Dr Ford Brewer - PrevMed

How to Lose Weight With Metformin & Naltrexone (Contrave) - How They Work, Safety, Risks

Episode Summary

As far as weight loss medications are concerned, metformin is usually the best first option for the majority of baby boomers with prediabetes or insulin resistance. There's also Saxenda and Contrave.

Episode Notes

Diet and exercise are obviously critical to weight loss. But is there a place for medications outside of weight loss clinics?  Yes. Overweight and obesity are major (and growing) causes of heart attack, stroke, and cancer. 

The easy assumption is that we get fat because we eat too much. But why is there so much weight gain as we get over 50 years old? Understanding this, most of us realize there are endocrine reasons for weight gain. But we often think only of behavior (lifestyle) in relation to treatment of weight gain. 

As far as medications are concerned, metformin is usually the best first option for the majority of baby boomers with prediabetes or insulin resistance. Saxenda is simply one of the new diabetes drugs; it's used to be Victoza (liraglutide) but renamed for weight loss. Naltrexone is most often given for alcohol and opiate addiction, but genetics do not favor naltrexone in many patients. However, naltrexone combined with buproprion (Wellbutrin) may be as successful in the form of Contrave.

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