How to Find a Quality GLP-1 Provider w/ Sabina Hemmi

Navigating the world of GLP-1 telehealth providers is overwhelming and most people have no reliable way to compare options before committing hundreds of dollars. Sabina Hemmi has been on a GLP-1 for over three years, lost 60 pounds, dealt with nearly every side effect in the book, and turned her frustration with the provider landscape into a full platform to help others avoid the confusion she went through. In this episode, she walks through what GLP Winner tracks and why — price breakdowns, compounding pharmacy transparency, real user reviews, and the vetting process behind adding a new provider. She also breaks down the current legal landscape around compounded GLP-1s, which states are pushing legislation that could cut off access, and why that matters beyond just weight loss medication.  

About Our Guest, Sabina Hemmi: Sabina Hemmi is the founder of GLP Winner (glpwinner.com), a platform built to help GLP-1 patients compare telehealth providers, understand pricing, and evaluate compounding pharmacies — all in one place. She has been on a GLP-1 medication for over three years and lost 60 pounds. Before GLP Winner, Sabina built companies in the video game industry and co-owns speedrun.com, the leading leaderboard platform for video game speedrunning. She created GLP Winner after personally experiencing how difficult and opaque the telehealth provider landscape was — and after interviewing more than 150 patients who shared the same story. She now tracks over 100 providers, publishes monthly reviews, and covers access and compounding legislation across social media under the handle @Lawliepop. 

Guest Links: https://glpwinner.com/ 

@Lawliepop on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Substack 

This Episode Is Sponsored By:

I Can't Believe it's not Butter!: See how NutriRich “I can’t Believe it’s not Butter!” can help on your GLP-1 Journey at the  ICBINB Wellness Hub

Metagenics: Explore our complete collection of science-backed supplements.

Want to Learn More about GLP-1 Hub?

Join the Steady State newsletter and get a FREE 7-day meal plan + weekly support and strategy to optimize your journey: 

http://join.glp-1hub.com

Join the membership:

https://glp-1hub.com/membership

Visit our GLP-1 Hub store:

https://shop.glp-1hub.com

Want to connect more with GLP-1 Hub?

Instagram:   https://www.instagram.com/glp1hub

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@glp1hub

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@glp-1hub

*Some of the links shared are affiliate links. When you make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.

*The content of this show is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The goal of this show is to provide various points of view about GLP-1 Medications. The personal and professional opinion of the guests and their content does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Ana Reisdorf or GLP-1 Hub.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Honestly, I think there's like over a thousand brands doing yes, BLP1s, like over a thousand. And I probably like actually follow a hundred plus. And so to me, when there's a new brand, we had to come up with an entire vetting process because what would happen is we would get approached by providers who are like, can we get added? And it's like, you're a two-week old company. How can I trust you?

SPEAKER_00 0:20

If you've ever tried to choose a GLP1 telehealth provider and felt like you had no real way to compare your options, then this episode is for you. There are a lot of companies out there, and for most people, it's really hard to know what's legit, what questions to ask, and what red flags you need to watch out for. Welcome to the GLP1 Hub Podcast. I'm Anna Reisdorf, registered dietitian and GLP1 user. My guest today is Sabina Hemi, a GLP1 user, entrepreneur, and founder of GLP Winner, a platform built to help people compare telehealth providers more clearly and confidently. In this episode, we're going to talk about what actually matters when choosing a provider, what's happening with compounded GLP1 medications right now, and the warning signs that can save you time, money, and frustration. And if you like this episode and it helps you, please consider leaving a quick review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. And make sure you share your thoughts in the comments if you are watching on YouTube. Now let's get on with the episode. If you're on a GLP1 medication, you're most likely eating less, which can make it harder yet just as important to get enough of the key nutrients that your body needs. I can't believe it's not butter, is a simple swap for cooking oil or dairy butter. The new Nutri-rich products contain 20% of the recommended daily value of vitamins A, D, E, and B12, and at least 10 to 20% of the recommended daily value of the essential fatty acid omega-3ALA, depending on the product. These products work beautifully in dishes like miso citrus salmon or chicken picata for flavorful meals that also help support your nutrient goals. When portions are smaller, foods that help you get more from every bite make a huge difference. Visit the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Wellness Hub for dietitian-created tips and nutrient-dense recipes designed for GLP1 lifestyles. I am really excited today to welcome Sabina, the founder of GLP1, no GLP winner, right? Yeah, yeah. It is a website that reviews different GLP1 providers to help you get all the information that you need when you're trying to pick a telehealth platform or a place to get your medication or all of this stuff. So, Sabina, can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you and your history with uh GLP1 and your career?

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Yeah, hi, I'm Sabina Hemi. I've been on a GLP1 for about three years now, which is longer than most. I lost 60 pounds and previously I'd struggled with my weight. I also am an entrepreneur. I started GLP winner about a year and a half ago, maybe a little bit longer than that. And before that, I worked in video games and started a company in video games.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Real side note, what kind of video games?

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Often the like large multiplayer competitive video games. Like that's kind of my background. But my other company, we also own speedrun.com, which is like the leaderboards for all of the speedrunning. If we're familiar with that, which is like replaying sometimes single player games to get the fastest completion time.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Huh. Actually, I am a I'm a gamer. Nobody really assumes that about me, but I am. I'm big. What do you play? I like horror games. I love a good horror game. Resident Evil, Silent Hill, those are my favorite games. But yeah, I am a gamer. Anyway, no one cares. Um, so you said you've been on a GLP 1 for three years, same. So have I. And so what has been your experience on the GLP 1 outside of losing 60 pounds, which is great.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

I get all the side effects. Like all the side effects. Really? Yeah, it's been a nightmare. But luckily, I don't have any serious side effects. Okay. So I have nausea, headaches, like constipation. On simple glutide, I'd have diarrhea. Like I would have diarrhea the first two days of the week and then constipation the rest of the week. I have, you know, allidynia, which is like where your skin is like weirdly overly sensitive. Um, I have tons of side effects. I have food aversion sometimes. Sometimes if I go up on dose too much, because I'm actually trying to lose a little bit of weight right now. If I go up on dose too much, uh, it will be like I don't want to eat anything. I don't care about anything. And then the only thing I can eat is like potatoes, which is like not an ideal nutrition plan, right? Being like french fries, potato chips is literally the only like bland food that I could struggle to get down.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

So have you sought any help for these side effects?

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Like seeing a doctor, dietitian?

SPEAKER_02 4:54

Yeah, yeah. Seen doctors. What's interesting and like maybe controversial on a podcast with a dietitian is like I've seen maybe five different dietitians over the last two years. I don't know how to utilize them. Or maybe I just haven't found the right one, honestly. So I think like for me, I have tons of nutrition advice. Like I did keto for years and I got to a point where I could I could clock calories by just looking at food. So on the macro thing, I'm pretty good. But then what's interesting, and part of the reason why I sought out a dietitian, right, is I have more complexities going on. So I found out I'm allergic to oats rye, raw shellfish, which like oats gets used in a lot of stuff. And I had a kidney stone and I got an autoimmune diagnosis. And for both of those things, I'm supposed to eat low oxalate. So then it's like, how do I get? And I think in my mind and like my idealist mind, I would eat less meat because it's better for the environment and probably better for my health. But I can't figure out how to hit my protein goals without using animal protein because of the low oxalate restriction, right? So I think I I have a complex nutrition puzzle problem. And I've yet to find the right dietitian to sort of like help me with that.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

That's probably required as a specialized person. And I will be honest, not all dietitians are well versed in GLP1, managing side effects with diet. And then you layer other things on top of it, then it gets even more complicated.

SPEAKER_02 6:25

Yeah, yeah. I mean, so far my hack is like lots of bone broth. Kidney friendly, high protein. Drink, I can, you know, drink my protein, get more liquids. Great.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Right, right. Maybe a kidney, somebody who specializes in kidney health would be an ideal person. Anyway, so how are you? Do you think it's still worth it to be on the medication with all of those?

SPEAKER_02 6:47

Absolutely. And I knew because I got worse side effects than semaglutide. I was initially on semaglutide, now I'm on trisepatite. I knew in the first two months, I was like, oh, this changes everything. I'm gonna be on this forever, even though my side effects were really, really, really bad. Like I went up on dose to like the third dose of semaglutide, and I was like throwing up three times a week and I was like, I can't tolerate this dose. This doesn't work. Oh my god. I know there's something going on with the way this medication is changing my brain that is profound, and I don't want to lose that. I want to find a way to make it work.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Right, right. So then you persist. And so is it better it's better on the zip bound now? It's yeah, it's better with trisepatide. Okay. Yeah. So now more throwing up twice a week.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

I'm not throwing up twice a week. I don't think so. It's still like, I feel like if I smell something bad, if there's like something that could make someone throw up, like a bad smell, nausea, migraine, other factors. Before I was on a GLP1, I I I would gag if I smelled something horrible. I could never throw up. Now it's like I could totally throw up if I smell something bad, but it's not like I'm throwing up as a side effect. It's usually like I'm throwing up, but then there's like another factor at play that might cause me to throw up. On a trio's epidite, I don't, I think I've only thrown up a few times.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Okay. Very rare. Very rare. Very rare. So it's better. Are there any medications coming that you think could work better for you that you're aware of?

SPEAKER_02 8:07

You know what's funny? Um, I was on another podcast last week and somebody was like, Oh, are you gonna be into the red tootride? And first of all, I was like, first of all, it's not enough to be approved yet. I haven't like I'm waiting, I'm waiting on data. I haven't made a decision or done enough to have a strong opinion of like I'm definitely doing this or definitely not doing this. But my instinct was to stick with trisepatide. And when they framed it to me as like, oh, but wouldn't this make your side effects better? I was like, oh, wait, yeah, I guess I will probably try some of the newer medications to see if the side effect profile is different for me. But I will say, because I have such bad side effects, I'm nervous to change anything, obviously, because I'm like, oh no, it could be worse. And I have I've had traumatic experiences on other medications. Like I took topiramate before I was on a GLP1, and that was absolutely awful and traumatic. And I realized like that's that's a great medication for some people, or keisema is a great medication for some people, but for me, it was awful. It made me suicidal and it made me forget words. And I'd been learning Spanish for the last year, and I forgot all the Spanish I'd learned in the last year. Yeah, and it did not come back. So to me, I was like, that was absolutely awful. You know, sometimes trying new medication, I have anxiety about. I totally get why people are nervous to start a GLP one because medications can really mess you up and they are not risk-free.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Yeah. I mean, absolutely. I think that, you know, there's so many coming around and they could work better for some people, but it is like I don't want to, I wouldn't want to change either, you know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

Like I wouldn't be like, oh, let me go on a clinical trial. I want to try out anything different. That's definitely not me. I'll probably look at all the data, look at the side effect profile, see what patients are saying about new medications before trying it. And I'll be cautious to try it.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Sure, definitely. So, what are some of the lifestyle changes that you have made since you've been on this medication? Well, I mean, just eating way better, honestly, is like the biggest one.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Eating way better. I think another interesting lifestyle change is that before I lost, so I lost 60 pounds in a GLP1, but before I'd lost 60 pounds and kept it off for five years. And when I compare that time to now, it's completely different. Before it was like I was exercising because I felt a very strong obligation to exercise. My relationship with my body was not very healthy because I was always so focused on like, it wasn't like I want to exercise because I want to be fit, I want to exercise because I want to be healthy. It was like I have to exercise or I might gain the weight back.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

I was very much like driven by this like body image and like associating being at a larger weight with losing control over my life. It's kind of like the bigger, deeper psychological thing. I think now it's like I want to exercise to be fit and healthy and with my body. And I don't feel the same pressures around needing to exercise to keep weight off at all costs. And that to me feels a lot healthier. And and I think my relationship with my body has never been more neutral, which is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

I feel that too, like I've always exercised because I was afraid of gaining more weight and it was like a fear thing. And now I like want to just because I like it. As a dietitian, I work with a lot of people on GLP1s, and one of the most common things I hear is I'm eating less, but my digestion feels worse. Constipation, bloating, and irregularity are incredibly common. That's why I recommend metagenics fiber pre- and probiotic. It's not just like adding more fiber, it's supporting digestion in a way that actually works with your microbiome. Traditional fibers will just add bulk, which they make bloating worse when digestion is already slowed down. This formula uses a gentle, soluble prebiotic fiber paired with clinically studied probiotic strain shown to support stool frequency and consistency, plus prebiotics that help feed beneficial gut bacteria. The result is more comfortable regularity without harsh laxatives, added sugars, or artificial sweeteners. If you're on a GLP1 or not, Metagenics Fiber Pre and Probiotic helps support your gut when eating less makes things harder. Visit metagenics.com to learn more. Yeah. And I already have those habits, but Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

And another thing is the first time I was obese, which was like in my 20s, and then I lost a bunch of weight. I wasn't walking around the world thinking that I was in pain. But when I lost the weight, I realized I was actually in pain all the time. And it was just, I it was like the volume got turned down when I lost the weight. And I was like, oh yeah, I did hurt. Like if I wore heels, for example, it was like after 15, 30 minutes, I was in agony. And when I lost all the weight, it was like, oh, I can wear heels for an hour. It's not a huge deal. Just completely, completely different. One other interesting, I don't know if this is exactly lifestyle, but like a mental health change, is that I I have ADHD and it makes my ADHD better, but not in the sense of like it makes me focus more. It makes me less tempted by distraction, more long-term thinking. And one of the biggest changes I noticed even the first week was I used to ruminate a lot. And it used to be like this person did this thing to me five years ago and I'm still pissed about it, right? Or like when I saw that, I'd be like, man, you're still you're still still a jerk. I don't, I don't like you. I don't like that thing you did. And I would spend too much time thinking about it. And now I don't think about it anymore. And if if I think about the situation that made me upset, I my feelings aren't changed, but I'm not emotionally there anymore, which I think was profoundly helpful.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

I wish how it happened to me being mad at the people out there doing these things.

unknown 13:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

It's so interesting, these like psychological effects, you know, various various things that people see. So yeah. So let's switch gears a little bit and talk about this website that you have and like what inspired you to make that get out of like not doing gaming. Like gaming and this website are a little different.

SPEAKER_02 14:13

Wow. So in video games, you know, in some ways I did similar things because I would take information and try to make it understandable to people in a way that was actionable. And with my website, glpwinner.com, it's kind of the same thing, except I'm helping people compare all the options online for telehealth for their medication, name brand, compounded. So often when I talked to patients, I interviewed like 150 patients when I was getting started. And I asked them, when did you decide you wanted the medication? And when did you actually get the medication in your hands? And what did this middle time look like? Because we all know there's a mental component of like, you have to make the decision to be open to treatment. And a lot of people told me it was six to 12 months. Really? Yeah. Where they were like, My PCP won't prescribe it. Will my insurance pay for it? They don't want to write a prior off. My PCP doesn't like this medication. They're like, should I pursue, you know, diabetes testing? Should I like get another diagnosis that might help me get the medication? Like all of that and navigating the healthcare system and clinical inertia of like scheduling appointments three months out. That adds up to time and distraction. And then on top of that, for me, I had been getting the medication, an OBGYN office where I went to an OBGYN and the OBGYN in office, they had a weight clinic that was run by one of the doctors there. And that's where I started because I literally decided, hey, I'm open to taking this medication. I read a bunch of research. I've I was like, it this seems like a good medication. And I spent six months trying to lose weight before I got on it, of course, because I was like, I can do this myself. But when I went in, it was like I didn't know where to get the medication. And I don't think I had a PCP at the time. I live in Texas. I've had four different PCPs in the last five years. They keep the state or moving out. It's not that I'm being irresponsible. My last, my last PCP was scheduling a like annual exam a year out. And so I scheduled an annual exam and he he left the state before game. So I'm like, how do I get it? How do I get a physical? So it was quite literally like, I don't know how to do this. Lay people, especially a few years ago, didn't know what a BC medicine specialist was, and there weren't that many a few years ago. So I went to this OBGYN office and I tried out Name Brand. I switched to compounded. This was during the shortage, and they switched compounding pharmacies, and the price went from like 500 something to 800 something. And I was like, this is bullshit like this is like the most you could charge me without me paying like the thousand dollars at the pharmacy. And I knew I knew I was getting screwed on price, but it was so hard to compare options and you know, the online options, some of them seem sketchy, you're not sure. So it was sort of this to-do list. And then I had also taken a break from the gaming company. I was just on the board and I took a year and a half off in between. And I was like to joke that it's like like in between relationships, I was like, I don't want to get sucked back into that company because I feel like I'm gonna start another company. I was I was circling around doing something in healthcare, and I didn't really think I was gonna end up doing what I did, but sure, you know, I met the person who is now my co-founder, and this felt like the right problem for us to tackle. And I was frustrated that I was paying so much. So I was like, okay, well, let's let's figure out prices. Because I think, you know, when of course it's a prescription medication and people need to qualify for the prescription, but when you're paying hundreds of dollars a month for a medication, you need a budget around that, especially if you have an entire household who might need it and know your insurance is gonna pay for it, or you just don't know where to go. So that's kind of where GLP winner came from.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

And so, what are the criteria that you are looking at, or what like information are you providing to the people who visit the site?

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Sure. So we do a price breakdown. For both name brand, we show you hey, if your insurance isn't covering this, like, hey, this is probably the price you're gonna pay, which is the direct to consumer prices. We also show if providers have membership fees, most of our providers don't. And for compounded, we do a full price breakdown of what the price is at different doses, if you can save money by buying multiple months up front. And then we also tell you what compounding pharmacies they use. And so you can go to our compounding pharmacy page, read reviews for the compounding pharmacy. And what we found when we interviewed people in compounded is a lot of them felt loyalty to the compounding pharmacy. And so you can go from the compounding pharmacy and look at providers who use that pharmacy. But then we also try to make sense of all the features they provide or don't provide. And so I change providers every month to try to review them, see what the differences are. Yeah. And so some of them will be like, we provide nutrition support. And I'll be like, great, what does that look like? And they'll be like, it's an AI slot PDF that we email our patients. It's like a page of nutritional information. I'm like, cool, I'm not gonna say that that's nutritional support, right? I could have just Googled something. But there are a lot of providers that provide unlimited visits with registered dietitians. And to us, that's a higher standard of nutrition care, right? So we try to differentiate that, define what these kind of like extra features are that are included or not included, and help you navigate that and compare them as a result.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

And so there's also user reviews. Is that correct? Yeah. And so people can say, like, I had a good experience, bad experience, like whatever.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

Yeah. People leave reviews there and we also analyze the reviews so you can get like a quick summary of like using AI of like, here's what most people are doing. Here are the positive things people are saying, here are the negative things people are saying. And we also break down the reviews in the last 30 days. Because I think my controversial take is that I think that all the telehealths in the space are gonna be kind of crappy at certain points because they're companies that are growing really fast. And there are a lot of them have a period where they're having delays or their customer service is not doing well. So we literally break down obviously the overall reviews, but in the last 30 days, you can do like, okay, is this company going through a rough patch? Are they having delays? Is it a bad idea for me to go with them right now?

SPEAKER_00 20:05

So, in terms of the compounding pharmacies that are providing the medications to these telehealths, I would assume that there's like a certain number of them and they're all kind of using some of the same compounding pharmacies. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_02 20:17

No and no. So what's interesting is there's there's probably like 20 that are very popular and a lot of people are using them. But increasingly, we're seeing a lot of people want to be a little more secretive about some other compounding pharmacies. And the reality is if you ran a telehealth, right? Some of them could use one compounding pharmacy, but most of them have relationships with five to ten compounding pharmacies, even if they're primarily using two or three. Um, and that's simply because if there's anything that goes wrong at that compounding pharmacy or they have delays, or like we've even seen like a hurricane comes through or something, um, they have compounding pharmacies they can use that they have relationships with so that their patients can get medications on time. So it's a complicated answer because it's the reality is like many telehealth providers might have a relationship with five to 10 compounding pharmacies. They're primarily sending through two or three. So yeah, it is clustered around several larger compounding pharmacies because they've they've scaled up, they tend to ship faster. The expectation from patients is that you're basically getting Amazon Prime shipping where it's coming in two or three days. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Mm-hmm. Um, and so what about like kind of the legal issues around compounding? I had to just switch to compound. Yeah. And they were like, well, you need to put these additives in it because it needs to be personalized because it can't be, they can't do the trusepatite or whatever. Yeah. So what's do you have like an update on what's going on with the legal side of it? I know it's complicated.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Yeah, it's complicated. So because a lot of GLP1 compounded use started during shortage, compounding pharmacies can make medication during shortage. But now that we aren't in shortage anymore, that medication needs to be customized and it needs to have a medical justification for why it's customized. And often a lot of doctors, that's conversations around your side effects. And if an Additive would be helpful for your side effects. And I think, you know, it's also customized dosing. For me, knowing what I know now, when I started out, when I couldn't tolerate that their dose of semaglutide, I was throwing up three times a week, maybe an in-between dose or a slower titration titration schedule would have allowed me to tolerate a higher dose of semaglutide. Right. So that's an example of a lot of customized dosing is very legitimate because patients cannot tolerate going up on dose at the pharma schedule. And so there's that. When your doctor writes your prescription, they will include information on the customization and while why they're customizing it. And so far, it feels like it's held up in court. The FDA does enforcement on mass compounding. And as far as I know, they haven't done any enforcement against GLP1 mass compounding. Okay. So for now we're we're safe. It seems safe. Is there is legislation that is so there are lawsuits, and this is an oversimplification of like 10 or 15 lawsuits. But by and large, it's been defended simply because a pharma company like Eli Lilly or Never Nordis can't sue on basically on behalf of the FDA to enforce an FDA rule. That's broadly why many of them have been dismissed. That said, I think you know there's legislation at the primarily at the state level that's coming in. And right now there's legislation in Iowa, Virginia, Washington, Florida, and Mississippi. Yeah, I think I got them all. Okay. And a lot of that is starting out functionally shutting down compounding for everyone in the state, which I think is absolutely inhumane. Wait, for just GLP one or for every type of compounding? It is just for GLP one. Some of it, the lot of the legislation starts out for all compounding. So the Indiana bill started out as all compounding, then it went to GLP one. Now it's been mostly gutted. The Washington bill currently is still all compounding. One of the Florida bills, because there's two, is all compounding. I think the Mississippi bill is as well. And to be honest, like compounding pharmacies are critical healthcare infrastructure. Hospitals use compounding pharmacies. And a lot of vulnerable patients who can't take commercially available medication need them. A great example is like people in hospice who can't swallow pills who might need pain relief at end of life. Compounding pharmacies can make them a tincture so that they can still get medication and treatment despite not being able to swallow a pill anymore. Also, veterinary compounding is a huge thing. Dogs and cats get a lot of stuff compounded. A lot of human medications work for animals and they don't necessarily come in the customized doses that animals of various sizes need. A cat versus a horse, then you need a completely different dose of medication. And then another really common one is you know, cats can't swallow pills sometimes. They're they can be kind of finicky and not want to swallow pills. And compounding pharmacies can create, you know, something that you can put on the back of their neck so they can get medication that they otherwise wouldn't be able to take. But yeah, some of these, some of these legislative bills that I hope don't get passed would impact compounding for everybody in the state. Right. Right. Unquestionable.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

My mother had cancer and had to get specialized medications for her cancer treatment that had to be compounded because I don't know what the details were, but I don't distinctly remember that. And that would that's not cool at all. Because they do serve a purpose. So that's really interesting. So in terms of the telehealth providers, yeah. What should somebody look for if they're looking for quality one? Like what are some of the criteria you think?

SPEAKER_02 25:29

Yeah. So I think some of the criteria is first of all, and you can see this on GLP winner or not, understand the level of care that you need. I think if you're newer, try to go with a high level of care for sure. Some patients, when I talk to them, are like, I don't want to talk to person, I want it to be text only. And I mean, that's that's a lower standard of care than video calls, right? So you can see which providers are doing video calls. I particularly emphasize that I highly recommend that if you're new, because you're going to have a bunch of questions. I also think what you should look at. So to me, I really like providers that don't put you into year-long contracts or six-month contracts. And a lot of large brands do. A lot of them also have really deceptive pricing. So you'll see, you know, like$200 for GLP ones, and then you don't realize that's for 12 months. That's if you buy 12 months. And I would recommend to no one getting started that you buy 12 months of medication when you don't know if it's going to work for you. Right. Now, there are some telehealths do like starter packs where you get the first three months. And, you know, if the amount of money that costs is within your budget, you can definitely save money if you go that route. Another thing I would look at is what compounding pharmacies they use if you're doing compounded. And look up, if you look at DLP winner, we'll tell you if the compounding pharmacy is licensed in your state, which is always good to check. And you can read reviews for the compounding pharmacy itself. Um, I also think, you know, seeing if their customer support is responsive is really great. And knowing that a lot, a lot of these companies, and this isn't to scare anyone, but like once your medication goes through, you're basically not getting a refund because they've filled, they've sent your prescription, they've filled the medication, they've paid the compounding pharmacy. So feeling like you're comfortable when you're doing the onboarding, you should feel like you were able to give them a very thorough medical history. There should probably be a like one part of the form that's like anything else you want to say, right? But if you have any medical issues that you're not sure where to put, I always tell people to write anything that they want to communicate that they couldn't communicate in the drug allergy section because they will read that. And make sure that you are advocating for yourself and communicating anything that you're concerned about. Right. But generally speaking, you know, a lot of their initial medical screening works for, you know, 90, 95% of people to figure out if it's they're reasonably a good fit or not. But you should always be communicating with your provider about how things are going. Sure. I mean, I think when it comes to GLP1 care, it's really about having nuanced conversations with your provider about how you're feeling. When I started on similotide, I had such horrible food aversion that if I I was at a birthday party and somebody brought out a birthday cake and I wanted, I was like, I want to throw up. I want to be on the opposite side of the room from the birthday cake, which is okay to some degree, right? But if I wasn't able to eat, if I was absolutely not hungry and I was struggling enough calories, you should be communicating that to your provider. Yes. Right?

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. So my God, I just have so many questions about this because it's just like such. So, how do you keep up with all the new companies? Because they're like every day, something like just recently, one of my clients who's an app started providing medication. So it's like there's so many. How do you keep up with all of that?

SPEAKER_02 28:39

Honestly, a lot of the new ones, like I probably don't, I think there's like over a thousand brands doing yes, VLP ones, like over a thousand. And I probably like actually follow a hundred plus. And so to me, when there's a new brand, we had to come up with an entire vetting process because what would happen is we'd get approached by providers with like, can we get added? And it's like, you're a two-week old company. How can I trust you? Yeah. We had to come up with an entire vetting process that's like, okay, how are you sourcing clinicians? What are you including? What are you not including? What compounding pharmacies are you using? Are you legit script certified? We ask for like an MPI number, which is like a a I don't even know how to describe it, like a provider number, right? A provider number for at least one clinician who's prescribing. And we double check all of that. And we also ask questions about ownership of the company and what software they're using, if they made it themselves versus if they're using, you know, out-of-the-box software to help do patient stuff. Because to be honest, we've talked to a lot of people where they can't answer all those questions. And I'm like, great, great, we're not gonna put you up. We you haven't passed the test, right? And there are other people who they'll they'll functionally be like, we don't actually want to tell you what compounding pharmacies you use. We're like, we're a transparency platform, right? So maybe you aren't a good fit for us. Wow. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

So are you seeing that there's like some people like that who are clearly in it for the money?

SPEAKER_02 30:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Like spinning up some pharmacy that they're just like, let's spin it up and get this money and go. And then are there players that you think are taking it more seriously?

SPEAKER_02 30:10

There are a lot of people who are taking it more seriously. I would say a lot of the people who I think are taking it less seriously tend to not come from a healthcare background. And they tend to be honestly marketers. They're just like really good. They're business people who are good at running paid ads, and that's what they do. They run paid ads. But have they functionally created a brand? Do they actually like I see I've seen spoken to probably like a hundred people who run telehealth? I've seen a whole array of people who are genuinely there because they're patients, because their lives were changed, because they want to create a good, sustainable telehealth. And I've seen people where it's like, I don't think they've ever tried the medication, even if they might be a good candidate for it, I think they don't even know that much about the medication. They're just there to run out.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

Interesting. It's like a complete different thing. And I would say that the people who care more tend to have better brands. You tend to feel it throughout the way that their brand is presented.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

Sure. So if you're a person looking for a new provider, how would you best use your website to do that?

SPEAKER_02 31:09

So what we do is we have like a basically a beginning survey where we ask questions around what you're looking for in a provider. So it'll be like, are you currently on a medication? What's your dose? We'll show you people's like prices highlighting the dose that you're on. Or if you're starting out, we can show you either starter packs or beginning monthly doses. And then you can go, you can read reviews. You can also, you know, depending on if you're on social media, you can Google unboxings for whatever provider you might be interested in. If you're just curious, like how is this process going to work? We also try to break down the process that's like, hey, you're gonna fill out a form with your medical history and then you're gonna have a video call with a doctor, and it usually lasts this long. And then, you know, if you qualify, your prescription will be sent in. It's usually there within two or three days. That's not an uncommon path for a lot of people. We try to break it down so that you have your expectations met and you understand what their process is like. Some people, yeah, some people have a call before they ever have you meet with the doctor, which is a little uncommon. So we we try to break all of that down, and ultimately you need to pick someone that you're comfortable with. Some people really want all the services, right? They they want the dietitian included, some people do community groups, some people, you know, have one-on-one coaching outside of that where you can just talk to someone. I think if you've never taken the medication, you don't realize a lot of people start taking it and their life changes so much and they have side effects and they're like, I need to talk to someone about this. Like if no one in your friend group is on a GLP one that you can talk to you about it. That's why people go to social media, but some providers actually provide the community there. So kind of understanding where you are and you know, if you're brand new, I suggest higher levels of care and higher levels of treatment and doing video calls. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely now. Some people, after they've been on the medication for years and they're just in maintenance and they're just like, it's just a bill to me. I care about, or I have a favorite compounding pharmacy and they want to do text only. Like maybe that's more appropriate for them in that situation. Or like for me, I feel like I get a lot of support from all the other doctors that I see. And that's part of why I feel comfortable switching providers every month to test them all out. Because I have a lot of other doctors who are like, well, I just want to run your blood work every quarter just in case, and and all of that. So I feel very well taken care of by all my specialists. And now I have a new PCP who seems great too. But you know, not everybody has that. Like if you have not visited a doctor in five years or something, make sure you're going to someplace where you're getting labs included. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:39

No, I I completely agree. I think that just buying it and not getting any support is where people run into issues. Yes. And I know it's an additional cost, but I think that that support piece is really essential. So tell us the website again and where we can connect with you and learn about your work.

SPEAKER_02 33:57

Yeah. Um, website is glpwinner.com and you can connect with me. I'm on all social platforms. My name on most of them is Lollipop L-A-W-L-I-E-P-O-P. I'm on, you know, Instagram, TikTok. TikTok is the one I'm most active on, Substack, YouTube, et cetera. And I do a lot of content on access. So I both do reviews of different providers every month and comparing them. I do some general GLP1 content, but I also do a lot of content on the lawsuits, some compounding, the legislative bills that are coming into compounding that might take away access in states like Washington or Florida. I do content on that and I just generally talk about access issues. Cool.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Well, thank you so much for being here. This was such an interesting conversation. I think it will be really useful for my audience to like understand more because it's such like a crazy world. It's hard for me to keep up.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

It's so hard to compare options. Honestly, it's so hard. Like people even ask me, like, who's your favorite? I'm like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

Because I I wasn't gonna ask that because I knew that you were gonna be like, well, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 35:03

It really depends on you. Like who are like it depends on you what state you're in, if they're licensed in your state, what compounding pharmacies they use, what your needs are, what level of care you want. All of those things are a factor. And then like sometimes what dose you're on, because some people have the same price all dose. And if you're at a higher dose, that's probably a better deal for you. If you're at a lower dose, like you probably get more get a better deal with providers who are cheaper, lower doses, right? Definitely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Sabina. I really, really appreciate your expertise. This has been so, so useful.

SPEAKER_02 35:36

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. This was a ton of fun.

SPEAKER_00 35:39

Yeah, no problem. Thank you for listening to this episode of the GLP One Hub podcast. I hope you learned a lot from Sabina about telehealth companies, how to choose a good one, and some of the information about compounded GLP Ones. If you want ongoing support on your GLP 1 journey, I send out a newsletter every Tuesday called the Steady State newsletter that will help you achieve your goals long term. And you can find the link to sign up for that in the show notes. And I will see you in the next episode.