A colleague of mine asked me a clinical practice question:
“If you start a patient on a GLP-1 (anti-obesity medication) and their weight improves, and they reverse their diabetes, would you stop the injections?”
This is a great question.
If you start a patient with high blood pressure on a medication, and their blood pressure improves, would you stop it? No.
Why not? Because in that case, the medication is the only thing managing the disease. If you stop it, the blood pressure would go up.
Obesity is a chronic disease that can be thought of in a similar way. If the only thing managing this is medication, then if it stops, the weight comes back…
Now, medication is not the only tool at our disposal to manage chronic diseases. Lifestyle and behaviour change play a critical role in preventing and reversing these conditions.
It does not have to be one or the other. Together, lifestyle changes and medications can create lasting results.