How does the "Skinny Injection" relate to neurological conditions- like Chronic Fatigue, Long Covid?

How Non Medical Interventions can work more effectively than medicine for chronic conditions, including obesity, chronic fatigue, pain or long covid.

What does the “ skinny injection”, that is sweeping the world, have to do with chronic fatigue syndrome, Long Covid or any chronic neurological condition? Answer: It highlights the debate about Medical vs Non Medical interventions for chronic conditions and demonstrates
that a 'quick fix’ drug isn’t always the answer.

The “skinny” injection has been created for chronic obesity and works by mimicking the effects of a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) which regulates appetite and food intake. As with any medication, the injection also comes with many adverse side effects, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, gastroesophageal reflux, pancreatitis and bowel obstruction.

People report that as soon as they had the injection they stopped thinking about food for the first time in years. This is fascinating because the hormone literally changes our thinking. Without the suppressant they think of food all day; without GLP-1 their minds are filled with thoughts of food and then they reach for the cake, crisps or other tummy fillers.(4th July Nicky Campbell BBC Live 5).The injection releases the hormone and suppresses appetite, stops us thinking of food then reaching for food; people feel satiated and therefore they stop eating so much and lose substantial amounts of weight. This is great until they have to come off the drug; then people regain 66% of the weight loss within the first year of discontinuing the injection. (Wilding et al 2022).

Prof Neal Barnard of the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington DC, and president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, said research suggests a good diet can stimulate GLP-1 secretion, and help control appetite, without the side effects or cost of medicines. He said: “Research has shown that by choosing foods correctly, you will boost your GLP-1 naturally without an injection. The low energy density of plant-derived foods means that satiety ( feeling full up) is achieved with relatively few calories. These include fruit, vegetables, grain and legumes” ( December 2nd 2023 in American Journal of Medicine). When you eat these foods, your digestive system breaks them down into short-chain fatty acids. These fatty acids then signal to special cells in your pancreas to release the GLP-1 hormone. (Dr Ashwin Sharma, Med Express May 13th 2024).

This means, when we change our lifestyle we automatically change the hormones in our body and trigger the appetite suppressor, Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), naturally. We can change the physiology of our own bodies by consciously making healthy choices. Rather than rely on medicine and injections that can only be prescribed short term due to health risks, we can use Non Medical Intervention, safely and far more effectively.

The Medicine versus Non Medical debate rages in the world of chronic conditions; the medical model plies us with drugs to manage pain, sleep, symptoms and anxiety whilst the lifestyle model focuses on educating and empowering people to make physical changes by making healthy choices. It is retraining the brain and the body to work healthy functions again. We are born with the healthy functions, life sends us off track and then we need to relearn how to fire off the healthy functions that we are meant to use. Advocates of the medical model, such as Action for M.E, M.E Association and many Long Covid campaigners are fighting for recognition that the condition is medical and they campaign for a “miracle” medical cure. Well, the “skinny” injection seems like a miracle but of course it is only part of the solution.

Non Medical intervention / Lifestyle Medicine is supported in the new framework by Royal College of General Practitioners (05 April 2024) for GPs. They recognise that medicine is not sufficient for long term chronic conditions; we need alternative solutions, we need to change our own hormones by changing how the brain and the body are functioning. Diet, restorative sleep, activity, our response to stressors including the chronic condition itself, are essential requirements for having a healthy body.

We need to break the negative body brain feedback loop; the appetite suppressor broke the loop between our thinking, our reaction to food and our physical weight. For chronic conditions like chronic fatigue, long covid, burnout and dysautonomia we need to break the loop between the neurological, autonomic system chemicals (ANS) and physical symptoms. We need to reset to the healthy functioning mode, our healthy relaxed vagal system, using lifestyle resources that enable rest, digest, and healing.

Like Lifestyle Medicine, the Reset to Thrive training programme (which has lifetime access), teaches people how to safely use their bodies, how to approach their symptoms, setbacks, rest and shutdown, so they feel safe. It is not just retraining neural pathways to fire off chemicals appropriately, it is body retraining. It teaches you how to reset the autonomic system so that we trigger the healthy vagal system which enables rest, digest, restore and heal. When we are in any stress reponse, whether physically, emotionally, socially or mentally we are not allowing the body to function properly and experience chronic conditions. With chronic obesity the pancreas was not getting the signals from the fatty acids produced by healthy plant based fibre food and the natural process releasing the appetite suppressing hormone became dysfunctional. Any dysautonomic condition menas the body has dysregulated but we can regulate it naturally again. The body is brilliant at correcting itself when we do the right things.

Medicine is wonderful, lifesaving and essential- we would be lost without it. However, for chronic conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic pain, long covid, dysautonomia and burnout, medicine is not a wonder cure and even GPs are now asking to be trained in Lifestyle medicines to better help their patients.

So, you can wait for a miracle cure or you can become fascinated by how we can literally help ourselves by changing how we respond to triggers, symptoms, setbacks, activity, exertion, rest and diet.

The more I hear about the “skinny” injection the more it feels like so many people are desperate for a cure. Of course medicine is a ‘quick fix’ and easier but sometimes we need to dig deep, gradually change old habits, be resilient and kind to ourselves during the ups and downs of retraining, in order to get the long term permanent results we so crave. The body functions didn't dysregulate overnight and so it would be reasonable that to get the balance back we will need to be consistent over time. Chronic means longterm so to reverse it we will be patient and step by step retrain the body to do what it was designed to do in a healthy environment.

Ref https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(23)00736-2/fulltext

Ref Wilding JPHBatterham RLDavies Met al.

Weight regain and cardiometabolic effects after withdrawal of semaglutide: the STEP 1 trial extension.

Diabetes Obes Metab. 2022; 24: 1553-1564

https://www.medexpress.co.uk/h....

https://www.rcgp.org.uk/your-c...

Categories: : Neurological Retraining and Treatments.