The drugs work by mimicking a natural hormone (GLP-1) that\u2019s released after eating, signalling satiety \u2013 feeling full \u2013 to the brain. This suppresses patients\u2019 appetites and better regulates their blood sugar.<\/p>\n
[\u00a0Weight-loss jabs and me: \u2018My obesity is not a battle I win and walk away from. It\u2019s something I live with\u2019<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n Mounjaro is made by US pharma giant Eli Lilly<\/a> (also known as just Lilly) and, like Wegovy, it is a weekly, self-injectable medicine. Its active ingredient, tirzepatide, is a \u201cdual agonist\u201d, meaning it stimulates the receptors for two hormones in the body: GLP-1 and also GIP, which regulates appetite.<\/p>\n Further clinical breakthroughs are expected to lead to the arrival of new drugs in the coming years \u2013 including \u201ctriple agonists\u201d and ingredients that preserve lean muscle mass \u2013 and, with them, more enlightened thinking about obesity.<\/p>\n Specialists say conversations about these treatments should focus on health gains, not kilogram losses, and that the very real benefits of their long-term use should be disentangled from social-media narratives about the perceived desirability of thinness.<\/p>\n \u201cFour or five years ago, talking about the use of GLP-1s for treating obesity was a little bit taboo,\u201d says Dr Harriet Treacy, a medical doctor who cofounded Beyondbmi, a digital obesity clinic and UCD spin-out company.<\/p>\n \u201cThat has obviously changed a lot. There almost isn\u2019t a week that goes by that obesity isn\u2019t discussed in the media in some way, shape or form, and I think, in honesty, that\u2019s a net positive thing.\u201d<\/p>\n New data is one of the main catalysts for this, she says. \u201cThere\u2019s increasingly more evidence to show how powerful these medications are in the treatment of the disease of obesity.\u201d<\/p>\n Treacy cites a 2023-published study showing that semaglutide can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes by 20 per cent in patients with an existing history of cardiovascular disease. Tirzepatide, meanwhile, has been found to reduce the risk of overweight or obese adults with pre-diabetes going on to develop type 2 diabetes by 94 per cent.<\/p>\n One key unknown \u2013 now being explored in a medical study \u2013 centres on the drugs\u2019 capacity to help people keep weight off, even if they reduce their dose.<\/p>\n [\u00a0The history of weight loss is littered with supposed quick fixesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very hard to find somebody who has not lost weight on a diet, but you will rarely find people who have maintained that weight loss,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cThat, to me, is the big question that has evaded the diet industry and the medical industry. Okay, great, we can lose weight, but can we keep it off? In a similar vein, we can treat the disease, but can we continue to treat the disease?\u201d<\/p>\n One thing is clear to obesity specialists: healthcare professionals who tell obese patients to \u201cjust eat less and move more\u201d are not giving them access to evidence-based care. Treacy says patients often \u201cinternalise that bias\u201d and view themselves as failures if they hold on to their weight or stop losing it after a certain point.<\/p>\n \u201cStigma is a huge barrier,\u201d says Dr Mick Crotty, a GP who specialises in obesity. He runs the Dublin-based private clinic My Best Weight and serves as the clinical lead for obesity with the Irish College of General Practitioners<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere can be huge disappointment and almost a sense of shame and failure if people don\u2019t respond to these treatments. For me, it\u2019s about helping people understand that no person fails a treatment. The treatment fails the person if it\u2019s not the right treatment for them.\u201d<\/p>\n GLP-1s are \u201cnot a reset or kick-start\u201d, nor is it \u201clike taking an antibiotic\u201d, he says. They are, instead, part of a lifelong treatment for chronic disease.<\/p>\n What can happen after patients start taking them is that they will have \u201calmost like a honeymoon period\u201d where they find \u201cfood noise\u201d has reduced, their appetite has been regulated and they realise, perhaps for the first time, that their weight is not their fault.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve treated their subconscious brain, which is very impactful to show people that this is a biological disease,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd then eventually, at a given dose of a treatment, you will see things stabilising, and their weight will plateau.\u201d<\/p>\n At this point, though patients notice the health and quality-of-life benefits of their reduced weight, their appetite might return a little bit. \u201cAnd that can scare people,\u201d says Crotty.<\/p>\n This is one reason why terminology matters.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we frame it as weight-loss medication, people will say, well, I\u2019m not losing weight, so it\u2019s not working any more. The challenge is to ensure people understand that the role is now maintenance. Even with the best medications we have available today, when their weight stabilises, it may not be where they want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n The conversation around GLP-1s needs to be nuanced, he says.<\/p>\n \u201cObesity medications may not necessarily make somebody thin. They definitely won\u2019t make people happy. But they will significantly improve somebody\u2019s health and often their quality of life long term.\u201d<\/p>\n Obesity care is not just about writing a prescription for somebody, he says. It also involves helping people navigate any side effects and managing their expectations.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are obesity medications. They\u2019re definitely not skinny jabs, they\u2019re definitely not Hollywood\u2019s worst-kept secret, or all these other euphemisms. These medications need to be for people with obesity, not for somebody who wants to lose weight in the short term, or, God forbid, somebody who is living with an eating disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Very often the fake Ozempic pens contain sterile water, if it\u2019s even sterile. There\u2019s either nothing in them or they\u2019re dangerously toxic\u2019<\/p>\n \u2014 \u00a0Tom Murray, pharmacist<\/p><\/blockquote>\n With optimism and excitement about the widening array of available treatments, there has been some misrepresentation, Crotty says, \u201cand perhaps some people taking advantage of the situation, too\u201d.<\/p>\n Indeed, online fat-shaming can be driven by scurrilous entities seeking to profit from the advent of GLP-1s by promoting and selling counterfeits.<\/p>\n In August, responding to the surging rate of fake-drug seizures by the Health Products Regulatory Authority, the Irish Pharmacy Union urged the public against buying products marketed as obesity medicines from unverified websites and taking them without medical supervision.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have absolutely no way of checking what\u2019s in these products,\u201d says Tom Murray, a Donegal-based community pharmacist and the president of the union.<\/p>\n \u201cVery often the fake Ozempic pens contain sterile water, if it\u2019s even sterile. There\u2019s either nothing in them or they\u2019re dangerously toxic,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is some evidence of beauticians and the cosmetic industry supplying what they believe are GLP-1s, but they actually have no idea what they are.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Weightloss](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/CJQITTJLMNGF5EYGAJTQYTQXGI.jpg\")
\u201cThere\u2019s increasingly more evidence to show how powerful these medications are in the treatment of the disease of obesity.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
![\"Exercise](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BXNKZ5CNTNCD5GSZ3VWRW3MPMA.jpg\")
GLP-1s are \u201cnot a reset or kick-start\u201d, nor is it \u201clike taking an antibiotic\u201d. <\/p>\n