I Was On Ozempic Before The Celebs Were— Don’t Fall For Its Sheer Hype

Here’s something only five people in my life know.

I was on Ozempic.

In the middle of 2021, I visited my regular doctor to discuss weight loss options with him. Ever since my gallbladder removal in 2013, my struggles with losing weight have intensified.

When the pandemic took hold of our lives, I needed professional intervention.

My doctor referred me to a gastroenterologist, a specialist who understood the effects of being without a gall bladder, especially on my toilet habits, and how this impacted losing weight.

Or hinders it.

My doctor claimed she had the best thing for me. Ozempic.

I took it. Eight months later, I came off it.

A year later, the media cottoned onto Ozempic, crediting every kilo lost to the miracle weight loss medication.

And savaging every person who dared to use it to get ahead.

The articles baffled me. As they spoke about Ozempic, it wasn’t the experience I had whilst taking it. The media didn’t seem to get it right at all.

I’ve reached a point where I can’t sit back and let the media, the general public, and people who’ve never taken the medication run the Ozempic narrative, telling a story that is not quite true.

Here’s the Ozempic experience from someone who’s been on the medication and ceased usage only months later.

Disclaimer: As might be evident, I’m not a certified health or weight-loss expert. Everything I’ll be sharing stems from first-hand personal experience and self-research. It’s always a good idea to consult a medical professional before taking any drugs/supplements — especially Ozempic.

Ozempic is everywhere and nowhere

It’s impossible to read an article about a celebrity’s weight loss experience without Ozempic entering the conversation.

Thirty seconds on Google, and we have this cliched article about who is on Ozempic and the impacts of losing weight on this drug.

I’m always surprised when I see these articles because when it was introduced into my life, Ozempic wasn’t a household name.

I had to learn the following without the media coverage we have now:

• Ozempic is the brand name for Semaglutide, a type-2 diabetes medication.
• To gain access to Ozempic, patients must be prescribed it. In Australia, where I’m from, those without diabetes are required to purchase it via a private prescription, restricting any government rebates.
• The purpose of the medication is to, along with diet and exercise, improve blood sugar (glucose) in adults with type 2 diabetes. It claims to “reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death in adults with type 2 diabetes with known heart disease”.
• Ozempic is an appetite suppressant. It “imitates a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 that we naturally produce in our intestines, limiting appetite by signalling to our bodies that we feel full and prompting our stomachs to empty more slowly.”
• Doctors prescribe it to overweight patients due to this appetite-suppressing feeling. “For patients taking the medication, “foods that used to be really exciting to them are no longer exciting,”.
• Ozempic gained popularity after the media discovered celebrities were taking it to shift the weight. One of the most famous faces of the drug is Oprah Winfrey, who hasn’t denied her usage.

I didn’t know about any of this back then. I could have used a little social proof going into my brief journey.

Give me the Ozempic

Patients don’t ask for Ozempic. Not in my experience.

I’ve never heard a celebrity claim they walked into their doctor's office and begged for Ozempic. They might have. I’ve never been there when someone else has spoken to a doctor about the medication.

I can see with certainty that I didn’t ask for it.

I didn’t know Ozempic existed, nor was there a weight loss drug on offer. Especially one administered via a weekly injection, a prospect I never thought I could handle. Needle phobias are real, by the way, and debilitating.

When I spoke to the gastroenterologist about weight loss problems, she presented me with Ozempic. She sold me on the idea; she gave me a sample to try at home, practically pushing it onto me.

My (then) husband questioned the diabetes medication. I didn’t have diabetes; I simply needed to lose weight. Was this for me?

She swore by this medication. "Don’t worry about the diabetes medication part."

Why would I question it?

I have no doubt other people in my situation experienced the same events, where they went to the doctor for weight loss help and left with an Ozempic script.

Not everyone who takes it is a weight-loss-hungry person looking for a specific shortcut. Many of us have had Ozempic thrust upon us.

But what if I knew about Ozempic?

Let’s pretend we’ve fast-forwarded a couple of years, and this happened after the world began talking about Ozempic. Would I have gone into my appointment asking for the drug?

Probably not. The needle phobia would’ve taken over.

I also wouldn’t have thought walking into my doctor and demanding a specific medication would go down well. Doctors don’t take too kindly to patients making new prescription demands.

I’m unsure how I would have said, “I’ve found out about this new weight loss stuff; give it to me!”

There’s no way I would assume I would be eligible for it, either. As a normal person (not a celebrity with money and power) who isn’t diabetic, why would I be perfect for it?

Doctors don’t see the problem with Ozempic

Why would people take a medication that’s bad for them?

I harbored no doubts I was taking something good for me. When my doctor mentioned Ozempic, she started her hard sell.

I do not know whether the company paid her for the prescription; in Australia, I’m unfamiliar with medical kickbacks or how the pharmaceutical system works. I won’t speculate, either.

But my doctor maintained no issues with it, not even mentioning some of the issues raised online.

She said:

• The studies had shown no negative side effects from taking it, aside from slight nausea during the titration phase.
• Patients lost 10% of their body weight in the first three months.
• There were no long-term side effects from taking it.
• It was safe to use, and although it was a diabetes medication, it was safe for non-diabetic patients.
• I was told this. I won’t get into what the media is reporting now to refute those claims or the validity of the studies before and after I took Ozempic.

I’m simply noting the implicit trust I had in my physician. When you’re sitting in the doctor's office and asking questions about side effects and issues with a medication, you trust their advice.

You don’t question their knowledge because they are doctors with multiple medical degrees, and you are not.

I appreciate exercising due diligence. At the time, I searched for information on it, but there was nothing like the material we have now.

There weren’t many reasons to doubt her recommendation.

No quick fix

I was never promised a golden ticket to weight loss.

My doctor described the medication as an appetite suppressant to aid my weight loss efforts.

We had already discussed the diets I had tried and the amount of exercise I engaged in. Ozempic wouldn’t replace healthy eating or remove the need to exercise, but it would make those aspects of weight loss work better.

I can’t deny how effective Ozempic was at suppressing my appetite. I couldn’t eat anywhere near the amount of food I once did.

The moment I had eaten even the slightest bit too much, by my reduced hunger standards, my body hated me. My stomach hurt, and the inevitable vomiting would begin.

It was impossible to overeat unless you want to feel sick and sluggish.

But my weight didn’t plummet on Ozempic. I lost two kilos in the first week, which wasn’t celebratory, considering that happened to me on every diet I went on.

After that, I lost roughly five hundred grams per week until I hit a plateau five to six months in.

Then I didn’t lose anything. My appetite returned to normal, and the nausea increased, which I will discuss in the next section.

Suddenly, I wasn’t losing weight.

This is not what you expect when you think about Ozempic. It’s touted as this miracle medication that strips weight off you overnight. That’s not my experience.

I wasn’t on the full dose yet; I need to note. The nausea prevented me from hitting the full amount, which was meant to be ideal for weight loss.

Yet, if I couldn’t tolerate the full dose and my hunger returned on the dose I could tolerate, pushing through didn’t make sense.

Why keep taking it if it stopped working?

For some additional context, below is the dosing schedule for Ozempic, even though this discusses the levels for someone with diabetes. The same applied to weight loss users; this was my schedule, but I stayed in the 1mg due to nausea.

Nausea and fears

Medications are meant to make you feel better. Ozempic seems to be the medication that changes your life and gives you the body of a lifetime.

Oh, how I wished it were true.

Ozempic made me feel like I had a permanent hangover. All the time. Without any relenting or end in sight.

The fatigue ravished me, worsening as the months passed, which meant I couldn’t exercise. Even walking felt like I was dragging a palette of concrete cinderblocks behind me.

When I didn’t feel like falling asleep, I felt like I needed to throw up. Food, no food, the start and end of the day, the medication didn’t discriminate.

Without exercise and regulated nutrition, of course, I stopped losing weight. Even with the medication on board, if you’re not eating right or exercising, you don’t lose weight.

Many people don’t understand how much it’s an aid, not a solution. It’s also a life-killer in many ways.

At the start of taking Ozempic, I felt like I couldn’t go out and eat and enjoy my life for fear of overeating and feeling ill. Then, in the end, I couldn’t entertain going out for fear of falling asleep in my vomit.

It crippled my life, preventing me from having any freedom in how I lived my life.

Let’s not forget to mention the weekly injections, which were an ordeal. For me to survive the experience, I had a strict way of administering it. My husband had to be the injector. My hands shook at the idea of it.

I laid down on the ground with an ice pack on my stomach, numbing the area for ten minutes before he gave it to me. I stayed there for another twenty minutes, calming myself down and continuing to ice.

During the injection, I watched my favourite TV show on my phone, “Are You Being Served?” to give me something else to focus on.

The medication had to be given every week, same day, same time. Going away for the weekend was tough because I had to be available to go through the ordeal and keep the medication refrigerated.

Some life, huh?

Forever on Ozempic

They say you have to stay on Ozempic once you start taking it.

I can see why they say that.

My doctor warned me about this, by the way. The media isn’t lying when they claim this is a reality, for when you take it, it’s one thing the narrative gets right.

But the reason why this is true has nothing to do with any health benefits or withdrawal issues. It’s that once you get off Ozempic, you pile back on the weight. And then some.

When my doctor advised me of this, I thought she was being ridiculous. How could you argue staying on a weight loss medication, an expensive one, when you don’t have any weight to lose?

If you reached your goal, why stay on it?

She told me about the weight return issue, and I still didn’t understand how this was possible. You’ve trained your body to eat less; it shouldn’t reverse itself.

But it does. I gained all the weight back and then an additional ten kilos. My appetite returned, and for no reason I can explain, it doubled. I can eat all day, every day now. I have to tell myself to stop eating because I don’t need so much food.

I have to convince myself to reign in my appetite, which contradicts what my stomach says.

Ozempic has caused a war between my head and stomach. Again, some life, huh?

Shame on me

The media likes to out the celebrities who are on Ozempic like they should be ashamed of using this medication for weight loss.

Without even a word about it online, I felt shame about my Ozempic use. Despite my prescription, even though I had no perceived opinions about it, I didn’t want to tell anyone I was taking it.

I knew everyone would think I was taking the easy road out the minute I said I was taking a weight loss medication.

It’s impossible not to think it’s a lazy option, even though everyone knows the nuances of weight loss aren’t so simple.

Even though everyone in my personal life understood my body issues and troubles without my gall bladder, I could anticipate opinions. Everyone has them.

I was already suffering enough problems surviving the medication; I didn’t have the energy for opinions.

I'm terrified of the judgment I will receive for admitting I was once on it. Luckily, my family and friends don’t read my writing.

Though no one should make health decisions based on the opinions of others, it doesn’t help when the world stigmatises the medication. For some people, I’m sure it has changed lives, and they’re made to feel guilty for having finally beaten their weight loss issues.

Getting past judgment is one thing. Guilt is another.

At one point, I went to the chemist, and they expressed supply issues with Ozempic. They couldn’t ensure they could fill my next script when the time came.

I thought about all the diabetes patients who needed it more than me. But I tried to remember I needed it, in a way.

I reminded myself that the supply shortage wasn’t because of one decision I made; it was because doctors were prescribing it without considering the bigger picture. I was told this was my option and there would be no issues with someone like me taking it.

I had to convince myself it was ok for me to need this medication.

I’ve called it the Ozempic minefield; no one is winning except Ozempic itself.

Why am I telling you this?

I’m not here to tell you not to go on Ozempic. I wouldn’t dare interfere with your medical choices, nor do I know you well enough to know if it’s right for you.

I’m not advocating for it either.

My turbulent experience with the medication put much into perspective; there are no sure things and no one-size-fits-all, over-the-counter solutions when treating weight loss problems.

I wanted to offer another opinion on Ozempic, an opinion that comes from experience rather than judgment. I wanted to shed light on how someone like me ends up with medication and how it impacts normal, everyday lives.

I’m not telling you to feel sympathetic towards celebrities on Ozempic. But I do think it’s rude to assume everyone who has lost weight has taken it.

That’s not a fair assumption.

But when it comes to taking Ozempic, it’s not so straightforward. It’s not like popping a pill before watching your troubles float away.

If you meet or hear of anyone taking Ozempic, think of my story. Just remember how complicated taking this medication is and how hard it can be for a person to take it and include it in their life.

And how, despite what we know, it’s not the easy route.

A little understanding for the everyday Ozempic users wouldn’t go astray. Less judgment about weight loss would help, too.

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I write about the emotional and practical reality of being a writer - drafting, doubt, discipline, and publishing while still figuring it out.

Mostly for people who write because they have to, need to, want to | https://linktr.ee/ellenfranceswrites