NOzempic

I am coming out with an opinion on this because I think it is important.

I generally try to be light about most topics because humor is often how I communicate about hard things. But, I don’t think this topic is funny. I think this topic is serious because it speaks to a desperation for thinness that is sending a message. 

For those not up to speed, Ozempic, Mounjaro, Wegovy- take your pick- are injectable drugs formulated for patients that need to lose weight in order to manage a major illness. Typically Diabetes or Heart Disease related to “obesity”.

The exact vehicle these drugs provide is basically (very laymens’ terms) that it lowers blood sugar levels- thereby lowering insulin levels (critical for diabetes patients) and also imitates a hormone whose job it is to line our stomach and signal to the body that we are full.

Because of this, these drugs allow for a dramatic amount of weight loss in a very rapid period of time. Through daily injections the body desires less food and we are less hungry. The side effects of these drugs are not inconsequential.

“Drugs such as Ozempic have caused new or worsening kidney disease, including kidney failure, in some people. If you become dehydrated from other side effects of Ozempic, such as vomiting or diarrhea, this could also cause kidney problems”. 

They result in a chronic intolerance to most foods, global food irritation (gastric discomfort) connected to eating food, and a complete reduction in pleasure around eating.

More notably these drugs have never been studied in patients that do not have diabetes (aside from Wegovy which is approved for weight loss when medical conditions indicate), or diabetes related illness, and typically require intense oversight, particularly of kidney function by the prescribing MD.

Most importantly, under no circumstances were these drugs designed for “normal weight people”. They were specifically designed for individuals that have a severe chronic illness that was connected to excess weight.

Also, please be aware, I know that I have referenced the word “obesity”, and “normal weight”, in this post and I am well aware of the controversy around “normative weight” generalizations, but I am pulling my information from the medical community who uses traditional medical guidelines for criteria, so please take my words through that lens. 

Our history for quick fixes in weight loss is long and diverse. Diet medications have come and gone often leaving a wake of side effects, even those that led to birth defects, taken by unknowing future mothers who were unaware that their desire to reduce pregnancy weight would forever impact the children they carried.

Yet, here we are again.

Women of all shapes and sizes re- introducing the “waif” culture. “Heroin Chic” is back in action, yet now that cigarettes, starvation and diet soda are “old school” we have found a new way. We have found a new medication, that can only be obtained by those that have means, that we self administer, to make ourselves so sick we cannot eat.

The dichotomy is glaring. The wellness industry makes billions of dollars (it is the fastest growing industry in America) yet women are lining up in droves to inject an unnecessary medication into their systems that causes intense GI distress and potential kidney failure. All for the sake of elusive thinness.

We will forsake all of our pleasures and joy to drop a jean size.

We will systematically remove and strip the activities we enjoy layer by layer if we can wake up in the morning and do the body check that will indicate that we have lost weight.

Clavicle more visible? Check.

Stomach flatter? Great news.

If we feel a slight shift in the way our clothes fit, if we look in the mirror and “feel” like we have lost weight, we are willing to be literally sick to lose weight.

Again I am struck- what are we actually doing? Didn’t we just survive a pandemic where all we did was try not to get sick?

We literally were locked away in our homes unable to leave, had no social interaction, lamented our inability to go out for dinner and commune with friends? Some of us watched friends and loved ones die from an illness that we could not control.

Now we are not avoiding illness- we are injecting a substance into our bodies that makes us so sick we cannot eat?

What. Is. Happening?