Semaglutide Patient Journey

By: Dr. Ted Kapanjie

Semaglutide

Imagine this.  You have struggled most of your adult life weight with your weight and as the decades pass you have been packing on the pounds slowly.  You have tried multiple diets and exercise programs. You don’t like the thought of going to the gym to lose but you feel compelled to do this.  Does this sound familiar?

It just does not seem to be working.  In fact, you tend to get hungrier after a good work out and you eat more for dinner than you normally would.  You often find yourself snacking on processed foods while catching up with your shows.    

Your weight does not change after several months of hitting the gym several times per week.  But at least you are not going up in weight.  You are concerned that you may develop diabetes as it runs in the family and your doctor has been on you to make changes.

You also notice a lot more back stiffness that does seems to be getting more pervasive.  Does this sound familiar? Now imagine you have started a weight loss program thru St. Louis Hormone Solutions using the new once a week injectable medication called semaglutide plus levocarnitine.   You like the structure and having weekly check ins at the clinic with weights at the time of your injection.   You are several weeks and injections into the program.  Food does not sound as appealing any more.  No longer are you yearning for snacks while watching your shows in the evenings.  You notice that you are down 3 lbs.  The program doctor even told you could take a temporary leave of absence from the gym as long as you do other activities such as taking walks. 

Some nights after particularly stressful workdays you subconsciously pick up that bag of pretzels and you start eating them, but they don’t bring any comfort.  In fact, you feel uncomfortable after eating just a few and you put them in the garbage. 

Later into the program at week 8 you notice that you have dropped another 5 lbs and your feelings about food are changing.  You don’t seem to be so focused on going to the grocery store on such a frequent basis.  In fact, you are happy with leftovers.  Your monthly grocery costs start to drop.  You are now fitting into your clothes from 3 years ago.   You saved them from along ago with a promise to yourself that once the Pandemic was over you would get back into shape and wear them again.  They have been waiting patiently.

At three months you and your provider at St. Louis Hormone Solutions note that you have dropped total of  20lbs or about 10% of your initial weight.  You are excited to continue the program and look forward to your weekly visits. You head back to the gym several times per week.    Your joints don’t hurt as much after you jog on the treadmill, and you are able to increase the speed. You are focused on getting 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week.

You have your annual physical examination with your primary care physician, she is excited to learn about your weight loss.  After reviewing your labs, she tells you no longer have prediabetes and you’re your cholesterol panel has improved.   She notes that you blood pressure is low during the visit, and she wants you to stop your water pill diuretic.   You are excited to get rid of a pill in your daily medication regimen.

At 8 months you have dropped a total of 22lbs from your starting weight.  You have been working on an eating program and feel comfortable sticking with it.  You avoid the interior aisles of the grocery store where all the dry processed foods reside and focus on the fresh foods, vegetables, fruits on the periphery.

You know that you won’t continue the injections indefinitely, but now you are becoming more comfortable with your eating program and the changes that you have made.  Your favorite foods have changed and when you do become hungry you look forward to fresh cooked vegetables and the sweet and salty foods don’t appeal to you as much. 

You also have developed a regular exercise program and enjoy a different variety of exercises.  You find that you enjoy going to Yoga classes and other exercise classes.   You realize that you are not alone, and you have nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about.   Your energy levels have improved, and you don’t get that after lunch food coma after eating a reasonable lunch consisting of a salad plus a protein.  You marvel about how this would never seem satisfying to you previously.  The future looks bright.