United States: In almost all cases of prescribing weight-loss medicines, the situation has changed recently, especially when it comes to girls who want to reduce the risk of problems connected with pregnancy.
Dr. Ilana Ramer Bass, an assistant professor in the division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at Mount Sinai Morningside and West in New York, said, “Obesity and being overweight are definitely risk factors for multiple adverse outcomes in pregnancy.” She also heads the Main Sinai Morningside Weight Loss Program, which she developed at its inception.
Risks related to the condition
The risk factors associated with these conditions are early spontaneous miscarriages, congenital abnormalities, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and cardiac dysfunction.
Besides that, pregnancy with maternal obesity can make labor problems and healing after delivery harder, as Bass noted.
She added, “We do try to have people enter pregnancy at a healthier weight, and so having these medications gives us a tool to allow women to lose weight prior to conceiving,” as CBS News reported.
What are the governmental agencies’ recommendations?
The FDA considers the use of such drugs during pregnancy to be potentially harmful and does not recommend using them before or after conceiving. Also, there is a lack of data regarding whether such medications would work after pregnancy.
Some of the known drugs, such as Ozempic and Mounjaro, were initially designed to help diabetics in their struggle with managing their blood sugar. Wegovy and Zepbound are the other two drugs that are on the market with the main goal of controlling one’s weight.
According to the most recent CDC statements, more than 4 out of 10 adults in the U.S. are listed as being overweight, which is a real issue.
When the drugs are used, patients might have side effects despite their efficiency. Patients usually experience vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, and constipation, among many others.
When should women stop using weight-loss drugs?
Bass instructed patients to discontinue the use of weight-loss medications at least two months before starting pre-conceptual care. That turns on a kind of “washout period” when the medications are put out of the body. If a woman by accident takes a weight loss drug being pregnant, it is recommended to her to go off the drug immediately.
While weight-loss medications can be effective for those who fit the description for their purposes, the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, makers of Mounjaro, have released newspaper advertisements aimed a those who use them for “vanity”, as CBS News reported.
Bass also mentioned, “I think these medications need to be used by the people who actually benefit from them,” and “there’s clearly a benefit for people who have obesity, or who have type 2 diabetes, and they should be used for those people.”