The Atlantic: Did Scientists Accidentally Invent an Anti-Addiction Drug?

[drusso]

Did Scientists Accidentally Invent an Anti-addiction Drug?

People taking Ozempic for weight loss say they have also stopped drinking, smoking, shopping, and even nail biting.

www.theatlantic.com

"The types of behaviors in which patients have reported unexpected changes include both the addictive, such as smoking or drinking, and the compulsive, such as skin picking or nail biting. (Unlike addiction, compulsion concerns behaviors that aren’t meant to be pleasurable.) And although there is a body of animal research into GLP-1 analogues and addiction, there is virtually none on nonfood compulsions. Still, addictions and compulsions are likely governed by overlapping reward pathways in the brain, and semaglutide might have an effect on both. Two months into taking the drug, Mary Maher woke up one day to realize that the skin on her back—which she had picked compulsively for years—had healed. She used to bleed so much from the picking that she avoided wearing white. Maher hadn’t even noticed she had stopped picking what must have been weeks before. “I couldn’t believe it,” she told me. The urge had simply melted away."

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[Doctodd]

thx for excerpt so i dont have to click on the atlantic

 

[Ferrismonk]

I wonder if the other GLP-1 agonists are similar? Reading the other thread about these drugs makes me think Munjaro is the best for weight loss, but who knows what the overall best is. I certainly have a bunch of patients who need help with controlling bad/compulsive behavior.

 

[mid|ine]

Monjaro is just a higher dose of ozempic, right?
I'm interested to see some studies when these meds are discontinued and the best way to do it (probably slowly). Im not rxing them, but have lots of patients losing weight on them.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

Monjaro is just a higher dose of ozempic, right?
I'm interested to see some studies when these meds are discontinued and the best way to do it (probably slowly). Im not rxing them, but have lots of patients losing weight on them.

No. Mounjaro is both a GLP-1 AND a GIP agonist, the latter of which is a new thing.