Dana Piccoli tried everything to lose weight.
She went to the gym frequently, ate and missed, and hired a personal trainer. When Piccoly decided to ride the GLP-1, it wasn’t a “shortcut” to lose weight. It was the way she lived her life comfortably.
“When I said I was riding it, they said, ‘I want to do it the right way so I’m going to the gym,'” said Piccoli, managing director of Queer Media Collaborative News. “Obviously, that’s the right way because something like that was stabbed.”
GLP-1 drugs have caused considerable agitation since they were integrated by mainstream medicine. The newness of some brands, like Ozempic, has led to the stigma and mistrust surrounding them. These stigmas disproportionately affect the LGBTQ+ community as there are some strange people It is affected by physical dissatisfaction I’m struggling to find accessible healthcare.
However, through all the noise, experts say that taking GLP-1 is safe with proper counseling and that LGBTQ+ people can benefit largely from them.
So, what is all the turmoil? Is GLP-1 an easy way to lose weight? And how do they affect the LGBTQ+ community?
How GLP-1 works
GLP-1, or glucagon-like peptide-1, mimics the action of GLP-1, released by the intestine after eating. Lowering blood sugar levels through the release of insulin can help people with type 2 diabetes, reducing digestion and, as a result, help obese people by reducing appetite.
Like other medications, there are a few side effects to consider. Sangeeta Kashyap, Clinical Issues Assistant Weill Cornell Medicinesymptoms such as nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting may occur. However, Kashyap says these side effects are less severe than past GLP-1 brands. This is the reason for contributing to new popularity, and better management can be achieved with appropriate guidance.
She said the drug causes loss of both fat and muscle, so fatty foods increase the risk of vomiting and nausea, so patients should be trained to train their patients to eat a high protein diet, she said.
Just riding the GLP-1 doesn’t just throw a few pounds away. Kashyap said it’s a commitment to your health and body. Therefore, it is important to talk to your doctor and understand the risks.
“We provide appropriate guidelines for our patients,” Kassiap said. “We do blood tests, we monitor things and provide a lot of counseling to these patients. I don’t think we can give them medicines like candy.”
Piccoly, who began his GLP-1 trip with his wife, said the drug helped to eliminate “food noise.”
“Your reward system, including things motives, food, is like a person with a disability,” Piccoly said. “It really helped me understand my relationship with food.”
Decline food noise
Losing weight is not as easy as riding a GLP-1 to reduce your diet. Piccoly said that quenching the food noise in her brain led to a complete lifestyle change.
“I had to completely change everything about how I eat, how I approach food,” she said of her experience taking Mounjaro. “This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”
Kashyap said that it is important to consult your doctor first to understand that lifestyle changes that come with taking GLP-1 can affect you not only physically but emotionally.
Kashyap said he sees a high percentage of mental disorders among trans women, a community that already faces more barriers to finding accessible health care.
This could lead to someone getting on the drug for the wrong reasons, Kassiap said. She said people with eating disorders and internal disorders could face more serious side effects. Kashyap said that Body Dymorphia and Body Image concerns are already a problem for the LGBTQ+ community and therefore GLP-1 should be prescribed.
According to Kashyap, one way to ethically prescribe GLP-1 to patients is to perform mental health screening. Mental health screening is not necessary to ride GLP-1, but Kassiap said it is beneficial for patients who tend to be adversely affected by taking medication.
Some people may see more serious side effects, but Caroline Apobian, co-director Weight Management and Wellness Center At Brigham and Women’s Hospital, he said that GLP-1 is a completely safe and rigorously tested drug.
If a person is facing negative side effects from taking GLP-1, it’s more about how their body or brain is responding than the drug itself is not safe.
“What kind of weight loss will have a positive or negative effect on your mood,” Apobian said.
As queer communities already face increasing barriers to health care, there is another issue to consider. The GLP-1 is not cheap.
Depending on where you can get it and whether your insurance covers it, you can pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a limited supply.
Piccoli says she paid out of her pocket and says that she and her wife both had to make sacrifices to ride the GLP-1.
“We didn’t renew the lease for the car,” Piccoli said. “We decided to go to one car so we were able to earn extra income each month and pay.”
Meanwhile, Matt, who requested that it be identified only by his name due to the sensitivity of the topic, said he was shocked at how easy it was to cover the costs of his GLP-1 with insurance. He was warned by his doctors about the difficulty of covering it, and was hoping for a “difficult battle.”
“[My doctor] I wrote a prescription for me and on the way home I got a text message from the drugstore saying I was ready to go,” said Matt, who lost £48 at Ozempic since June 2024.
Matt said that experiences like his are not the norm, but it’s important to talk to a doctor about riding the GLP-1 and looking at yourself rather than taking advice from social media stigma.
Kashyap said the drug is more accessible through websites like Lily and offers vials for around $300-500. It’s not a pocket change, but it’s much cheaper than a retail pharmacy.
You may have to sacrifice like Piccoli, but you will need to access modern GLP-1s for weight loss, not just Hollywood elites like a few years ago.
Through all social stigma and uncertainty, Kashyap and Apovian agreed that GLP-1 is a major advantage for the queer community.
According to Kashyap, trans women have an increasing rate of obesity, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Estrogen treatment increases fat mass and insulin resistance, and increases obesity rates in trans women. Kashyap said GLP-1 could help mitigate these effects.
GLP-1 also reduces alcohol craving, Kassiap noted that people suffering from alcoholism may see improvements in their condition when they get on the drug.
Riding a GLP-1 is not a walk in the park. Some may make you believe it – it’s a lifestyle change and a commitment to health.
But it is also a change that can provide good and healthy results when seeking appropriate guidance from experts.
While social stigma in queer communities can lead to misinformation about who should use it and what it should use, GLP-1 can be a much-needed relief for communities facing important medical disability.
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
