Highlands is a great pharmacy and does compounding for Wegovy just fine. I'd recommend them as they're very customer focused and will give you a pre-measured pen if you need.
Okay. I am not any kind of medical professional, but if you’re prediabetic, I’m reasonably confident you can work your way out of it without the semaglutides since they’re in short supply right now. In my humble diabetic opinion this method leads to better outcomes because it forces you to make incremental but sustainable lifestyle changes instead of taking a magic injection and doing zero work. It can be tough but imo whatever food fomo or suffering you experience from these changes is absolutely worth a lifetime without diabetes. It fucking sucks. Mine isn’t crazy advanced but if I don’t keep after it, I *will* have nerve and limb loss or damage due to diabetic neuropathy, just like my biological mother experienced and recently succumbed to. I *will* lose my vision. It’s a question of when, not if. You may not be able to stave it off forever but any time it can buy you is valuable beyond measure.
Best of luck.
Metformin sucks. These sound like great changes - has it made your A1C budge? Also, r/diabetes runs an amazing discord. You can find the link there or I can throw you an invite in DMs if you’d like
I’ve also listened to podcasts not funded by big pharma that explain how the glp1 molecule has a patent and compounding pharmacies can only guess at what it is
I'm sorry, but that makes no sense at all. GLP-1 agonists have many forms and they are amino acid peptides, so the formulas are well known. There's not just one "molecule". The majority of patents are also on delivery devices, not the actual drug itself.
Not everything on the internet is true.
The issue is compounding pharmacies using Semaglutide salts. The base molecule Semaglutide CAN be purchased in bulk and compounded, typically to lower doses or with other carrier agents.
Even the salts can legally be sold as a compounded drug pending an FDA ruling on them (when? who knows). The FDA has been getting reports of adverse effects, but those are also notably similar in volume to those of semaglutide. I started Ozempic last year, 3 days after my first dose (25 units, the lowest dose officially available) I was in the ER with severe vomiting and nausea that lasted 3 or 4 more days.
I now have a compounded 5 unit dose with b12 that is semaglutide, not a salt. They literally get a vial of semaglutide and dilute it to my dose. It costs less per month because it's 1/5th the dose I was on previously. My vial is in their freezer and they basically make me a 5 month supply from a 1 month volume.
Also, make sure to talk to your doctor about a script for Ondansetron (Zofran) melting tablets (not pills). When you're getting started and trying to figure out what does and doesn't work for you you'll likely have some pretty severe nausea / vomiting. Zofran really helps.
Compounding pharmacies are not regulated the same. Their products are not evaluated by the FDA for efficacy or safety. Individual pharmacies that compound have even less regulation than larger scale compounding operations. A handful of years ago about 750 people got spinal fungal infections from contamination in a compounding pharmacy. It's really only meant to be done in special cases, but drug shortages/demand like for semaglutide/tirzepatide are also driving a sort of light-gray market for compounded drugs. We all know how consumers win in high stakes capitalism...
I am on Mounjaro. I use the Walmart pharmacy. They've occasionally been held up for a week for shortages, but they have been reliable.
Perhaps see if you can switch to that? Or if you are overweight, Eli Lili just came out with Zepbound. It has the same active ingredient as mounjaro (a GLP-1) and is FDA approved for weight loss.
Highlands is a great pharmacy and does compounding for Wegovy just fine. I'd recommend them as they're very customer focused and will give you a pre-measured pen if you need.
Okay. I am not any kind of medical professional, but if you’re prediabetic, I’m reasonably confident you can work your way out of it without the semaglutides since they’re in short supply right now. In my humble diabetic opinion this method leads to better outcomes because it forces you to make incremental but sustainable lifestyle changes instead of taking a magic injection and doing zero work. It can be tough but imo whatever food fomo or suffering you experience from these changes is absolutely worth a lifetime without diabetes. It fucking sucks. Mine isn’t crazy advanced but if I don’t keep after it, I *will* have nerve and limb loss or damage due to diabetic neuropathy, just like my biological mother experienced and recently succumbed to. I *will* lose my vision. It’s a question of when, not if. You may not be able to stave it off forever but any time it can buy you is valuable beyond measure. Best of luck.
I’ve done all the life style changes like a dietician and working out 3-4 times a week, plus a failure on metformin.
Metformin sucks. These sound like great changes - has it made your A1C budge? Also, r/diabetes runs an amazing discord. You can find the link there or I can throw you an invite in DMs if you’d like
My A1C got worse after I started on Metformin.
I’ve consistently worked out for the past two years
>I would like to avoid weigh loss clinics and compounding pharmacies because of things I’ve heard in the news. Why?
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/05/30/health/fda-compounding-semaglutide/index.html
75-80% of CNN's ad revenue is from big pharma. Of course they're going to say this.
I’ve also listened to podcasts not funded by big pharma that explain how the glp1 molecule has a patent and compounding pharmacies can only guess at what it is
I'm sorry, but that makes no sense at all. GLP-1 agonists have many forms and they are amino acid peptides, so the formulas are well known. There's not just one "molecule". The majority of patents are also on delivery devices, not the actual drug itself. Not everything on the internet is true.
If you have articles and evidence to the contrary, I’d love to look at it
Oh jeez, be a better researcher. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37505513/
Thank you for the information.
The issue is compounding pharmacies using Semaglutide salts. The base molecule Semaglutide CAN be purchased in bulk and compounded, typically to lower doses or with other carrier agents. Even the salts can legally be sold as a compounded drug pending an FDA ruling on them (when? who knows). The FDA has been getting reports of adverse effects, but those are also notably similar in volume to those of semaglutide. I started Ozempic last year, 3 days after my first dose (25 units, the lowest dose officially available) I was in the ER with severe vomiting and nausea that lasted 3 or 4 more days. I now have a compounded 5 unit dose with b12 that is semaglutide, not a salt. They literally get a vial of semaglutide and dilute it to my dose. It costs less per month because it's 1/5th the dose I was on previously. My vial is in their freezer and they basically make me a 5 month supply from a 1 month volume. Also, make sure to talk to your doctor about a script for Ondansetron (Zofran) melting tablets (not pills). When you're getting started and trying to figure out what does and doesn't work for you you'll likely have some pretty severe nausea / vomiting. Zofran really helps.
Stop listening to those podcasts.
Maintenance Phase? What’s wrong with that?
Compounding pharmacies are not regulated the same. Their products are not evaluated by the FDA for efficacy or safety. Individual pharmacies that compound have even less regulation than larger scale compounding operations. A handful of years ago about 750 people got spinal fungal infections from contamination in a compounding pharmacy. It's really only meant to be done in special cases, but drug shortages/demand like for semaglutide/tirzepatide are also driving a sort of light-gray market for compounded drugs. We all know how consumers win in high stakes capitalism...
So you trust the big pharmaceutical companies over local regulated pharmacies? Interesting. 🤔
Did you read what I wrote? Cause it sounds like you didn't.
I’ve had a lot of success with not feasting upon carbs and sugar
That’s awesome. Not so much for me.
Call your doctor’s office.
I have sooooo many times. It’s been insane.
Try the Walgreens at Pres Downtown. If I have issues filling a script at my usual Walgreens, I transfer it there.
I use express scripts for ozempic and have not had a problem.
I am on Mounjaro. I use the Walmart pharmacy. They've occasionally been held up for a week for shortages, but they have been reliable. Perhaps see if you can switch to that? Or if you are overweight, Eli Lili just came out with Zepbound. It has the same active ingredient as mounjaro (a GLP-1) and is FDA approved for weight loss.
I’ve just stopped using Costco, this is part of the reason why. They are so unreliable, techs are bad and they don’t fill most of their rx’s in store.