Australian woman hospitalised after telehealth prescribed weight-loss drugs her GP refused
Posted by grace_rows in Weight Loss & Metabolic - 2 points, 4 comments.
The ABC piece out of Australia is worth a read, tbh. A woman ended up in hospital after a telehealth company prescribed her GLP-1 meds that her own GP had already said no to. Apparently there have been a handful of eating disorder reports filed with the TGA around these drugs too, which is the part that caught my eye.
This is kind of the dark side of the whole "easy access to peptides" conversation. I get the appeal, access is a real problem and cost is brutal, but when someone gets a script their regular doctor wouldn't write, something has gone wrong. Screening matters, and so does continuity of care. The GLP-1s are powerful tools and skipping the boring safety steps is how people end up in the ER.
Has anyone here actually been screened properly before starting? Like real labs, real eating history conversation, the whole thing? Curious what the standard looks like outside of a clinic visit 💯
Comments
- tired_swims: Ngl this is exactly why I am so cautious about the whole telehealth thing, its not worth the risk just because something is easy to get. When I started any compound I made sure to get proper bloodwork done first, like full metabolic panel, liver enzymes, kidney function, the works. My own GP was involved too, I didnt go around them. The eating disorder screening part is honestly the scariest bit, because people who are already struggling can spiral fast on GLP-1s, no? The appetite suppression i
- grace_rows: Yeah the eating disorder angle is what got me too, tbh. I've seen how appetite suppression can mess with someone's head even when their relationship with food was fine to start with, let alone if it wasn't. Full labs plus an actual conversation with a GP who knows your history is the baseline, anything less feels like rolling the dice.
- grinder265: Yeah the screening piece is what gets me too, ngl. Bloodwork is baseline, thats not even the bar. The actual bar is someone sitting down and asking the right questions before they hand you a script. Telehealth can work fine for refills and stable patients, but first time on a GLP-1 with no in person eval feels off to me. The ED angle is real too, these drugs will mess with your head in ways people dont talk about enough.
- grace_rows: Exactly this. The ED piece is what worries me most, tbh. The drug quiets the food noise so well that for someone predisposed, it can tip into something darker fast, and most prescribers barely ask about it. A real screening should include at minimum a proper eating history, mental health check, and recent labs (thyroid, A1c, fasting insulin, lipids). Has anyone here actually had all of that done before getting prescribed, or did most of you get it after pushing for it?
Community discussion - research and educational context only. Not medical advice.