September 25th, 2024 - My Semaglutide Journey

I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night. I wasn't hungry or thirsty. I was worried about needing to vomit. I wasn't even feeling nauseous. I was just worried that nausea would hit while I'm asleep, and I wouldn't make it to the bathroom fast enough. I also had in the back of my mind the notorious death of Bon Scott (lead vocalist for AC/DC) who choked on his own vomit in 1980. So I was nervous about nausea, though it never appeared.

I woke up this morning at around 10 AM after a night of tossing and turning. I didn't feel hungry even though it had been 19 hours since my last bite of food.

Breakfast: bowl of mixed vegetables, lightly salted, no oil or butter, no seasonings

Lunch: Chicken patty broiled in the air fryer 15 minutes each side (30 minutes total)

Dinner: Protein bar, Kroger brand, 190 kcals

Hydration: warm water in an insulated container that I could sip periodically.

I also had a 20 oz coffee, which I prepare with a small amount of boiling water, just enough to dissolve the Nescafe original instant coffee. I fill the rest of the 20 oz mug with unsweetened soymilk and heat it to taste. I put it in a vacuum insulated container and drink it over the course of an hour.

I have popcorn I can make if I start feeling a bit hungry, but I didn't make any today.

I learned more about how semaglutide works. It basically paralyzes the stomach muscles, so food hangs around in the stomach much longer than it normally would. It also suppresses the appetite, though I'm not sure of the specific mechanism. It doesn't paralyze the entire digestive tract, only the stomach, but it does slow the rest of it down. That means the bolus of food moves very slowly through the small and large intestines. Water is absorbed from the bolus as it travels through the system. The more dehydrated you are, the more aggressively the intestines will pull water from the bolus. So, if you don't have enough fiber and hydration, you could end up with bad constipation or even an intestinal blockage!

I also learned that the stomach has a special channel for water to flow through where it can be quickly absorbed into the bloodstream. That's why water quickly hydrates the body, whereas food has to sit around digesting, so blood sugar doesn't spike instantly after swallowing the food.

I also learned that fiber isn't just for keeping the bolus moving through the system. It also slows down sugar absorption from sugary foods, making sugar absorption into the blood stream more drawn out, leading to lower spikes in blood sugar. Because the blood sugar spikes are lower with fiber, your pancreas doesn't have to produce nearly as much insulin, and your body builds up less insulin resistance. Insulin resistance sounds good, but it isn't good. Insulin resistance is the cause of diabetes.

Today was actually a pretty good day. I probably ate less than 1000 kcals. I didn't feel hungry. Quite the opposite, my belly felt full. I didn't have a bowel movement today. I also didn't experience sulfur burps or gas, which is a common complaint by those taking semaglutide. I didn't experience any nausea. I did have slightly more brain fog than the background fog I live with since my brain injury.

I did have one moment of emotional struggle. I'm selling that awful tenant's belongings to recover the lost income and repair costs. I felt nothing selling her dressers and bookcase. But I decided to not sell the toys and toddler things. I donated them to a local battered women's shelter instead. The staff at the shelter eyed me with suspicion and insisted that I leave the donated items in the parking lot for later retrieval. I'm glad to be rid of those toys. Even though I don't particularly like kids, I'm human, so I don't want children going without. Why don't I like kids? Aside from the obvious (germs, smells, noise, chaos), gay men of my generation had to be very careful around kids so as to avoid ever being in a position where an accusation of misconduct could be made. I make it a general rule to stay away from kids, and I am only in their presence if the parents are there too. The excesses of the #metoo movement demonstrate my concerns are valid!

I only have a few things left to sell or haul off to the dump and I can close this chapter of the tenant from hell. The really shitty thing is, I could have avoided this whole thing had I not trusted the zillow background check. I always insisted on searching court records myself. But zillow said they do that for you. They didn't do a very good job. After all this crap started, I searched the state court records and found an eviction for this lunatic woman from 2009 in another county. I didn't make the same mistake with the new tenants.

I want to state unequivocally that no one pushed me to take this drug. I'm doing this for myself, on my own volition. My partner never asked me to go on the drug. And it certainly doesn't have anything to do with what that awful bigot tenant said about my body. I just don't want to die by 50. I certainly don't want my family and friends standing around saying that I ate myself to death. If I do die of a heart attack, I want to know that I fought hard against my eating disorder and didn't give up on life without a fight!

My Semaglutide Journey

Like most people, I gained weight during the COVID lockdowns. I had been going to the gym 3 times per week, but that stopped when SARS-COV-2 started spreading in my city. I've been on so many diets, and my BMI has fluctuated between 25 and 40. Over the last 20 years, I've gained and lost over a thousand pounds through diet, exercise, and various weight loss drugs and programs.

I'm a gay man in my mid 40's living in suburbia. All told, my life is pretty good. I have a partner who loves me and dog who adores me. We own our house outright and own two rental properties. I have surrounded myself with small-L liberals (not loony progressives or woke racists), and live in relative safety and comfort.

The last two years have been a bit rough though. I fell off a ladder and ended up with a pretty bad TBI (traumatic brain injury). I lost my job at a major tech firm because of the TBI. My mom (paternal aunt who raised me from 8 and adopted me at 16) died. Her impending death led me to find that she never really accepted me for being gay, and as a result, I was being given unequal treatment in the inheritance. I never wanted anything but love from her, but this was like a punch in the gut.

More recently, I had a tenant from hell who harassed me. Her boyfriend had cheated on her (with a female prostitute), but she somehow managed to convince herself that me and my partner were sleeping with him, and that we had all conspired to do various things to her. Needless to say, she has a few screws loose. She sent emails and text messages making awful comments about my body, and obscene remarks about what she thinks me and my partner do sexually. She signaled her intention to squat after her boyfriend moved out, despite the fact that she had already moved into another apartment in a neighboring city. She left some belongings in the house, consisting of a few dressers and toys belonging to her toddler. I finally got rid of her, but it took a massive toll on my mental and physical well-being. I got shingles and a cold sore from all the stress. I gained 30 pounds. The sad thing is, state law doesn't protect the landlord from a harassing tenant. If I had harassed her, the law would have protected her, but not when she harassed me.

My health deteriorated so much that I genuinely started to prepare for an early demise from health-related illness. My hope was a massive heart attack that would take me quickly, not leaving me a burden on my family.

The other day, I was just sitting in my car with my dog, and I realized how stupid it is to be preparing for an early death when I could fight for my life! I realized I didn't want to leave my partner grieving and my dog having lost her bestest human.

So, I called up a friend who runs a weight loss clinic and asked for help. I had a consultation, and received injectable semaglutide in the mail this afternoon. I also found a support group on Facebook, more on that later. If you're reading this, don't ask for advice on where to get semaglutide. My friend runs a very small clinic, and cannot handle any more patients.

I'll try to make daily posts, specifying how I feel, any side-effects, and what I'm doing to mitigate side-effects like nausea, constipation, dizziness, etc.