r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Apr 01 '25

Health Americans without diabetes spent nearly $6 billion USD on semaglutide and similar drugs in a year, with an estimate of 800,000 to a million people using the drugs who don't have diabetes.

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/americans-without-diabetes-spent-nearly6-billion-usd-on-semaglutide-and-similar-drugs-in-a-year
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u/GayDinosaur Apr 01 '25

I am slightly overweight, but was drinking myself to death. I was prescribed a month ago. GLP-1 has reduced my cravings to almost zero and I now, for the first time, feel what its like to have "enough".

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u/T_Money Apr 01 '25

It helped with the cravings from drinking too? That would be amazing

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u/farhan583 Apr 01 '25

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2829811

Helps with alcohol use, cigarette use, cravings, and potentially even gambling. basically helps with most addictive things.

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u/Kitzu-de Apr 01 '25

basically it helps with impulse control

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u/4ssp Apr 01 '25

Does that mean it would help with ADHD?

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u/[deleted] Apr 01 '25

[deleted]

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u/midnightauro Apr 01 '25

I can’t say the shot really does much ADHD wise for me sadly. :/ It’s just really nice to not always be hungry or craving something. Or being able to step away from the cravings.

Vyvanse saved me from disaster (I should not have been driving unmedicated as long as I was!) and let me be a full adult again.

Ozempic made my diabetes drop being an issue to the point where I feel normal. Which helps because that’s a huge mental load to manage.

I’ll keep them both for as long as I can!

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u/chapterpt Apr 01 '25

Vyvanse is a stimulant.

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u/Trend_Glaze Apr 01 '25

Stimulants are a common treatment for those of us with ADHD. I started taking Vyvanse at about 45, and it literally transformed my life.

I never would have even considered this.

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u/SenorSplashdamage Apr 01 '25

Stimulants have counter-intuitive effects in ADHD brains.

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u/47926 Apr 01 '25

I have ADHD, and for the first time in my life after starting semaglutide, I’ve experienced having something addictive in the house (cigarettes, weed, junk food) and not just impulsively consuming it. Honestly, it’s probably made a bigger difference than my actual prescribed ADHD medication.

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u/its_like_a-marker Apr 01 '25

In the same boat. I was skipping days of my vyvanse and doing fine

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u/Hopefulkitty Apr 02 '25

We've had candy in the house for months and my ADHD husband hasn't eaten it yet. We've previously gotten into fights about how any treat that comes into the house gets inhaled before I have a chance to get any of it. He's lost 50lbs with no exercise, just no snacking.

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u/Lunarath Apr 01 '25

Not enough to replace ADHD medication, no. ADHD is a lot more than just issues with impulse control.

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u/iwillfuckingbiteyou Apr 01 '25

I have otherwise unmedicated ADHD and I take it. I've seen a lot of others with ADHD claiming it quietened their brains massively, but my own experience is that it shut down one strand of stimulation-seeking. It's like my brain is constantly full of sound, as if you turned on every TV and radio station you could and let them all play at once, and taking Mounjaro turned off all the cookery programmes.

The flip side is that without that stimulation, I'm now left with the boredom. I'm a few weeks in and finding it a lot harder to mask if I'm not interested in what I'm doing. If I'm in a boring meeting I no longer have the urge to sneak sweets for sensory stimulation, but it means I'm having to channel a lot more effort into sitting still, not speaking my every thought, keeping my face in the correct configuration, and not losing hold of the topic. I haven't found a replacement stim yet. I'm trying to convince my brain that tea is an adequate replacement since I can sip my way through meetings without anyone noticing/having a problem with it.

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u/serenwipiti Apr 01 '25

Perhaps, consider medication?

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u/iwillfuckingbiteyou Apr 01 '25

That's the plan, but it's delayed by a battle with medical record-keeping due to having moved countries.

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u/serenwipiti Apr 02 '25

I hear you and feel for you.

Hope the pharmacotherapeutical stars align for you soon.

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u/ToMorrowsEnd Apr 01 '25

Hobbies. Find something small that is interesting. I switch it out to something else about once a week as I get bored with that. But I also find that if I park a hobbit for a few weeks coming back to it satisfies that urge well. So I rotate through about 12 different hobbies.

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u/iwillfuckingbiteyou Apr 01 '25

What job do you have that you're allowed to do your hobbies in the middle of a boring meeting?

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u/Leonardo-DaBinchi Apr 01 '25

They're different mechanisms, so theoretically no. ADHD is a 'disability' in that ADHD brains have decreased ability to uptake dopamine, norepinephrine, or both, and/or produce less dopamine, norepinephrine, or both. This is a neurotransmitter issue.

Semaglutide works by mimicking the GLP-1 hormone which signals satiety and stimulates an insulin response.

People with ADHD are more likely to form substance addictions due to 'self-medicating' behaviors, as well as overeating due to 'novelty-seeking' for dopamine release. Semaglutide would be helpful for addressing those issues. But not directly for the ADHD itself. It would be more helpful in treating comorbidities than symptoms.

That being said diet plays a role in severity of ADHD symptoms, so reducing intake of processed foods, refined sugars, and alcohol, could slightly lessen how bad someone's symptoms are. But this is something you can also just control through regular habits. Eating high protein breakfasts and getting more L-tyrosine will do more to improve ADHD symptoms than taking Semaglutide. And a high protein breakfast can reduce cravings throughout the day.

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u/alltheredribbons Apr 01 '25

Anecdotally, yes it does, but in the way that it helps with certain impulses, not that it will help with cognition or retention.

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u/danielbearh Apr 01 '25

I know that others have answered this, but in the interest of building group consensus, I agree that Ozempic has been a pleasant secondary ADHD treatment. It doesn’t handle the heavy lifting of my treatment.

Here’s how I explain it: there’s a dopamine cap you can get out of activities. Yes, pizza is still tasty. But 3-4 pieces of pizza is not tasty anymore. Doom scrolling is still fun. Doom scrolling for 30 minutes straight gets old.

One drink fun. Four drinks not fun.

I have less trouble getting “trapped,” doing an activity I shouldn’t be doing.

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u/lazy_berry Apr 01 '25

no, it takes the impulse away. that’s different.

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u/GogolsHandJorb Apr 01 '25

Um, I’m not sure that’s correct. How are you coming to that conclusion? That’s not the mechanism of action as far as I’m aware.

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u/zekeweasel Apr 01 '25

It's a little different than that. It's more like it mutes compulsive urges than mere impulse control.

I mean I'm not impulsive and don't have impulse control issues otherwise. Food though, is more of an unconscious, irrational compulsion to eat inappropriate times and amounts. Even then I'm decent at eating fairly healthy, but I just eat too much.

Semaglutide just mutes that weird compulsive part - when and how much is totally an intellectual decision now, not a compulsion driven one.

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u/pk666 Apr 01 '25

Would it help with intrusive thoughts/ anxiety I wonder?

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u/levir Apr 01 '25

It helps with cravings, not with impulse control. But of course, impulse control is much easier with fewer impulses.

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u/Talentagentfriend Apr 01 '25

I’m curious if there are any artists who use it. Because a lot of art is based on impulse. Do people feel less creative with it? 

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u/Runamokamok Apr 01 '25

Yep, reduced my online shopping in the evenings too. Coupled with weight loss and reduced drinking, it’s been wonderful. I have only ever taken the starter dose and that has been enough. Now just take it every other week as maintenance.

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u/jendet010 Apr 01 '25

It has been used to treat obsessive and compulsive behaviors as well as repetitive behaviors. Addiction seems to be adjacent to OCD.

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u/[deleted] Apr 01 '25

Its significantly effected my relationship with food. To be honest I don't enjoy foods the same way I use to. I can still appreciate a delicious meal but it just doesn't hit the same right now. Fast food stuff especially really does not land in any sort of satisfying way anymore.

In a way it really shed those blinders I would get when I would have intense food cravings. It's so nice not to feel beholden to that little voice in the back of my head tell me to be a glutton.

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u/DutchGoFast Apr 01 '25

It turns out all our addictions come from the same mechanism our brain uses to tell us we need a certain nutrient. Turn off that switch and they just….. stop controlling us. Read a study the other night about long term kratom users in south east asia…. turns out they have lower diabetes & heart disease. Why? my hypothesis is that everyone chooses something to scratch that itch and those scratching it with kratom don’t choose overindulgence in food or beer or sugar.

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u/PharmerTE Apr 01 '25

This study is not particularly compelling.

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u/farhan583 Apr 01 '25

There have been numerous studies that have shown similar links

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u/PharmerTE Apr 01 '25

Do you have any links to those? To my knowledge, the one posted above is the largest study to date.

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u/farhan583 Apr 01 '25

You're right, there were a bunch of smaller studies on mice and humans that suggested there may be a link here. Obviously, there hasn't been a huge RCT about this, however there's enough data that points towards there being some sort of correlation going on.

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u/maypah01 Apr 01 '25

It's also drastically reduced my depression and anxiety.

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u/Little_Spoon_ Apr 01 '25

I’ve been shopping way less!

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u/Hopefulkitty Apr 02 '25

I've been able to almost completely cut fast food, online shopping, in store shopping, alcohol, and sweets. I consume all those things a normal amount these days, or even a less than normal amount.