medications.
(29:22):
So meaning that they may not work.
All right.
So once again you know you're ayoung woman and you've got weight issues.
And you you know, want to make yourselfmore attractive.
You take these meds but you're also ona birth control, medication.
You need to really checkand see if this makes sense.
All right.
And can
(29:43):
you take this medicationand not have issues?
That's from the FDA.
I'm going to go back to this issue with
eye health.
Diabetic retinopathy complications.
So again these meds are typically theywere originally designed for diabetics.
And if you're on an ACAplan-Obamacare plan,
(30:03):
or they've just been approved for partD Medicare,
you can get these medicationsif you're diabetic.
Now they're saying that
this is the New EnglandJournal of Medicine saying
this can very serious this can causevery serious problems with vision.
So here's another side effectyou need to be aware of.
Pregnancy and fertility.
Once again,if you're taking this medication
(30:25):
when you’re pregnant,you're going to have issues with it
and an oral contraceptiveeffect of this can be reduced.
This is part of the study from the FDA.
You're taking those birth control pills,
which means you can get pregnantwhile you're taking it.
Drug interactions.
Delayed gastro emptying.
We've talked about that.
And the absorption of other medications.
(30:48):
So now you're taking this is not unusualfor people that are overweight.
And I take bloodpressure and cholesterol meds.
You're taking bloodpressure and cholesterol.
And what we're hearing here is that thisimpacts the absorption rate of those meds.
Well, how about those daily vitaminsyou're taking
and those supplements you'retaking to try to keep yourself healthy?
(31:09):
Is it going to impact those as well?
So somehow this impacts your absorptionrate of these medications.
All right.
So you know to recap some of thispregnancy and birth control issues.
Definitely an issue here in terms.
And you should not take thiswhile you're pregnant.
Lean mass loss does happen.
All right. It's mostly body fat.
(31:31):
But there are going to be leanmass losses.
The co-morbiditieswith gastrointestinal issues.
Anytime you start playing with
gut healthyou've got a significant issue there okay.
And if you've got Crohn's,if you've got IBS,
if you’ve got any of these other issues,you're probably going to exacerbate it.
The FDA is cracking downon ingredient imports.
(31:53):
They are concerned about thisbecause of physical contamination.
They've detained shipments on this.
Again, I'm going to go back to this.
Get something that's made in this countryor made in Canada.
Or made in Belgium.
They're certainly available.
I know a lot of people are using methodsto import this stuff.
If you're going to import it, bring it outof Canada, New Zealand, Australia.
(32:15):
I did a broadcast on this years ago.
It's important to understandthose formularies in those countries
are identicalto the formulary in this country.
The only difference is the governmentregulates the price of the medication.
So as an example,if you want to take Wegovy,
and through, let's say one of thema plan like GigCare
which is our productfor 1099 folks out of Detego.
(32:38):
We can bring that...
It's $1,100 a month to buy it.
If you don't have,if you're not a diabetic
and you're not getting itfor medical use, right?
We can bring it in from Canada for $88.
Okay.
Yeah.
Now, if you can get it from Chinafor $40, I'm
going to suggest you probably not do thatright.
That'sprobably not going to be a good idea.
(32:59):
But you can bring it infrom Canada for $88.
So if you do want to take thisand you make a decision to do it, and you,
you're using one of these methodologieswhere you can call up,
get your prescription
and you hear me advertised on the radioand you can get your prescriptions.
You can turn around,and have it shipped into you,
make sure you're getting it from someplacelike Canada, New Zealand or Australia.
(33:20):
And they've said Belgium as well.
Okay. Not from China. All right.
All right.Thank you all for listening today.
The whole purpose of this show,once again,
was to educate and inform that there is,
an enormouspopularity of these medications out there.
They certainly have a place.
They certainly help peoplethat are morbidly obese, people
(33:40):
that are significantly overweight,that have other comorbidity issues.
You know, if you've got, a heart attack,stroke, those kinds of issues from weight,
weight issues,this is a way to overcome that.
And it's a way to lose the weight.
The question is, what do you do long term?
What I'm suggesting isif you take these meds for a year
(34:01):
and you get yourself on trackwhere you want to be,
you need to go into a programwhere you can keep the weight off
and that doesn't mean...
you can’t keep taking this stuff forever.
That's part of the problem with it. Okay.
Because it increases the opportunitiesfor other comorbidities to take place.
Thank you for listening today.
And now I leave youwith this thought from Albert Einstein,
(34:21):
the one who follows the crowd.
You usually get no further than the crowd.
The one who walks alone is likely to findhimself in places no one's ever been.
Remember,friends, is the funny thing about life.
You refused to accept anythingbut the very best.
You most often get it.
Thank you for listening to America'sHealthcare Advocate show.
Broadcasting coast to coast across the USAhere on the HIA Radio Network.
(34:44):
Goodbye, America.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.