The Ozempic backlash is in full swing — for me, it’s not worth the money or potential side-effects
It seems almost too good to be true: a drug that purports to have benefits including improved blood sugar, lower blood pressure, weight loss and cardiovascular benefits. Semaglutide, often sold under trade names like Ozempic or Wegovy, is thought to affect the reward centres in the brain and impact satiety, which medical professionals believe may make people less prone to addiction.
Little wonder, then, that the medication has found a market beyond its original target, people with Type 2 diabetes. Public figures like Elon Musk, Sharon Osbourne and Whoopi Goldberg have spoken publicly about their experiences of taking Ozempic (Oprah Winfrey has also credited an unnamed prescription drug with her recent weight loss).
Semaglutide appears to be a major game-changer for the weight management industry, and it didn’t take long for the backlash to follow.
Amy Schumer noted last June on What Happens Live with Andy Cohen that she had tried Ozempic for weight loss, but quit.
“Like a year ago, I tried it,” she said. “I was one of those people that felt so sick and couldn’t play with my son. I was so skinny and he’s throwing a ball at me and [I couldn’t]. And you’re like, ‘OK, this isn’t liveable for me’.”
According to Ozempic’s own website, the most common side-effects of taking the drug are nausea, diarrhoea, stomach pain, vomiting and constipation.
Sharon Osbourne has also been candid about using Ozempic: “I was injecting myself with Ozempic and I lost three stone in four months. Too much. I now weigh seven stone and can’t put on weight,” she told The Guardian. “Ozzy [Osbourne, her husband] says I look like Nancy Reagan.”
More recently, Scott Disick is alleged to be “seeking help” for the adverse effects of Ozempic use, and per the Daily Mail, is reportedly seeking advice from a nutritionist instead.
The Ozempic backlash appears to be in full swing, and yet there appear to be many Irish people who find the prospect of taking it all too tempting.
Years ago, the very idea of a weightloss drug sounded like a miracle, and no doubt once these drugs arrived on the market, many people saw them as a dream come true.
Yet, while I could certainly spare the 10-15pc body weight that Ozempic claims to help people shed with relatively little effort, I still have no interest in using them.
Firstly, there’s the side-effects. Life’s too short to entertain the possibility of nausea and the runs as a price to pay for potentially smaller arms. Those aforesaid side-effects are what we know now about Semaglutide in its infancy — the long-term side-effects remain unknown for now.
Ozempic also reportedly works very well in around a third of people and less so in another third, while it has not been effective in others. With that in mind, €150-200 a month sounds like too considerable a financial outlay to see whether you’re part of the ‘lucky’ third.
Other users of Semaglutide have reported the triggering of a chemical revulsion around food. This may sound like silver-bullet material to some, but imagine the simple pleasure of a Sunday roast, or cinema popcorn, or a meal at your favourite restaurant or post-pub chips being taken away from you.
That’s not to say that obesity isn’t a serious, life-threatening condition. Besides, any advancements that treat serious illnesses like diabetes should be lauded. But taking a relatively new medication to drop a dress size is just not something I’m at all bothered about exploring. I just don’t care enough about being a size 10 to invest quite that heavily in its pursuit.
Sure, I wouldn’t mind a smaller tummy, or a perkier bum, but I’m also a person with appetites who goes weak for weekend pancakes, and hasn’t met a Mexican restaurant I didn’t love. No amount of miracle drug will get in the way of that.