Ozempic Update

[jducoeur]

(CW for diet, weight loss, health and that sort of thing.)

It occurs to me that it's been six months or so, and I should give an update about what it's been like.

The headline is that it's working more or less as expected. It's not a miracle weight-loss drug that sends me right down to my perfect weight forever, but it's been a net positive for my health so far.

As previously mentioned, I found withdrawal from Ozempic to be startlingly hard for even a couple of days, so I've been following my schedule pretty religiously: every Monday morning, without fail. I'm still pondering how I want to play Pennsic. (Where refrigeration is a bit complicated, so I can't just casually grab the injector pen and go the way I do with most vacations.)

Over time, the effects have evened out. The initial "meh, I don't really need food" has died off as I've gotten used to it. But it still has the key effect: it's just rather easier to not overdo it. It's not that I'm not eating, or even that I don't occasionally over-indulge. Rather, it's just a bit easier to portion-control, it's a bit easier to eat a little healthier, it's easier to cut off the over-indulgences earlier.

Put it together and it's not like I'm only eating half what I was before. But I probably am eating 80% as much, slightly better balanced, and that's not a minor detail.

The weight hasn't melted off, but I seem to have stabilized around 10-15 pounds down from where I was to begin with. That's less weight loss than I was hoping, but again -- not nothing. I'm probably around the same weight I was 15 years ago: kinda fat, but not as fat.

More importantly, my health has improved markedly. I was mildly diabetic to begin with; now I'm at the lower edge of the borderline range, for the first time in something like 15 years. (About 1.0 down in my A1C levels.) That's a very big deal. My cardio health feels better, stairs don't bother me so much, I'm a little more able to dance again -- in general, it's good. Fingers crossed, the lost weight will help prevent the stress fracture I got in my foot at ESCape two years ago.

No obvious negatives: I haven't yet had any serious nausea, and the constipation went away before long. The weekly shot is a mild nuisance, but less so than most of my daily meds once I got the hang of how to use the injector. Knock on wood, my doctor's pharmacy still seems to be sourcing it without difficulty. (Unlike CVS, who I am steadily moving away from entirely due to their ongoing institutional incompetence.)

The only possible side-effect I've noticed is a worrying reflux issue. That's not entirely new (I've had heartburn issues my entire adult life), but this is a new and concerningly persistent laryngeal reflux that has me a bit nervous -- even a heavy Omeprazole regimen isn't entirely stopping it. Now, that may be entirely unrelated to the Ozempic -- I had a previous bout last year, before starting the Ozempic, and the thing that both rounds really have in common is that they were post-Covid, so that might actually be the trigger. But I'm keeping an eye on it, and trying to get more yogurt and stuff into my life, to improve my gut flora.

Most important: I'm still on a minimum Ozempic dose, and it's been quite beneficial. I might eventually raise it, to knock off another 10 pounds and actually get out of the diabetic range entirely, but I'm in no rush -- this is a game of adjusting the long-term, not a crash diet.

So yeah -- the stuff still seems to be the perfect capitalist-age medicine: very useful, works as advertised, but you have to keep paying them tons of money every month. Use with caution -- I do recommend starting slow if you can do so -- and there's clearly a lot of YMMV. But it doesn't seem to be snake oil, and knock on wood, it's done me considerable benefit so far.

Comments

[danabren]

Can you ask the first aid tent to hold a dose in their fridge? Is there still a first aid tent?

[jducoeur]

I probably could, and I'm considering that, but still pondering whether it would be easier to try and just shift my cycle by a couple of days for the duration.

[danabren]

I will only be there for 2.5 days but I hope to get a Pennsic wave from you.

Good luck however you decide to address it.

[andrewducker]

That sounds fairly positive. I'm glad the side effects have been minimal.