Content Warning: Eating Disorders
Jimmy Kimmel will be the host of the 2023 Academy Awards ceremony. In his opening monologue, he said, “Everyone looks so nice. As I look around this room, I can’t help but think, ‘Is Ozempic for me?'”
Although the joke was well-received, it also highlighted the obvious problem with Ozempic being widely misused to lose weight.
Ozempic is a type of semaglutide, or injectable drug, used to treat diabetes. The drug semaglutide has also been shown to be effective for weight loss and has been approved by the FDA under the brand name Wegovy. But Ozempic quickly became the generic name for the drug, which can be sold for about $1,350 without insurance or a prescription. However, it is becoming more accessible.
Several celebrities have admitted to using the drug, including Kelly and Sharon Osbourne, Elon Musk, and Tracy Morgan. But some, like Oprah Winfrey, admitted to taking weight-loss drugs, but declined to say which ones. Rumors have started circulating that many celebrities and models are also taking weight loss drugs.
Candice Huffine, a plus-size model and entrepreneur, spoke about how easily these drugs are available. Huffine consulted her doctor to see if she needed to make any lifestyle changes before she turned 40. One of the suggestions was to start using Ozempic for weight loss. I was uncomfortable with the fact that he recommended it to me without hesitation, even though I had turned it down after researching its effects.
A Trilliant Health study found that only 53.8% of people who received a prescription for glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) for weight loss in the past year had a history of diabetes. You may be abusing such drugs.
Additionally, the study states that from the beginning of 2020 to the end of 2022, prescriptions for Ozempic surged by 300%. Wegovy was approved as a weight loss drug in 2021, so the increase in prescriptions is not surprising, but it is certainly concerning.
Because Ozempic is so new, there is little information about its long-term effects. Reported side effects include constipation, nausea, and fatigue, which are all fairly standard. However, gastroparesis, or gastroparesis, has also been reported, particularly in non-diabetic populations using Ozempic for weight loss.
There are also aesthetic risks when someone uses Ozempic. The term “Ozempic face” has taken hold to describe what happens to the face after long-term use of Ozempic. When you lose fat in your face, your skin loses its elasticity and becomes saggy, making you look older than your actual age.
To combat this, facelifts and fillers are suggested to users. However, these can cost a lot of money, averaging around $9,281. Additionally, these options still come with the typical risks of surgery, especially the risk that the face will no longer look natural.
Roughly one in 10 people under the age of 18 has used some kind of non-prescription, potentially harmful weight loss drug in their lifetime, according to a study by researchers JAMA Network. These revealing statistics highlight the big problem that many young, healthy people are abusing weight loss drugs and that prescriptions are all too easily obtained.
This gives people with eating disorders easy access to drugs that can only further alter their distorted body image and threaten their lives. Ozempic and Wegovy users have been shown to lose an average of 35 pounds in 68 weeks. Therefore, when combined with a disordered diet, the effects can be very dangerous.
In 2023, approximately 4,000 prescriptions for semaglutide, sold under the brand names Wegoby and Ozempic, will be written for children ages 12 to 17. This puts more young people at risk of developing eating disorders, long-term health problems and drug addiction.
Another one of the biggest problems with the use of Ozempic is the fact that diabetics cannot access Ozempic. Diabetes drugs have been in short supply for some time, and the overuse of Ozempic for weight loss has made the situation worse.
Unfortunately, the demand for this drug is so high that diabetic patients are not seeing much improvement. For example, Health Canada says that although efforts are being made to increase the amount available, it will likely take some time for supply to catch up with demand.
@alicia_szcz
as589820@ohio.edu
