>She drew up a syringe of the GLP-1 drug tirzepatide in June that was just 40 percent of the standard starting dose. The side effects she’d felt — constipation and extreme fatigue — went away with the smaller shot, she said, while her blood pressure, joint pain and inflammation improved.

40% doesn't seem "microdose" to me. If 100% is very effective as it seems right now, 40% should be reasonably effective assuming a somewhat linear dose response curve.

Further blood pressure and weight loss can be easily measured, so I'm not sure why it would be so hard to control the dosage yourself, with the doctors setting a maximum dose instead. It doesn't seem unreasonable at all.

Compare for example to doctors prescribing insane amounts of stimulants to ADHD patients in the past, which they've now scaled back. It's maybe sometimes better to just start with less and see if your symptoms improve.

Antibiotics have to be exactly administered to avoid creating immune bacteria. Many other medications I don't see that danger. Actually it seems more dangerous to use a high dose right away that causes issues for many patients.