Dr. Aaron Hartman, who has used GLP-1 medications clinically for nearly 18 years, argues they are powerful anti-inflammatory drugs with heart and nerve protection. But mass marketing and careless prescribing have caused serious side effects like gastric obstruction, vomiting, and gallbladder problems, especially in patients with certain conditions. He recommends addressing diet, sleep, and microbiome issues first.
Questions this video answers
Around 2005.
About 2006 (~18–19 years of experience).
8 to 16 milligrams, twice a day.
Chapters
Are GLP1 medications going to kill us all? Are the new Onglyza weight loss drugs? Are these, are these that bad for us? You've probably heard on the news and media people getting gastric obstructions, a whole host of things. So I want to talk about that a little bit. Just because they become really popular. I was actually at the gym this morning, running at the treadmill and saw a whole, I think it was Good Morning Today or something like that. It was all about GLP1s probiotics, supplements, the medications. I think it's just a lot of bad information out there. So I want to talk about that briefly right now. What's my perspective on the very first GLP1 by ADA came out in 2005. I personally was using them in my practice for diabetics shortly thereafter in 2006. I've actually done clinical research on different ones in my, in my clinical research company. So I've been using this drug since, you know, whatever the math on that is. 10, 15, 20 years, a long, long time. And so I have a lot of clinical experience both on the real side and the research side. I think the major issue is these have become very, very popular because there's been direct consumer advertising and a lot of people are using it inappropriately. They shouldn't be using it in the first place. And that's the reason why we're hearing about all these bad, bad things. But there's two sides of the coin. There's also this whole idea of the medical industry. And right now the American Pediatric association has now recognized weight loss. It's a big issue in kids. Like almost half of our kids in the country are obese. And they're now recommending on Glyza GLP1 medications to be used in kids obese, 12, 13, 14 year olds. They're not recommending these kids to stop being soda and Coke. They're not recommending schools to remove vendors, gumball machines, whatever they have in schools these days. They're recommending a medication. So there's a lot of weird interests, political interests, economic interests on Gleiser, which is made by a Swiss Swedish company I believe is probably going to be one of the hottest drugs in the world here very shortly, if not already. They're making lots of money. So there's a lot of issues like that with it. But the reality is these medications can be very helpful. There's research with GLP1s as anti inflammatories for the brain and Alzheimer's stuff as neuroprotective. Protective. They are actually FDA approved to protect your heart. They actually, if you have a coronary risk equivalent, which is like having heart attacks. So if you're a diabetic or if you have three risk equivalents like blood pressure cholesterol, obesity or blood pressure cholesterol, another third, rheumatoid arthritis, something like that, that's considered a coronary risk equivalent. You can actually use these medications to protect your heart. So they actually have a lot of anti inflammatory effects. I've actually had some of my hormone patients with weight loss issues, hormone issues who've used GLP1s in the right environment had massive impacts on their overall systemic inflammation because ultimately these drugs affect inflammation. The thing about that, that gets kind of tricky is because you can now get these through the mail and they'll be given to people. A lot of patients with dysautonomia, patients with pots, patients with hypermobility, patients with chronic constipation, with dysbiosis and gut issues, and they're given indiscriminately. These patients. Now you're seeing gastric obstruction, you're seeing a whole host of things. I will say my clinical career of using this, having thousands of patients use this drug since again about 2006 to now, which again, 15, 16 and 19 years. Yeah, about 19 years. I've had three patients with significant side effects. One was actually projectile vomiting, they just vomited for a week straight. One person had really horrible anxiety hit them and one person with a little bit of obstruction, they stopped it and went away. But these people were being watched closely by me. They were actually very complicated patients. And my other patients, I've not seen that because you start low, you go slow, you're very cautious. So I think the thing about it is that because these become so popular because a lot of people are indiscriminately getting them. If you have weight issues, need to lose weight, going right to GLP1 is not the right thing. Why are you overweight? What's your metabolic? Obesity? Is it primarily calories in, calories out kind of thing? If it is, diet is huge. Are you inflamed? Do you have food allergies driving your weight? You probably need to do an elimination diet. Are you actually. Do you have autoimmune issues? That's where lotus naltrexone can be very powerful. Oh, by the way, naltrexone is now FDA approved in a drug called Contrave for weight loss. And the dose for that is 8 to 16 milligrams, twice a day. Why are you overweight? Do you actually have a thyroid issue? Are you getting a full thyroid panel? Do you have adrenal issue? Do you have insulin resistance? If you have insulin resistance, your A1C is up a little bit. Fasting insulin's up, having a metabolic approach is huge. Do you have dysbiosis in your gut? Microbiome issue? Then all of a sudden, working on your microbiome with antimicrobial herbs, anti inflammatories, using polyphenols, which are plant chemicals that feed healthy bacteria. Which is where the GLP1 supplements come into play, actually through Pendulum, where they're giving either GLP1, like Akkermansia, making probiotics, or they're giving you the prebiotic fiber, which is in the form of bayberry, blueberry, cranberry, grapeseed extract. What kind of obesity do you have? And I think where people are indiscriminately being given these drugs who have undiagnosed dysautonomia, which is ridiculously uncommon, undiagnosed mast cell, undiagnosed adrenal issues or cortisol issues, a lot of people have certain degrees of dysautonomia and they have slow gastric emptying. And this drug can absolutely, positively worsen that. If you've ever had gallbladder issues, this drug could absolutely worse than that. So I think the issue here is mass marketing in a world where weight loss is big business, being fed by the government direct to consumer advertising, and people can get these things online now. It's a toxic brew for having the side effects we're seeing right now. So, again, I've been using the drug since 2006 by his first one came in 2005. I think these are the major issues we're having with this drug class. This is the reason why we're seeing this drug kill people. We're seeing people have horrible side effects. We're seeing people have intestinal obstruction. You know, one of my patients was like, oh, they saw online someone's, you know, I think they said their pancreas or spleen exploded or whatever. It didn't. It's probably a hollow organ, not a solid organ issue. But ultimately, this is an issue of inappropriate, you know, first and foremost, do no harm. If the use of the medication doesn't outweigh the risk of it, you don't use it. But that's where having them used by the appropriate practitioner in the appropriate environment and not indiscriminately prescribing these things. So are GLP1 drugs killing people in the wrong hands, using the wrong time, the wrong places, yes, but using the right hands, the right place, in the right time. These are very powerful anti inflammatory drugs. These are actually peptides for those of you familiar with peptides that actually can help preserve heart function, can actually improve insulin numbers, can actually be used to help neuroprotect, and if you have hormone issues with inflammation, these can actually help with that as well. So I just want to put this out there, especially since in the gym this morning I saw that thing on Good Morning America. It's kind of bizarre to be honest with you. Too bad I couldn't hear, I was too busy running. But hopefully this information is helpful. I'd love to hear yalls comments and questions. You know, sometimes people have different opinions, which is always good to hear. Sharing opinions is good. Differing on things is good. We should have more discussion. And hopefully this was helpful. For everybody who has questions about GLP1s and what the big noise. I still use them. I still use GLP1 stimulating supplements, things that have these polyphenols, the particular kinds of probiotics. But if you're not getting enough fiber in your diet, you gotta start there. If you have a horrible diet, you need to start there. If you're not exercising, you start there. If your sleep is horrible, start there. If you have high cortisol, start there. You start where your root cause is and not jump and skip, you know, seven, eight, ten steps downstream. That's where people get in trouble and that's where people having problems called. So hope this is helpful. Y' all take care. Talk to you soon.
