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(L to R) Tiffany H., Dr. Andrew Wong, Jessica Daniel and Yenifer Ortega-Garcia of Hartford HealthCare Medical Group Primary Care in Westport, Conn. on Dec. 15, 2022.
Dr. Andrew Wong holds a demonstration pen of the insulin injection in Westport, Conn. on Dec. 15, 2022.
WESTPORT — Ana Rosales found out her daughter had diabetes about two years ago.
She was put on insulin. Around February, her daughter’s treatment switched to the insulin injection.
In September, her 14-year-old daughter was admitted to the hospital for about a week. She had pancreatitis, and she’s still facing on and off pain.
“It’s horrible,” said Rosales, the office manager at Hartford HealthCare Medical Group Primary Care in Westport.. “Just watching her be in pain and not knowing.”
Dr. Andrew Wong, an internal medicine doctor in the same office, said he had a patient with a similar experience. He said these insulin injections, called GLP-1 agonists like Trulicity and Ozempic, are also becoming popular for weight loss, and worries people will take them, not understanding it’s a serious drug.
He said it is only approved for diabetes, but people are using it for weight loss.
“If they’re at a normal weight, if they’re slightly overweight, this is not going to be a good medicine for them to take,” he said. “We’re seeing patients demanding it. They’re asking for it, rather than vice versa.”
It’s even getting popularized on TikTok, with the hashtag, #ozempic hosting more than 320 million views. Wong said that even some celebrities have been rumored to use it, like Kim Kardashian and Elon Musk.
“It absolutely has become a trend, everyone wants to be on weight loss shots, like it is a quick fix,” said Dr. Joesph St. Pierre, a bariatric specialist with Hartford HealthCare, who also works in the Westport office. “Some people have bought into the hysteria as now something they don’t want to miss out on. I am concerned about people starting medications without going to see a trained specialist and being part of a comprehensive weight loss program.”
Wong is the primary care doctor for a patient in his mid-30s. He said that another doctor prescribed him a GLP-1 agonist to lower his weight.
“People who use these medicines will lose eight to 20 percent of their body weight over about three to six months of using the medicine,” he said. “A lot of people are using the medicines purely for weight loss, and that’s where it gets controversial.”
Wong said people have to be classified with obesity, having a body mass index of 30 or higher to be qualified to use it.
His patient had a history of irritable bowel syndrome, so Wong said it wasn’t unusual when he began experiencing abdominal pains, diarrhea and heartburn.
He said it got so bad that he had to go to the hospital, where he found out he had pancreatitis.
Wong said Rosales’ daughter was admitted into the ICU because she had a type of pancreatitis called necrotizing pancreatitis, where the pancreas begins to atrophe, or digest itself.
“My concern is that people don’t understand that it’s a real medicine that needs to be monitored by a clinician,” he said.
The medicine slows down digestion, which causes people to feel full, but also causes insulin secretion in the pancreas, he said. This secretion can cause people to have inflammatory symptoms, even cases of pancreatic and thyroid cancer, kidney failure and gallstone formation.
“They have to be taken very seriously,” he said. “Even though it’s a great medicine and we can get very good results under the right situations, it shouldn’t be looked at like a medicine you can get over the counter.”
Wong said there are even ways to get the medicine online, and some medical spas are administering it.
He said people usually regain the weight when they stop using it.
“As long as they are being monitored and screened by a physician for use in an appropriate patient with expertise in their use, they can be very safe,” St. Pierre said. “These medications should not be used for casual weight loss, there is very specific criteria for diabetes and weight loss patients that have to be fulfilled before use.”
“If you are ordering them off the Internet without being monitored or aware of all the risks, they can be dangerous for both diabetes and weight loss users,” he added.
Now that people without diabetes are trying to get these medicines, Wong said it is becoming more difficult for those with diabetes to get it. In the meantime, they have to prescribe other medications or injections that are more difficult to use. Wong said that these injectibles are effective for some who have diabetes because it is only one shot per week, where other methods are more complicated.
Rosales even said the medicine itself worked for her daughter for her blood sugar and weight, but the pain started soon after switching to the injectible. At first, she thought it was kidney stones. The pain would come and go, but then it got worse.
She said she wonders how it will affect her daughter in the years to come.
Wong said the injectibes are too new to tell if there are long-term side effects.
Wong said there are other ways to manage weight, such as exercising and eating nutritious food. He mentioned that Tufts School of Nutrition is utilizing a new compass system that rates foods on a 1-100 scale.
“If you want to lose weight, it should always be done is a safe manner and done to improve quality of life and to help prevent terrible chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, dementia, cancer, strokes,” St. Pierre said.
kayla.mutchler@hearstmediact.com
