What has worked for you to clean off the adhesive that the patches leave behind? My stomach always looks bizarre from all the traces of the rims where patches were. I have tried various soaps and washcloths but nothing has worked well so far.
While I don’t think Brad Lander goes far enough in his views on Israel (he’s still a liberal Zionist), several points he makes in this letter are really spot on and it was powerful to see them articulated in the ways he did.
Hi I am postmenopausal and am on HRT. I went on a GLP-1 almost a year ago and lost 50 lbs since going on it. Although that has helped my health overall, the weight loss apparently caused some of my menopause symptoms to return. When I looked into it, it appears this is common with significant weight loss because at this stage of life the body attempts to store estrogen in one's fat so if you lose a lot of fat, it's basically like your estrogen dropped. I'm finding that my gynecologist, who even is NAMS-certified, has been incredibly slow to agree to treat my symptoms with an increase in estrogen, even though the specific symptoms I'm having are tied to estrogen specifically, based on everything I've researched. The provider also told me she doesn't know anything about GLP-1s, and it was only when I directly said well wouldn't a big weight loss affect estrogen levels, that she reluctantly agreed I could go up in dose. I have been having frequent periods of waking up in the night, night sweats, waking up way too early in the morning, and easy weepiness. Since going up in estrogen dosage (finally) I am seeing improvements, but this whole experience left me feeling like going forward I would like to have my care be with someone who is more up to date. I'm not sure where to go. I am open to telehealth practices that specialize in menopause care, if necessary, and/or paying out of pocket if I have to. I need someone who is up to date on these nuances and is dialed in and interested in them, someone who isn't working off of old information and thinks it's "good enough." I want to maximize my quality of life and my health while I can and I want to sleep better. I would appreciate any suggestions of where to go.
I am 59 and have been in HRT for about four years now. I went on after menopause due to poor sleep, joint pain, hair loss, and weight gain. It helped me with the first two symptoms. I started at .05 mg and after pushing my gynecologist very hard eventually she agreed I could bump up to .075 mg to see if I got more relief. It did help me even more with symptoms 1 and 2 though not the other two. A year ago I went on a glp one and lost 50 lbs. Once I had lost about 15 percent of my starting weight I started having bad sleep again, especially waking up a lot and too early for the day. I also started getting frequent UTIs which was not typical for me. I went to a urologist who had me increase the frequency of my estrogen vaginal cream and that has helped. The sleep has continued to be a problem. I went back to my gynecologist asking to be put on .1 mg and got a lot of pushback. She kept saying, that’s the maximum dose, I don’t like to do that. She doubled my progesterone from 100 to 200 which didn’t really help since my issue is not falling asleep, it’s staying asleep and not waking up too early. I went back and said look I have lost 50 lbs, that must be affecting my estrogen, I really want to go up. She offered me to switch to daily gel and stay at my current dose. I said I didn’t want to do that because I had read it can make your mood fluctuate and I have a history of depression so I don’t want to risk being less stable. At that point she finally relented and let me go up to .1 mg but it was such a fight. When I read this sub it seems like there are people whose drs have them to .1 mg or higher without a fight. Are these online drs? Is my dr out of the norm? It’s been really frustrating, I feel like I’m asking her for heroin. 😂 everything I’ve read about my sleep pattern suggests it deteriorated due to weight loss and I needed more estrogen not more progesterone. She is certified with the North American menopause society, I was hoping for more enlightened care, unless I’m wrong and it’s really hard to convince a dr to increase your dose.
Hi I have been using Bevel Pro for about six to eight months now and I credit it with helping me to improve my health in numerous ways. Since upgrading to 3.0 the AI has been really problematic, in ways it wasn't before. It is constantly making mistakes in conversations with me, despite my correcting it and doing the thumbs down feedback Bevel staff have requested and marking the reason as "factually inaccurate." The thing it does the most is pulls data from the wrong day; it often gives me a summary or advice based on the last 24 hours that are from two days prior. I have corrected it many times now. This morning I caught it again and it apologized for being "sloppy" and said it will doublecheck each piece of data before writing me back. This makes me wonder what it was doing before? It "promised" me this morning to "do better" - to verify everything carefully before responding to me. Time will tell if this will make a difference.
I feel really grateful to Bevel for helping me understand and get on top of multiple health issues (I am a post-menopausal woman on a GLP-1 and HRT, with sleep apnea, so I have had a lot going on). Since it upgraded to 3.0 though I see a marked deterioration in the quality of the AI. I know I am not the only one who has written about this and I do not see it improving in the past few weeks.
I am starting to get really annoyed. I trust it much less to give me accurate feedback. I know I am not the only one. I am wondering if Bevel staff should consider postponing the pricing increase or extending its term or something like that while you guys work out the kinks in the system. I think you are going to alienate and lose a lot of people who would like to keep using your app's Pro version, if you can't get this under control fast and you are charging for it. It erodes good will and trust and word of mouth will become that "Bevel's AI sucks." I think that would be harder for you to undo from a PR and business standpoint than giving people more generous terms for a while while you figure this out.
I hope you will consider my suggestion. I was so frustrated this morning I really considered canceling, and I've been very loyal and patient through a lot of changes and glitches.
Someone I know at the Yiddish Book Center compiled this amazing resource that is publicly accessible. Tons of information about the Bund including oral history from many of the people involved. Enjoy!
I belatedly read Ta-Nehisi Coates' book The Message this week, that came out in 2024. I can understand why this book caused such an uproar in the mainstream Western media, including Zionist Tony Doukopil's hysterical and tone deaf statement to Coates on his show that Coates' book could be found in the backpack of a Middle Eastern terrorist and his attempt to whitesplain/dismiss Coates’ references to apartheid and Jim Crow. The book is not entirely about Palestine, but Coates' trip to Palestine comprises the largest portion of it, and is one of the most powerful things I have ever read by an American author. He manages not only to express the many ways in which the oppression in Palestine is horrific, but also weave it through various lenses including his own identity as an African-American, the history of American imperialism, Jewish history of persecution and statelessness in Eastern Europe, the exploitation by Western powers and Zionists alike of Jewish victimization and need for safety, the way that archaeology, history, statues, memorials, and museums can be used to weaponize and distort our understanding of truth, what it's like to realize you are living in the middle of the rot of Empire and are complicit, how the Palestinian struggle is both tragic in its own right and completely tied up in what is wrong with our whole system, how the Western media obscures Palestine and Palestinian voices, and on and on. He realizes that an article he wrote several years ago uncritically accepted liberal Zionist narratives about Israel and that he was quite wrong and he talks frankly about trying to make reparations for that. I believe Noura Erakat was the person who started to set him straight. There are some parts of the book I found a bit meandering etc. but the part on Palestine is one of the most honest, bracing, thought-provoking things I have ever read by an American. I really urge everyone to read it.
Hi I will start by saying I understand AI isn’t perfect and also that Bevel AI has helped me troubleshoot at least three or four different issues related to menopause and/or GLP-1s that my doctors couldn’t get a handle on. So I’m really appreciative.
However since upgrading to 3.0 I notice it making way more errors. It routinely thinks I’ve made a change in treatment we only discussed as possible, it is regularly wrong about how long I’ve been on various dosages of meds even though I inform it, it brings up old meds I used to take that it has been informed I have stopped taking, and so on. When I correct it it says it makes a change, but often it comes up again. I’m wondering if the developers are aware of these issues and are working to reduce them?
I got diagnosed with mild sleep apnea yesterday. I’m post menopausal and have never been a great sleeper but it’s gotten worse despite HRT etc. Since I was never tested before last month, I don’t know how long I have had it. I’ve lost almost 50 lbs and of course have less inflammation on tirz so it is likely my sleep apnea used to be worse. While I am bummed to get this diagnosis, I am someone who started out on zepbound as my insurance covered it for obesity. After my first few months on it last year, my insurance stopped covering it for weight loss and so I went to compound. I was thinking yesterday well maybe I can get it covered again since my insurance covers it for sleep apnea. Well guess what, earlier this year apparently they decided to stop covering it for apnea too. How is it legal to just decide as an insurance company you’re not going to cover effective treatments for diseases and disorders that cause major health complications? This is rhetorical question, it’s more just a vent that our healthcare system is so broken. Also the sleep dr who is perfectly nice told me I really should be on Lilly direct because you can’t feel confident in what you’re getting from compounding pharmacies. I told him I use a reputable telehealth (BEWL) and all of that and I cannot afford Lilly direct and refuse to be off this med. I wish the compounding situation didn’t create worry every few months about continued access. I’m happy to have a reasonable option for myself financially and I like having control over my dosing. Anyway, it is just another example of how screwed up our system is. I’m lucky I make enough that I can even buy compound.
Long ago I stopped wearing skirts and dresses because I didn’t like how they looked on me or felt. We are having a heat wave, out of desperation I went through my closet and found some dresses from many years back. I have lost over 45 lbs since I started on tirz last summer. I put one on and it fits and looks fine. I’ve been wearing it all day. After a few hours I realized I HAVE NO CHUB RUB. Oh my God. 😍
How quickly j street became Hamas 😂
I am approaching 52 weeks on this medication. I started on Zepbound but my insurance dropped coverage after a few months so I switched to compound. I am 59, female, 5'5". Started at 227 lbs, currently I am at 180. A couple of things are coming up for me lately that I'd love some input on. These largely have to do with thinking about how I want to "use up" the rest of my runway. I just titrated up to 10 mg a week ago, from 9 mg.
Since I got to 15% total body weight loss (so about 192 lbs or so) my weight loss has really slowed down. For a long time I was losing 1-2 lbs a week. Since I got to 15% it's been more like 0-1 lbs a week and sometimes I will gain. I have read stuff about how as you get closer to goal weight the rate of weight loss really slows down so I am not that worried about it. But I have also read speculation that the medication loses its power to help you lose weight after you have been on it for about a year to a year and a half. I can't tell from what I have read (and maybe that is because no one knows) whether this is because your body fights harder to keep weight on at that point since you have already lost a lot, your body acclimates so much to the medication itself, and/or there is just some time window after which the medication doesn't do that much for you anymore in terms of losing. Does anyone know anything about this question? It would help to inform how I want to approach the rest of the weight loss part of my journey (as opposed to the maintenance part). Like, if I'm not going to lose much more after another few months, then I would want to bump up my doses more aggressively now.
My second question is, have there been any studies or discussion about whether going up by 1 or 1.5 mgs at a time is "better" or "worse" for you in terms of how quickly your body acclimates to the new dose, than going up by 2.5 mg at a time, and what the new dose does for you. I understand going up in smaller increments from an attempt to avoid side effects and also if you don't want to get to 15 mg "too" fast (I know different people feel differently about this). After initially going from 2.5 mg for two months right to 5 mg for almost four months, I have gone up by 1-1.5 mg each time, which has largely meant I have had very few side effects and I seem to get a return of some appetite reduction, some satiety, and so on. I can stay on the new dose for usually about 2-2.5 months before I start feeling like it's time to move up again due to starting to feel ravenous and not satiated again. I don't really get much food noise and never have, my problem before tirzepatide always was feeling like I cannot get full or stay full.
By way of background - I exercise (including some strength training) or at least take a significant walk every day, I track what I am eating and try to do TDEE minus 500 calories/day, and I am diligent with protein, fiber, and water. I am not sure where I want to be for goal weight, I'm thinking maybe 160 or so, as the recommended weights for women after menopause tend to be a bit higher and I want to be in a range that is sustainable for me long term. I don't feel like I am in a rush to get there, but if I am reaching a point where I'm going to be running out of time from the point of view that some window on this medication will close for me in a few more months based on some absolute duration of use or by just going up in small amounts, I want to get ahead of that and change my game plan.
Thanks for any thoughts or advice.
I love Bevel but find the nutrition part of it cumbersome and lacking. I use Cronometer and have for quite some time now.
I am wondering if it is possible to take my daily record of nutrition from Cronometer and feed it to Bevel AI as a way to “track” my food in Bevel without entering it directly into Bevel or having Bevel just guess off of Apple Health?
An excellent article by a Palestinian - from a clinical and ethical perspective this recruitment of psychology in Israel to reframe the fallout soldiers feel from participating in war crimes and genocide is really insidious, maddening, and disturbing. When a society launders and DARVOs its actions and constantly reframes the aggressors and the victims, in this case using the imprimatur of clinical terms and treatment, it only entrenches that society's warped understanding of its own choices and narrative further.
Excellent review of Molly Crabapple’s new book on the Bund.
Hi I am wondering if those of you who were already on HRT for menopause symptoms notice any increase in those symptoms once you started losing weight on a GLP-1. I am asking because it is known that as we age, our bodies use fat to provide us with the decreased amount of estrogen we have. As I started to lose significant weight on Zep, despite all the great benefits to my health, I began getting UTIs pretty frequently, which is unusual for me. I am currently on .075 mg estradiol patch, 100 mg progesterone, and I also use topical estradiol vaginally. I was using the vaginal cream twice a week but after some Googling I asked my gynecologist if I could use it every other day instead, which she said was fine and it seems to be helping. I also started taking a cranberry and D-mannose supplement which some people on the r/menopause subreddit recommended and that seems helpful too.
I am waiting to see a urologist for this, so hopefully will have some more answers soon, but I have wondered if there is something going on in terms of my possibly needing to increase the estrogen dosage that is part of my HRT, to help to compensate for having less circulating in my body due to fat loss. I have asked my PCP about this and also my gynecologist and it seems like they are not very up on how GLP-1s and/or significant fat loss can affect HRT, which is frustrating but not all that surprising. I appreciate any input and experience anyone can share if applicable.