The star of the “modern family” Eric Stonesreet on Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes

In 2009, Eric Stonesreet assumed the role that would change his life: the fun and flamboyant father at home Cam on “Modern Family”. But the life of Sonestreet has changed more than one way this year: it also received a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.

Emmy’s winning actor told Business Insider that he had started to take Mounjaro – an Agonist GLP -1 medication similar to Ozempic – in 2022 to treat his diabetes. He speaks publicly for the first time to have the condition and the use of Mounjaro, in partnership with his manufacturer, Eli Lilly.

The active ingredient of GLP-1 imitates a hormone of the same name, which the intestine produces naturally to help balance blood sugar.

After the researchers realized that GLP-1s forced patients to lose significant amounts of weight, largely thanks to the abolition of appetite, drugs such as Wegovy (known as ozempic for diabetes) and Zepbound (the equivalent of Mounjaro) were approved for weight loss in 2023 and discovered popularity over the years.

Sonestreet, 53, said that the drug had changed his life by helping him keep his diabetes under control and motivate him to adopt a healthier lifestyle. He said he wanted to educate type 2 diabetes.

“We have to make people talk about it and remove stigma,” said Sonestreet.

Sonestreet has kept his type 2 diabetes diabetes a secret for years

Sonestreet said that his diabetes diabetes diabetes of type 2 was wrapped in shame to be a larger person.

He grew up on a Kansas farm and did a lot of sports. He returns to himself as a thin kid, but has not always thought that way.

“I never considered myself something other than a fatty or overweight child,” said Sonestreet. “In seventh year, I had almost six feet, 175 pounds. I was the biggest classy kid. But when I see photos of myself at the time, I would do anything to have this physique now. So I think in a certain way, how I saw myself and what I came out.”

Sonestreet began to gain weight in the past year and remained a similar size for about 20 years. “It was only in the past 15 years that I had the impression of having started to gain too much weight,” he said.

After receiving a diabetes of type 2 diabetes, Sonestreet was in denial. He “took simple treatments that the doctor recommended”, but hasn’t talked to anyone.

“I was embarrassed, ashamed, just because here I am, this heavy guy, of course, I have type two diabetes, and everyone would be right:” Well, Duh “”, he said.

But type 2 diabetes does not only affect people with larger bodies. It is caused by insulin resistance, and although research suggests that 80 to 85% of the risk are linked to obesity, other factors – in particular genetics, activity levels, race and age – also play a role.

“You never know what someone who lives with type 2 diabetes is like,” said Sonestreet. “It is easy to paint with a large brush this way.”

Sonestreet decided to open up to his parents about the disease when his father received a leukemia diagnosis. He died later in 2021.

“Seeing my father’s health fail and my mother has other health problems unrelated to type 2, which really made them talk about their diabetes. And then it made me admit that I had it,” he said.

This Easter, he discovered that two of his cousins ​​also have type 2 diabetes. “I never knew that in my life,” he said.

Sonestreet said he and his cousins ​​felt comfortable to open to having type 2 diabetes is what he hopes that his campaign will reduce on a larger scale.

Sonestreet said that Mounjaro took her to change his lifestyle

Sonestreet had tried other treatments for diabetes, but nothing had such a deep effect as Mounjaro, he said.

“My doctor at the time was very enthusiastic about the exit; he said to me:” Eric, when this medication will arrive on the market, you are going to be one of the first people. It’s going to be great for you. “And it was,” he said. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug for diabetes in 2022.

Mounjaro is injected each week and Sonestreet was built up to the highest dose. This helped him reduce his A1C (average blood sugar rate) to pre-diabetic numbers, he said.

The effectiveness of the drug inspired him to work on his overall lifestyle, and he started to move for 150 minutes per week, mainly while walking. Mounjaro and other GLP-1 patients are advised to follow a nutritional diet and exercise regularly.

“It was crazy. The figures don’t lie, and he just turned slowly,” said Sonestreet, referring to his A1C. “Once I really started focusing on the diet and the exercise to accompany Mounjaro, my A1C has just fallen from a cliff. It’s remarkable.”

He added: “Suddenly I felt like I was responsible, because he appears every day to do something for me.”

By changing his perspective on his lifestyle, the medication was a “life changer,” he said.

“These doctors of Lilly, scientists, researchers, they have done all the work to create it. And so I will not simply spit opposite and all their faces by not doing at least my part to make the medication as effective as possible,” said Sonestre.

In studies, patients have lost up to 20% of their body weight on Mounjaro, but it was never concentrated from Stonesreet, and he lost a few pounds when he started.

He also said that he had not experienced common side effects of the drug, such as nausea and constipation. GLP-1 drugs are considered a long-term treatment, and some patients have found the side effects too difficult to continue.

StoneStreet considers monitoring of its glucose levels as a game

Sonestreet uses a continuous glucose instructor to follow his blood sugar and treats it as a game.

“I am constantly recorded information, and that is transformed into something to which I am addicted,” he said. “Make sure my blood sugar is always where it should be.”

He looks at what he eats but allows himself to “spoil from time to time”.

In the end, Sonestreet thinks that it is important to have realistic expectations in life.

“If I had moved to Los Angeles to become a rescuer on” Baywatch “, I would have had a very unsatisfied career,” he said. “Could I have been a victim of Sunburn on ‘Baywatch’? Of course. On the beach, visiting Kansas? Completely realistic.”

He added: “So I think that if I can give advice to people – and it is not always easy to take advice from someone who does it – but it just makes you realistic expectations. Don’t say:” Dude, I’m going to run a marathon “, or” I’m never going to have a candy in my life “.