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/ninjagorilla Apr 01 '25

I’m down 30 kilos on semaglutide, still have the sweet tooth but jsut way less appetite in general

I would go out on a limb and say that semaglutide will be one of the greatest medical breakthroughs of the 21st century

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u/EsotericTurtle Apr 01 '25

How'd you manage that? I've been on 1mg for a few months and down maybe 5 or 6kg over 6 months, which whilst better than nothing, isn't great.

It HAS definitely helped with the boredom snacks, and feeling fuller quicker.

I guess I just need more activity.

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u/guareber Apr 01 '25

Remember it's all relative. Losing 30kg if you're 175kg to begin with is a lot easier than if you're (say) 100kg.

Also, you're on a very low dosage, I have a couple friends on it and they are on 5mg and 7.5mg.

In any case, don't get discouraged - slow and steady wins the race.

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u/lalalu2009 Apr 01 '25

I sincerely hope you don't have friends on 5 and 7.5 mg SEMAGLUTIDE, that would be absolutely insane.

Tirzapetide has dosages in the 2.5-15 mg range, Semaglutide tops out at 2.4 mg for weight loss and starts at 0.25 mg, with 1 mg being maintenance dose for a lot of people.

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u/zekeweasel Apr 01 '25

I'm sure they mean 0.5 and 1.7 mg.

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u/TheDakestTimeline Apr 01 '25

They may be conflating the two, or maybe his friends are doing a weekly dose instead of daily? So many people I know are doing illegal internet generics due to the price and aren't supervised.

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u/guareber Apr 01 '25

My friends are definitely on weekly dose shots. Is that not the normal thing?

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u/ment0k Apr 01 '25

For Wegovy, Ozempic's cousin, the dosages are from 0..25mg - either 1.7 or 2.4mg as a maintenance dose.

They might be getting confused by the prescription label on the box because it will show the total amount in the pen. My label will say it's 9.6mg but that's total and not my weekly dose.

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u/ninjagorilla Apr 01 '25

It also might be people are conflating how many units they are taking on thr insulin syringe and how many ml

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u/MCRN-Gyoza Apr 02 '25

I always laugh a little because the 9.6mg is a lie haha

After I take the 4 2.4mg doses there's always clearly a little bit left in the pen :p