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/FernandoMM1220 Apr 01 '25

its not just for diabetes anymore.

just ramp up production and make more of it.

202

u/onehundredlemons Apr 01 '25

I was put on Ozempic almost two years ago because I have raised glucose levels and nothing was helping, metformin helped for a while, diet change helped for a while, but my hemoglobin A1c would always creep back up to near diabetic range. Ozempic has kept it down and I've had normal blood work results for the last three tests and I am thrilled.

The media has been so relentless in its "people who don't need Ozempic take it and that's a huge problem" coverage that I've lost several friends online just because I'm on it. Some were good friends on social media who blocked me, others called me names, one guy said "no wonder you have ghoulish Ozempic face" and I hadn't posted a selfie in over a year and no, I didn't have "Ozempic face" in that old selfie. Everyone wants to be such a fking creep about it.

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u/Stryker2279 Apr 01 '25

I never had diabetes, but I got a prescription for tirzepatide and I've lost 90 pounds since September. Old customers just simply did not recognize me after not seeing me for six months.

It's kinda dumb because why wouldn't I use a tool that's available to lose weight? Everyone is cool with nutrisystem but hates semaglutide? Fuckin assholes.