Question

Like many people with ME I have put on quite a lot of weight and am now unflatteringly classified by my doctor as being obese. Weight-loss diets haven’t had much effect and having read all the publicity about these new weight-loss injections I would like to try one.

My GP says he cannot prescribe these injections. So it looks as though my only option is to use an online private medical service – which I’m reluctant to do having read about some of problems that people have had.

Are these injections safe to use if you have ME? And does the MEA have any feedback from people with ME who have been using them?

Answer

There are two weight-loss injections available. Wegovy (semaglutide), which is injected weekly, and Saxenda (liraglutide), which is injected daily. Both drugs produce weight-loss by having the same effect as a natural body hormone called incretin which targets areas in the brain that control appetite and food intake. So they make you feel less hungry and more likely to feel full after eating smaller amounts of food. The result can be a quite dramatic loss in weight!

At the moment, partly for reasons of cost and demand exceeding supply, these drugs can only be prescribed on the NHS by a specialist weight management service and not, as you say, by your GP.

And there are some fairly strict eligibility criteria – which are slightly different for both drugs. The basics being that you have to have a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or more, or have a BMI of 30 or more if you have another health condition associated with obesity. The BMI limit is slightly lower for people who are of Asian, Chinese, Middle Eastern or Afro-Caribbean origin.

Feedback to the MEA from people who have been prescribed weight-loss injections is limited. However, when we carried out an MEA Facebook survey in late 2024, most people who responded said that they had successfully lost weight and there were no major problems with side-effects.

Having said that, these drugs can cause side-effects, the most common ones being nausea and sometimes vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation and stomach pain. These side-effects tend to diminish over a period of weeks.

More serious side-effects are also being reported. These include pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas), gallstones and raised blood-sugar levels. So these are drugs that should only be prescribed after very careful consideration and then properly monitored – which is a potential problem if you are going to purchase them from an online medical service or pharmacy. It's also worth noting that these drugs are also very expensive to purchase.

• Further NHS information on obesity management and weight-loss injections

NOTE: It has been announced that in some cases the NHS will now be able to provide weight-loss injections: BBC: Strict rules as GPs start to prescribe weight loss jab Mounjaro

Please let us know if you are using, or have been using, a weight-loss injection.

See Also: Overweight – so clinic referral is refused, Treatment: Drugs and Weight Gain, ‘Clean food’, Overweight – so clinic referral is refused