10/07/2026
LONG READ — but if you’re considering a GLP-1, currently taking one, or simply want to understand what these medications may actually do beyond the hot takes, misinformation, and assumptions people repeat online, this is worth a few minutes.
Most people hear names like semaglutide and tirzepatide and immediately think “weight-loss drugs.” That description isn’t exactly wrong, but it is increasingly incomplete.
These medications are not brand-new science. The New England Journal of Medicine published major cardiovascular-outcomes research involving semaglutide back in 2016, and GLP-1 medications as a class have been studied for even longer. Over the years, increasingly large clinical trials have looked beyond weight loss and blood sugar to examine their effects on cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, heart failure, sleep apnea, fatty liver disease, inflammation and overall metabolic health.
Some of what the research has demonstrated includes:
• Reduced risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke in certain high-risk patients
• Protection against progression of chronic kidney disease in people with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease
• Significant improvement in symptoms and physical limitations associated with obesity-related heart failure
• Major improvements in obstructive sleep apnea
• Improvements in fatty liver disease/MASH, including resolution of liver inflammation in many study participants
• Significant reductions in C-reactive protein (CRP), a commonly used marker of systemic inflammation
• Improvements in blood pressure, blood sugar, insulin resistance and other measures of metabolic health
One of the largest studies, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, included 17,604 adults with overweight or obesity and established cardiovascular disease who did NOT have diabetes. Semaglutide reduced the risk of cardiovascular death, nonfatal heart attack or nonfatal stroke by 20% compared with placebo.
And because sources matter: The New England Journal of Medicine is a peer-reviewed medical journal, not a weight-loss clinic, telehealth company, supplement company or marketing website. You can read the study yourself here: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2307563
Now, none of this means GLP-1 medications are appropriate for everyone. It does not mean they are risk-free, and it certainly does not mean they should be used to treat every condition associated with inflammation. But it does mean that reducing these medications to “a shot that makes you skinny” ignores a significant and growing body of medical research.
There is another part of this conversation that we think is just as important:
The medication is only part of the treatment. Who is managing it matters and appropriate GLP-1 management should involve more than filling out an online questionnaire and having medication shipped to your door. It means reviewing medical history, current medications, risk factors, goals, laboratory findings when appropriate, treatment response and potential side effects. It means deciding whether a GLP-1 is appropriate in the first place, selecting an appropriate medication, titrating thoughtfully, monitoring progress and recognizing when treatment needs to be adjusted—or stopped.
That is where experience matters. Along with being the owner of Get Tox'd, Leah is a Certified Family Nurse Practitioner with a background in family medicine and has been prescribing GLP-1 medications when medically appropriate since 2019. She was using these medications with patients years before GLP-1s became the phenomenon they are today.
At Get Tox’d, the goal isn’t simply to make the number on the scale fall as quickly as possible. We look at GLP-1 therapy as one tool that may help improve a patient’s overall metabolic health when it is medically appropriate, while providing the ongoing clinical guidance that prescription medication deserves.
Obesity itself is not simply a cosmetic problem. It is closely associated with cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, sleep apnea, fatty liver disease, kidney disease, systemic inflammation and numerous other health concerns. So when effective treatment improves more than someone’s weight, that shouldn’t necessarily be surprising.
The weight loss gets the headlines. What is happening inside the body may ultimately be the much bigger story.
If you’re considering a GLP-1, already taking one and feel like you’re essentially managing it yourself, or simply want to know whether this type of treatment makes sense for you, schedule a consultation with Leah at Get Tox’d right from our website at www.Get-Toxd.com .
We’ll talk about your health, your goals and whether GLP-1 therapy is actually appropriate for you—because access to the medication is one thing. Having an experienced medical provider guiding the process is another.
