For seven months I’ve been taking the weight-loss drug Mounjaro. I’ve had no unpleasant side effects and have stopped hearing what’s been described as ‘food noise’.
So far I’ve lost 4st, bringing my weight down to a more comfortable 12 st. After years of struggling with rarely successful diets, it’s been a revelation to find the fat falling off so easily.
The only hard part has been going to restaurants for dinner with my friends and having to leave half my main dish on the plate, no matter how delicious. I hate waste, but there’s no alternative when you can’t manage a normal portion.
I know that without medical help, my body will do its old starvation trick and the pounds will pile on again. I will never give up Mounjaro, even though it sets me back just under £200 a month. I’ll go down soon to the lowest dose (2.5mg), knowing it will keep my appetite in check.
In theory, then, I should be more than happy at the Government’s plan to make these fat jabs more widely available. At the moment, only a small number of people can get them on the NHS – after consultation with a specialist and in conjunction with other weight-loss methods. There is a two-year waiting list.
Under new plans, a short, over-the-counter chat with a pharmacist is all that would be required to get them for the cost of an NHS prescription (£9.90, the standard prescription cost).
It may surprise you to find I disagree with this. I’m aware of the temptation – at this time of year particularly – to try to lose weight for the summer holiday. We’ve seen celebrities who’ve clearly been jabbing themselves in order to be ‘red carpet ready’. What’s to stop others clamouring for them when they cost less than £10?
But these powerful injections should not be used as a shortcut to becoming ‘beach ready’ and that is what I fear they’ll become if they’re too easily available.
At the moment, only a small number can receive weight-loss jabs through the NHS
They were developed to help cure obesity. The only reason for the health service to fork out millions on the reduction of obesity is to cut the cost of the disease to the NHS.
Obesity is crippling the health service to the tune of more than £6billion every year. There’s been an increase of almost 40 per cent in five years in people under 40 diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the UK. A&E is said to be burdened by people suffering with the consequences of obesity, be it patients who struggle to breathe, need emergency amputations as a result of type 2 diabetes or treatment for heart attacks and strokes.
The NHS obesity services are unable to meet the demand for the weight-loss jabs, so even those who are morbidly obese – and in danger of dying as a result – are placed on waiting lists as their health deteriorates further.
It is wrong that there should be a two-tier system with those of us who can afford a private prescription and others waiting with no help in the meantime.
For those whose aim is to use the drugs for the purpose intended, I am in favour of the NHS making them available at the chemist. But I can’t approve of them being used by those trying them for vanity.
I say that as someone who knows more about obesity than most. I know it’s possible for a working mother to rise from 9st 7lbs to 24st. Due, admittedly, to eating too much pre-prepared food.
Endless diets never worked as my brain would tell my appetite I was starving each time I lost a couple of stones. Up the weight would go as I began to eat again. Surgery at the age of 62 seemed the only answer if I were not to kill myself by being drastically obese.
I had a gastric sleeve operation, removing more than half my stomach and, in less than a year, lost half my body weight, settling at a comfortable 12st.
Then came Zoryana, my lovely Ukrainian refugee who stayed with me for nearly three years. She loved to cook. Her food was wonderful – her creamy mashed potatoes were gorgeous, as were her pancakes and parcels of meat wrapped in pastry. The weight began to creep up again. By mid-September last year, the scales were reading 16 st. Zoryana had moved but I found dieting as difficult as ever.
It was my physiotherapist who came up with a possible solution. Mounjaro, she said, would help with weight loss and tackling inflammation. Maybe it would help with my pain as well.
Wegovy and Mounjaro were not approved for prescription on the NHS except for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, which I did not have. I could only acquire it by finding a pharmacy with doctors on board to assess medical history and decide whether the drug was necessary. I passed their tests and ordered Mounjaro. Once a week, I inject myself.
The proposed new pharmacy distribution of these drugs must be well managed. They must only be given to those who have a high BMI and whose weight loss will save their lives and save the NHS having to deal with diabetes, high blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks and even cancer.
We must all remember that these are powerful drugs which must be treated with respect.
Diana’s still stealing the show at 81
Diana Ross dazzled at this week’s Met Gala
The 81-year-old took over fashion’s biggest night with her ‘fabulous frock’
It’s hard to believe Diana Ross is 81 given the panache with which she completely took over fashion’s biggest night – the Met Ball.
Fabulous frock, voluminous cape, matching white feathery hat.
I did wonder, though: how did she get in and out of her car?
At 75, I’m terrified of old age
Baroness Casey’s work on how to fund social care will not come to fruition for another decade
I’ll be 75 on Monday – three quarters of a century as my old school friend, Linda, points out. For the first time I’ve become genuinely scared of the lack of social care I may be facing.
Baroness Casey’s work on how to fund it won’t come to fruition for another ten years.
I know I don’t want a care home. I spent time last year in a very good and very expensive one. I felt we were all just waiting to die.
My neighbour, after three weeks in hospital at the age of 81, has been allocated daily home care for showering and dressing which will last for only three weeks. Then what?
I guess I must just keep going till I drop.
Jenni Murray isn’t a fan of baths, preferring a ‘super-efficient shower’
The perfect bath is said to be at 8pm on a Sunday, water at 39.8c (103.6f) and the soak should last only 22 minutes.
I wish I understood why people like it so much. I got rid of my bath and have a super-efficient shower.
Why does anyone want to soak in their own muck?
Smugglers and criminal breeders are supposedly behind up to four in five UK puppy sales
Terrifying news about the breeding of dogs. Smugglers and criminal breeders are said to be behind up to four in five UK puppy sales.
I only buy mine from small, family breeders who maybe want their bitch to have one set of pups. They live with their parents, get lots of love and cuddles and are well socialised.
I’ve never had a nasty, badly behaved dog with this method. Loving care is all they need.
The ongoing cyber attack on Marks & Spencer has led to its meal deals vanishing from shelves
The Marks & Spencer cyber attack is still causing havoc more than two weeks on. Now its meal deals have vanished!
My granny shopped there as did my mother and so did I. It’s a national treasure. It feels like an attack on us all.
