Unless you work in the medical profession, it is difficult to know exactly when your health has been compromised.
Seemingly innocuous decisions can push you over the edge, and the most debilitating illnesses often have non-specific symptoms.
In other words, it’s up to doctors to help guide us through the quagmire.
The questions sent to the famous NHS Doctor Rene Hoenderkamp via health@gbnews.uk because this week’s Q&A talks about the anxiety of uncertainty, from the unknowns about the shiny new weight loss drug Ozempic, the myths surrounding joint breakdown and arthritis, and determining when memory loss is a sign of dementia.
Last week, he looked at the best supplements for memory loss, the impact alcohol has on dementia risk, and the multiple causes of breast and armpit pain.
It is important to remember that the advice given below is general and not individual and you should always seek individualized health care from a doctor.
With those caveats aside, see Dr Hoenderkamp’s response to burning questions from GB News members below.
I’ve tried everything but I can’t lose weight. Should I take Ozempic?
First of all, I can say that I really see and understand the frustration of people who want to lose weight and are really struggling. It’s easy to see why the brilliant and dramatic claims of influencers and celebrities that Ozempic has made them a finishedweighs person in a slim, slender shadow of his previous the self is attractive. But do the claims stand up to scrutiny?
Let’s first see what Ozempic is and what it does.
Ozempic is the brand name for semaglutide, a prescription-only drug that helps people with diabetes control their blood sugar. It can also promote weight loss.
However, fueled primarily by social media posts, there has been a recent surge of people without diabetes using Ozempic solely for weight loss, causing a shortage that affects those who need the diabetes medication.
Ozempic is not licensed in the UK for weight loss. Despite this, Wegovycontains the same ingredient (semaglutide) and is licensed for weight loss.
Semaglutide works by reducing glucagon, a hormone that raises sugar levels, and by slowing transit through the gastric tract, making you feel fuller for longer. As a result, it can promote weight loss.
However, like all medicines, it has side effects and some of them are potentially lethal. And as with all side effects, it doesn’t matter how rare a side effect is if it affects you and there’s no way to know if it will.
Most people who use it will have gastrointestinal upset, such as diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and constipation, but these will subside in most.
More serious potential side effects include:
- Pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) It is important to note that there appears to be an increased risk of pancreatic cancer after pancreatitis. Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers; only seven percent of patients live five years.
- Vision changes
- Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)
Potentially life-threatening side effects include
It’s important to remember that all Cancers are life-threatening unless treated successfully.
Now let’s look at real data success, not what celebrities claim. A weekly dose of 2.4 milligrams of semaglutide combined with lifestyle changes for 68 weeks resulted in:
- 5% to 20% body weight loss.
- Reduced waist circumference
- Improvement of blood sugar levels
- Improvement of blood pressure
- Improvement of cholesterol levels
And keep in mind that when you stop using it, you get hungry again, so does that mean lifelong use and a much higher risk of serious side effects? And the only people who can do it without any negative effects are the drug companies; they don’t want you to lose weight permanently, they want you as a customer for life.
So my answer to your question is NO. This is not the answer. The answer to effective and sustained weight loss is a lifestyle change. Think home-cooked, nutritionally balanced meals, smaller portions, no processed foods (which are the cause of much obesity), and exercise as the icing on the cake.
Does breaking knuckles cause arthritis?
This might have been my shortest answer to a GB News question! The answer is no, but it’s a myth that permeates strongly, so let’s unpick it.
People have been cracking knuckles and other joints forever, some never do it, but those who do often report a satisfying feeling of release in the joint. And they’re right: The “pop” in a joint is caused by bubbles bursting in the synovial fluid that helps lubricate the joints.
When you stretch the bones, the bubbles come out as the fingers are stretched by stretching or bending them back, creating negative pressure.
So you don’t have to worry about arthritis and you can continue to crack, but chronic cracking of your knuckles can lead to reduced grip strength. And there are reports of injuries sustained as people tried to break their knuckles. So maybe it’s time to stop if you can!
How do I know my memory loss is a sign of aging and not dementia?
Take with me that I do not remember, it will come to me!
If the above is something you say often, chances are it’s just a busy brain, quite full and with the effects of age. But it’s an interesting question, how do you know? Well, you will be pleased to know that there are some simple standard tests that will help you.
While some memory loss is a normal part of aging, dementia is not. The worsening of mental capacity seen in dementia is much more severe. The time to think about a dementia diagnosis is when your symptoms significantly affect your daily life. Therefore, if you have difficulty doing daily tasks around the house, at work, in the community, you need to see your doctor. If you walk into a room and forget why you went there or can’t remember a word or someone’s name, it’s probably normal.
But can we be more scientific about it? Well, there are definite areas of cognitive change that are not part of normal aging and can be seen in:
- Memory loss
- Confusion and need for help with daily tasks
- Problems with language and understanding
- Changes in behavior
So, in terms of examples of normal and possibly dementia, consider the following:
Report/New information
Forgetting something you were told a while ago is probably normal, but forgetting something you were told very recently is possibly not normal. And asking repeatedly is a concern, so asking is the car locked? repeatedly can be a sign of concern.
Misplacing your keys or glasses every now and then isn’t a concern, but putting them in strange places repeatedly, like in the fridge, can be.
Planning/decision making
Making the occasional mistake paying a bill is fine, but not being able to handle your finances, pay bills, or plan is a concern.
Mood and behavior
Feeling low or sad from time to time affects everyone, but feeling constantly sad, anxious, scared of loss can be a concern.
guidance
Door unable to place the day of the week or the month from time to time and at the time it is likely that normal aging. It is not normal to completely lose track of time, day, date and season.
language
Not being able to find the right word from time to time, but it will come, eventually happens to everyone, but frequent difficulty finding words and it never comes or finding yourself compensating for this thing can be a concern.
Vision and perception
Any visual problem is not normal and should be investigated, but it can be normal eye aging and prescription changes or cataracts and are not signs of dementia but being able to judge distances, perceive where a step is, confuse the shapes of objects with others things
So it’s a guided tour of how you can differentiate between dementia and normal aging. For more details, here is some good information.
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