Recently I was contacted by Gabriela who works with a company called Drug Watch, the message was concerning a drug called Ozempic. I had indeed heard about this drug though had never been prescribed this before as part of my treatment for diabetes.
Background
Ozempic had increased in popularity for all of the wrong reasons, in short that it could be used as an off-label way to lose weight. This was further compounded by some short sighted celebrities that mentioned this on their social feeds as a way to lose weight.
Ozempic has not been approved for this use case and comes with a list of possible side-effects, some being quite serious. More importantly this has led to a supply shortage of the drug for those with Diabetes that have been prescribed this to help manage their blood sugar levels.
The article on Drug Watch explains that whilst Ozempic side effects, without scare mongering one of which is a risk thyroid c-cell tumours. Yes it can lead to weight loss however there is a drug called Wegovy which has been approved by the FDA. Unfortunately supplies of this drug have also run short hence people have moved to Ozempic.
In my experience taking supplements like this are a short term fix, in order to significantly change your approach to food and lifestyle it boils down to hard work. There is no pill that you can take to magically provide the outcome you’re after.
I wish you all the best on your journey and hopefully you’re reading this in the aide of managing diabetes and not looking for a short cut to lose weight.
If you are looking to lose weight and not so much manage your diabetes can I recommend looking at Wegovy instead of Ozempic but this is not a substitute for diet and lifestyle changes.
If you’re aware of people using Ozempic in this manner that have not been prescribed to manage their weight loss can I recommend sharing some informative knowledge with them.
For more information and an informative read I can highly recommend that you visit this post written by Michelle Lamas on the Drug Watch website.
Looking at her profile Michelle has over a decade writing within the medical space. Definitely someone to listen to in our fight towards managing our condition!
Is this still a problem?
In short… yes this is still occurring with people struggling to get access to the medication necessary to manage their condition.
The following article from 6th September from the Daily Record highlights an example of those people impacted; https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/oap-fears-health-after-dieters-30877414
