Same Story, Different People

Here’s an Ozempic story.

I know that I seem to be talking about this topic a lot, because my own results have been pretty pleasing.  But as Nadine Dorries describes her own journey towards going this route, I’m pretty sure that a large number of my Readers are in a similar situation to hers — I know that my own symptoms were pretty much parallel to hers — and maybe this will help you.  Here’s Mrs. Dorries in a pre- and post pic:

Just as a reminder:  I went from 277lbs peak to just over 220lbs, although it’s taken me a while longer — about six months — but there have been other benefits.

After a quarter-century of taking blood-pressure meds, I may not have to take them for much longer.  (According to the last doctor I saw a couple weeks ago, my BP of 113/90 was better than hers — and because I’d been feeling so rotten, I’d forgotten to take my BP meds for two days beforehand.)  Here’s hoping.

I have had absolutely no side-effects from Ozempic.  I was briefly concerned that (please pardon the graphic description) that I’d gone from an everyday, set-your-watch bowel movement to very occasional visits to the toilet.  But as my doctor explained, my daily food intake had been reduced by two-thirds (maybe more, even), so that wasn’t unexpected.

Which leads to this point:  my relationship with food hasn’t changed.  I still have cravings for a particular taste or type of food;  but when it comes to actually eating it, I eat far less of it — sometimes as little as 25% of it in terms of quantity.  (Four cheese sticks becomes one, two fried eggs become one egg, half-finished, and so on.  Daily bread has turned into once a week, and one slice of toast instead of two per sitting withal.)

But all those other horror stories that people have ascribed to Ozempic?  Not one.

I will admit, as I’ve said before, that my muscle mass seems to have gone down along with the saddlebags of fat, but I’ve always been muscular — even over-muscled, perhaps — so that hasn’t bothered me at all.  My ass seems to have, shall we say, slackened somewhat.  But FFS, I’ll be turning 70 in November (!) so “old-man-flabby-ass” was always going to be in my future anyway.

I’ve been told to exercise, but that’s not going to happen.  My sole “exercise” is a 100-yard daily walk (uphill both ways, uh huh) to the mailbox to check the mail, and a similar uphill distance to our garage to get the car.  The new apartment is actually walking distance from a bakery (I know, bread ungood shuddup), so I’m planning on walking there whenever I need to get more bread;  the only problem is that north Texas is not, as we say, pedestrian friendly, so it seems that the health benefits of that quarter-mile walk may be somewhat offset by becoming some F-150’s hood ornament.  But I’ll give it a shot anyway.

The biggest bummer is that insurance does not pay for Ozempic and the other drugs of that ilk even though, as in my case, its original purpose is absolutely medical:  to address pre-diabetic or Type 2 diabetes conditions.  I have no idea why this is so.  But as New Wife puts it, it’s better than dying from diabetes-induced problems (heart attack, organ failure etc.).

So there ya have it.  It’s all food (or, less food) for thought.  Hope this helped.

Health Update

No, I haven’t been able to shake off this little (ahem) cough that has kept both me and New Wife from sleeping for over a week.

So last night:  desperate measures.  I cut my throat went to the local ER place, was given steroids, various stout cough suppressants and a “Z-pack” (antibiotics) which knocked me out…

…until 4 this morning, when I woke up coughing, and of course waking up New Wife as well.

So I took MOAR DRUGS and went to the living room to write this.  I should be okay by the weekend, but that’s what I thought before last weekend.

We shall see.

Worst part is that I had to curtail my range activities lest I alarm a dozen heavily-armed men with my gut-wrenching, organ-expelling coughs.  Tomorrow, I’ll talk about what I’d planned to shoot .  Right now, it’s back to bed.

Laters.

I’m Not Saying I’m Sick, But

Death would be a semi-welcome relief right now.  Cough, sore throat, sneezes (as many as a dozen in a row), post-nasal drip:  all sneering at whatever I throw at them: penicillin, Mucinex, saline spray, cough lozenges.

I suspect even a fucking .45 bullet would just evince a mocking laugh: “Is that the best you can do?  Hahahahaha…. here, have another sneezing fit, and let’s throw in a little bowel action, just to make your life still more pleasant.  Oh, and forget about sleep, we can add some cold shivers to help with that.”

Back tomorrow.  Maybe.

Wrong Word, Used Stupidly

I’ve come to the point where unless the word “equity” is used in a financial sense — e.g. the increase in your house’s value = higher equity in your personal financial value — I see the word (especially when applied in a social context) and just know what follows is going to be utter bullshit.

Hence this crappy piece of “research” at Tufts University which, as Glenn pointed out, loses me at the “health equity” phrase right there in its sub-head:

American Diets Have a Long Way To Go To Achieve Health Equity

Au fond, its underlying supposition is racist — i.e. that the underclass (specifically, the Black population) — is at greater risk because their diet choices are “bad”.

“Oh noes, Kim,”  you say, “that’s not what they’re implying at all!”

Really?  Here’s the pic at the top of the piece:

In an even bigger tell, note that the proffered plate of (yummy!) food is being held in a White hand, the implication being, of course, that Whitey is driving Blacks to make poor dietary choices.

As a piece of racial propaganda, I can hear Josef Goebbels applauding in the background.

If Black people want true “health equity” with White people — i.e. improve their mortality rate — they should ignore bullshit like this article, eat whatever they want to eat, and instead quit letting their kids kill each other in the inner cities.

“Ring”-worm

Just reading about this made a part of my anatomy itch (and no, it wasn’t my trigger-finger):

A new, highly contagious sexually transmitted infection that has been spreading throughout Europe and elsewhere has now arrived on U.S. soil.

A case report published Wednesday in JAMA Dermatology revealed that a man in his 30s from New York City contracted a nasty skin infection after weeks of travel. During his time away from home, he engaged in sexual intercourse with multiple men during trips to England, Greece, and California.

When he got back, he developed a rash on his genitals, buttocks, and limbs.

Genetic testing on skin lesions identified the culprit as a fungal infection known as Trichophyton mentagrophytes type VII (TMVII), a sexually-transmitted form of ringworm. According to the CDC, TMVII VII is a difficult-to-treat fungus that causes skin disease in animals and humans and is acquired through sexual contact.

The emphasized words say it all, really.  I’m thinking “Greek goats” as the origin, but it could equally be Welsh sheep.  As for California, it could be anything Kardashian.

I report, you decide.

Bad Additives

…and I’m not talking about adding Diet Pepsi to Scotch, or a mistress into one’s marriage.  But some things, seemingly-innocuous things, when added to other things, are likely to be just as explosive.

Having grown up in South Africa which, despite all its faults, produces citrus fruits which make California/Florida oranges taste like dish soap, I have always loved me my citrus fruits:  oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit, eaten either by themselves (orange, grapefruit) or as additives to stuff like gin and vodka (lime, lemon).

Eating grapefruit with one’s daily statin, however, is Nazzo Guido, as explained in this article:

For instance, citrus fruits, particularly grapefruit, is known to disrupt the absorption of at least 85 different medicines, from statins to antidepressants.

Wait, what?  I take atorvastatin.

The problem with citrus fruits is that they contain compounds, called furanocoumarins, that can interfere with an enzyme in our body that breaks down these drugs, potentially leading to dangerously high levels in our bloodstream.

So much for that daily glass of vitamin C-rich grapefruit juice with my breakfast then, FFS.

Under normal conditions, this enzyme reduces the amount of the drug that enters your blood — and the quantities you are prescribed take this process into account, according to Simon Maxwell, a professor of student learning (clinical pharmacology and prescribing) at Edinburgh University.

‘This interaction partly occurs in the gut, enabling increased absorption, but also — significantly — in the liver, preventing it from progressively removing the drug in the hours after absorption. Together, this means that overall exposure to the drug can be significantly increased, resulting in toxic effects.’

‘Citrus fruits’ furanocoumarins stop CYP3A4 from doing its job — and they’re more concentrated in juice than the fruit [because a glass of juice contains more of the fruit].’

As a result, more of the drug is absorbed, making it more powerful than intended.

‘For example, a 240ml glass of grapefruit juice can increase blood levels [of the drug] by as much as 200 per cent, taking it from the therapeutic range to the potentially toxic range.

‘This can lead to side-effects such as extreme muscle damage for statins; priapism (excessively long-lasting erections) for sildenafil*; headaches, dizziness, fatigue and impaired sleep with sertraline; excessive sedation for midazolam; and excessive reduction in blood pressure, raised heart rate, dizziness, fatigue and blurred vision for those taking calcium channel blockers.’

And that’s just citrus.  Wait till you see what vitamin K-rich bananas can do to you.

Read the whole thing.


*It’s not all shitty news, by the way:  if you’re heading to an orgy, or want to make a decent first-time impression on your willing date, chug some grapefruit juice with your Viagra, preferably in a vodka cocktail [sic].

(Standard disclosure applies.)

Of course, you may end up with a 24-hour woody which may damage your member, but on the other hand, Madame will almost certainly be well satisfied, even if she requires the services of the paramedics as much as you do.  And if the fuzz have to be called to remove you from the orgy… well, there are always going to be spoilsports, aren’t there?

So take all the above with a grain of salt — just not that salt substitute crap, which is even worse for you than grapefruit juice, according to the article.

Be careful out there.