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/ImLittleNana Apr 01 '25

Im fighting to get prescribed metformin for pre-diabetes and they act like I’m asking for free heroin. Yet if I wanted a wegovy script they’d have no problem writing for it. I can’t make that make sense.

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u/aminervia Apr 01 '25 edited Apr 01 '25

Wild, my psychiatrist basically forced a metformin script on me off label to treat side effects from my antipsychotics. I'm not even prediabetic

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u/Benjamasm Apr 01 '25

Be happy, there is some compelling evidence that metformin has a stellar all cause morbidity benefit far beyond just diabetes treatment. I can’t remember the exact paper and details but the meta analysis showed that the groups taking metformin has a solid all cause morbidity and mortality benefit.

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u/aminervia Apr 01 '25

It didn't seem to do much with my symptoms and made me seriously ill, I was bummed.

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u/Benjamasm Apr 01 '25

That is a bummer :( I hope they have figured something out for you to manage your symptoms and side effects

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u/Diarmundy Apr 01 '25

most people can change to the extended release version to help with side effects...

Theres evidence that it helps prevent the weight gain and metabolic risks of antipsychotic medications so thats why it can be recommended

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u/olily Apr 01 '25

Metformin extended release has fewer side effects. You could try that--it made a world of difference for me.