Willpower Pill
There's a new diet drug being tested and approved right now, sort of a "Willpower Pill," expected to be made available by 2006.
"The drug works by suppressing cravings to smoke and over-eat by acting on the body’s endocannabinoid system, a natural physiological system that regulates energy balance."
Weight-loss drugs tend to be too good to be true (e.g., Fen-Phen and its frightening side-effects) and are scorned by people who feel like medication is the lazy way out of the problem of overweight. But so far there's been no such thing as a lazy way out or a magic pill. Even gastric bypass surgery is falliable and the post-surgery lifestyle requires a great deal of discipline.
So what about this new pill? I have no idea. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
"The drug works by suppressing cravings to smoke and over-eat by acting on the body’s endocannabinoid system, a natural physiological system that regulates energy balance."
Weight-loss drugs tend to be too good to be true (e.g., Fen-Phen and its frightening side-effects) and are scorned by people who feel like medication is the lazy way out of the problem of overweight. But so far there's been no such thing as a lazy way out or a magic pill. Even gastric bypass surgery is falliable and the post-surgery lifestyle requires a great deal of discipline.
So what about this new pill? I have no idea. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
17 Comments:
The title of that article ("Wonder Pill Could Help Fat Smokers") really irked me. It set the tone for a "look what the freaks will be clamoring for now" kind of thing to me. And 19 pounds over two years? Not worth the co-pay.
BTW, Mopie, I love that you have put together this new blog - what a great idea. Somehow it's nice just to see all these different issues addressed, even just in observance. Thank you!
This is the device I'm interested in:
http://enews.tufts.edu/printerversion/092100DeviceMayPreventObesity.htm
It's a stomach pacemaker. They are in trials in the US, but already being used successfully in Europe. They are minimally invasive and rely on technology that is proven to be safe in heart therapy.
I'm hoping that I can manage to solve my issues with behavior modification, but if this device becomes generally available before I get it under control, I will probably try it.
Wow, Jennifer, that is really interesting!
I loved phen/phen and had no bad sad effects at all- except losing 70lbs and feeling like a frickin' rock star! I was regularly monitored, and since they pulled them, have had my heart checked more than once. All good.
People take pills all the time for one disease that can cause serious and frightening side effects as a result- just listen or read the warnings on everything from laxatives to viagra...
IMHO- gimme the pill. Bwaaaaaa....
I agree with first anonymous post. I took fen-phen and lost 50 pounds. I was regularly monitored and had no bad side effects. Weight loss is hard, really hard and I think that overweight people have more than a lack of will power problem. People take drugs for other illnesses/conditions, so why not take them for weight loss? I think that in 10 years or so, we will know a lot more about obesity than we do now and will come to find out that it is a condition and not laziness.
I have to strongly disagree with the idea that obesity is a condition. I won't go so far as to say that it is caused by laziness, but it's like saying that lung cancer is a condition of smoking.
It's generally self-inflicted (yes, I acknowledge there are genuine medical conditions that result in weight gain), the result of choices that we make. The choice not to eat better quality food, the choice to eat over- sized portions, the choice to not exercise regularly.
If anything needs treating, it's the reason we make these choices, not the results of them.
I agree that obesity is not a "disease"- but a slower than fuck metabolism is actually "treatable" with a pill. And the chemical release of endorphins is possible with a pill.
I actually have trouble with people who insist that while obesity is not a "disease" it is simply something that a little mental therapy as to why we eat is the key. Or stating that it is wrong food choices or eating too much.
I know my metabolism is slow- I know that I cannot eat more than 1200 calories in a day or I will gain. So, is my problem that I insist of "choosing" to eat or that my body is genetically geared toward gaining and could be helped by a pill?
Not all fat people have emotional eating issues.
Oh- and there's this too...
o·be·si·ty ( P ) Pronunciation Key (-bs-t)
n.
The condition of being obese; increased body weight caused by excessive accumulation of fat.
Anonymous--
Do you also have a problem with depressed people taking SSRI's and other anti-drepressants? How about bipolar people taking Lithium? These are clearly mental states that they could manage, presumably, jsut as easily as obese people can manage their urges to eat.
How about pain meds? We could all just learn biofeedback routines to self-manage our pain.
I think all of these things are tools, and each person, with the advice of the medical professionals they trust, has to figure out what tools they should try to help them balance their lives. After all, only the Buddha and Jesus were perfect.
Jennifer-
Were your comments directed a ladymistree or anonymous? Because I posted that one and you and I are saying the same thing- but your post seems directed to me?
Jennifer here.
Apologies, anonymous, yes, I was directing at lady mistree. I don't like this comment interface because I can't see the comments I'm responding to when I post.
Yeah that is irritating. Someone else said the comments can't be viewed on Mozilla. Plus there's the Anonymous thing, which is irritating.
These comments are an integrated Blogger feature, so they were very very simple to set up. One thing I really like about them is that I am e-mailed the comments, so I don't miss anything and can respond to everything. I'll look into alternatives if Blogger doesn't fix the bugs soon.
That was not meant as a criticism of you, Mo! Thanks for starting this forum.
How much traffic do you get? We could probably host you on our server. We currently have MovableType running, and I'm in the process of setting up drupal to take over my blog, which is much more feature-ful.
Thanks again! I love all of your sites.
Samsarra & Anonymous - perhaps my point was not clear (I've just blogged exactly what I think about this if you want to go read it). Where there are chemical imbalances and the like, absolutely medication is the way to go. But the obesity is a SYMPTOM of that other condition. It's not a disease in itself. Treat the original condition and the symptom is relieved.
The dictionary definition doesn't make it a disease. The definition could read 'the state of being obese' and mean the same thing.
I won't hijack Mo's wonderful blog for this, but I just wanted to clarify what I said earlier. Good, thought provoking stuff.
I work for a pharmaceutical advertising agency and the makers of Remonibant (now called Accomplia, btw) are my clients. Because of the nature of my job I have had access to alot of the data from the clinical trials that are being conducted and I have to say, it really does appear to be a miracle drug of sorts. The published results of an average 19lb weight loss over 2 years are VERY conservative, there are people in these trials who have lost considerable amounts of weight (100 pounds in at least one case I reviewed) and have reported few side effects. I truly believe it has the potential to be a blockbuster, not just because of it's efficacy in the area of weight loss, but also because of the dual indication related to smoking cessation.
I'm all for a drug that can modify behavior to promote better health - who wouldn't be?
Anonymous, thanks for the inside scoop! I would probably take a drug like this once it had been on the market for a while and nobody had keeled over dead. Especially since it seems to still require behavioral changes and isn't like "Eat Twinkies, take pill!"
And guys, thanks for the lovely comments and participation! (And the hosting offer-- as soon as I get the journal set up then I will worry about the blog.) Kiss kiss.
I personally would never take drugs, the body is too complicated and to many things they don't understand, and besides the body has a way of compensating over time to counteract the drugs. weight loss surgury does the same thing, if they stop one hormone from being triggored such a gherlin, then the body compensates over time and the weight is regained, that is why after five years the success rate is only 1 percent of those who have the surgury who manage to keep the weight off and then by their 20th year post surgury they probably will be dead from malnutrition
that is the life span of successful weight loss surgury patient. also it is not people are fat because they eat too much it is their bodies make them crave the food and make them eat more than their immediate needs and the body stores the excess food as fat
you can't blame the person as the body is quite capable of making you vomit if it didn't want the food and it is quite capable of stopping fat storage if it is so bad for your life and didn't have a survival motive,
the body is the one storing the extra caloires not the person, they have no control of where the body puts anything, and you can no more fight biology or biology chemicals then you can fight the need to drink water , needing to breath or needing to sleep, if you manage some fighting against them, then you suffer serious consequences and these are not pretty.
if you hold your breath you pass out, don't drink enough water and in a few days you will slip into a coma and die, don't get enough sleep and you suffer halluncinations, accidents while driving and insanity and long enough possibly death too.
so deny your body enough food it will also die eventually if you can fight the chemicals that stir an insatiable hunger then you will die pure and simple, or wish you were dead. asking someone to endure painful hunger all teh time is like asking someone with a migraine to just grin and bear it forever with no end in sight except possibly death.
hunger is painful, unsatisfied hunger over time gets really painful (I have experienced this myself despite eating 1800 calories a day, just like the person with a migraine after a while they will not be able to endure it any longer and will reach for the remedy, migraine meds, same with a dieter, they will reach for the remedy to thier intense pain, food.
there is no other way to stop the hunger pain without serious consequences or even death. use drugs to stop the hunger and you cause all the symptoms of starvation to manifest itself until the medication is stopped or counteracted by the body or until you die.
so stop blaming the fat one, saying they made bad lifestyle choices, most don't choose to be fat and most have tried not to eat too much, but their bodies literally made them do it. No pun is intended I assure you.
they just dont know any better because the cure they tout is actually perpetutating teh problem they are trying to fix, they don't know about the famine feast cycle, setpoints, yo yo dieting health impications or that their bodies really have the answer they have been looking for the trouble is science and the media don't want people to know it, if in fact they are even aware of it, because the cure requires a whole new way of thinking and doesn't cost any more money then what you spend at the grocery store to implimate.
we have been taught that a fat body is a body out of control, that it needs to be forced in line like a naughty child well the oppisite is true we are the ones who have abused our bodies and have the problem understanding our bodies main objective or how it responses to survival threats. we believe what the so called experts keep telling us, that the body arbitrarly stores extra caloires and hunger doesnt match actual need, that is a bunch of balony.
it is the experts who are not to be trusted, the body can be trusted, if we give it half a chance to do it's job without out our interference. I can explain if you wish, let me know.
RR
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home