The Gila monster is native to my home state of Arizona. They might be found in parts of Utah, Colorado and New Mexico too given the similar terrain. They are kind of rare, I have encountered them only twice in my 26 years living in Arizona.
We were taught they were venomous, but they have to chew on you. They are slow creatures and don't have fangs and aren't known for being aggressive to humans. I didn't know they are the origin of these weight loss drugs until now.
I had a neighbor in Carlsbad California who told me he took a diabetes drug made from lizard spit, and I immediately laughed, then caught myself. He was known for having severe anger outbursts especially if you parked behind his garage door and he couldn't get his Cadillac out. I don't know if the anger issue was related to the drug or not. I suspect that was more a personality issue.
-Terran
PS: The long term use of these drugs have already made some Hollywood personalities look like they didn't get their adrenochrome or are on meth. You lose fat AND lean body mass on these drugs and some suspect that includes brain tissue. Being healthy is more than just body mass index rating.
Mike Adams – Natural News June 9, 2024According to a Newsweek poll published in May, 2024, there are now 15.5 million Americans who have used or are using Ozempic, Wegovy or Saxenda, all of which are injectable “weight loss medications” that actually consists of synthesized peptides originally patterned from the venom of the
Gila Monster reptile. See, “We wouldn’t have Ozempic without Gila monsters — their hunger-regulating venom inspired weight-loss drugs” from
BusinessInsider.com which states:
Gila monsters’ venom has a compound in it that can regulate hunger. It’s similar to a hormone people produce in our intestines — but the lizard version is longer-acting. The find led to the development of a new class of obesity and diabetes drugs, including Ozempic.
These drugs achieve their weight loss results by paralyzing the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is the longest and single most important nerve in the human body, originating in the brain and attaching to many major organs in the body to coordinate organ stimuli for proper organ function such as digestion, circulation, respiration, cognitive function and more. The reason these reptile venom drugs make people lose weight is because they interfere with hunger signals which are communicated from the brain to the digestive system, including the stomach.