podcast<\/a> that GLP-1 drugs appear to amplify satiety signals while also modulating dopamine pathways. This potentially dampens reward responses linked to food but also other substances and experiences.<\/p>\nLin described GLP-1s as a kind of pleasure knob, turning down reward signals across systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now we have a big volume knob on your stereo \u2014 it turns down everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
This feature could have some positive applications, such as treating addiction.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, cocaine works by increasing dopamine by a lot,\u201d Lin said on the podcast. \u201c[I]f you\u2019re taking a GLP-1, then that dopamine is cleared away very quickly, so there\u2019s less reward, so you\u2019re less interested in cocaine, and that means less cocaine addiction.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But White also notes the drugs may need to be fine tuned over time. \u201cIn the future, we might have a few little knobs that you can adjust,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want [GLP\u20111s] to affect someone\u2019s experience of childbirth, or their ability to \u2026 fall in love, or to maintain peer connections, or to \u2026 be excited about learning something new or watching their favorite band,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Coping mechanisms<\/p>\n
Hunt\u2019s chronic nausea and reduced ability to eat has affected his mood and presence at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m anxious, and \u2026 that makes me less present in being a parent and a supportive partner,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kiddo\u2019s crying, and I need to calm down his crying. But also I\u2019m like, \u2018I need to eat, I need to take care of this, I need to do this. And everything would just get cycling,\u2019\u201d he said, noting he is supposed to eat about 3,300 calories a day, but Wegovy makes this difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not that I\u2019m building resentment for my child. It\u2019s that I\u2019m worrying about building resentment for my child. And that takes away from the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
White says that when GLP-1s blunt the reward response to food, patients can feel as though a key emotional regulator has been removed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf someone experiences a lot of reward from food \u2026 and all of a sudden they don\u2019t have that reward available anymore \u2026 then they will experience [their negative] emotions more fully,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only will they experience the negative [emotions] more fully, they will also have blunted positive emotion[s].\u201d<\/p>\n
She adds that this effect can be destabilizing for some patients, especially for patients with histories of substance use or trauma, where food or drugs can be a coping mechanism.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people are very reliant day-to-day on food for their joy \u2026 we take away a really, really important regulatory mechanism,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Emotional journey<\/p>\n
Dr. Stephen Glazer, an obesity medicine specialist and medical director of the bariatric medical and surgical program at Humber River Hospital in Toronto, cautions against over-interpreting reports of mood or personality change due to GLP-1s. Obesity is itself an emotionally complex disease, he notes.<\/p>\n
\u201cObesity is a chronic disease. It\u2019s unremitting, relapsing, challenging and emotionally draining,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He adds that changes in appetite and food pleasure may reflect multiple overlapping factors, including nausea and early satiety.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it possible that interest in food and pleasure is diminished? Yes \u2026 maybe [eating becomes] more mechanical than emotional,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who are chronically nauseous \u2026 may have depressed moods \u2014 not necessarily depression. When someone\u2019s chronically nauseous \u2026 nothing is going to be good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Glazer says these experiences warrant attention rather than dismissal. \u201cWe need to continue to explore and investigate and listen to our patients,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
White agrees. She cautions against treating negative symptoms as a reason to abandon therapy, arguing for more individualized dosing and monitoring. \u201cThe only way to do that is to be really thoughtful about your dosing strategy \u2026 and to get continuous feedback,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Hunt has not dropped much weight while on Wegovy, and has been unsettled by the experience. But has not given up on the drug yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI still think that I\u2019m optimistic for what the medication is going to do for me,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m hoping I\u2019ve weathered the storm, and that it\u2019s only up from here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated Posts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Read: 4 min Dan Hunt, 35, of Barrie, Ont., began taking the weight loss drug Wegovy in March…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[49,48,1849,2971,84,377,87365],"class_list":["post-643542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-consumer","tag-drugs","tag-health","tag-medication","tag-pressreader"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}