I was recently quoted in an article written by Lauren Clark for the The Times UK on her experience trying the weight loss drug Semaglutide. Below is the article and a link to the full article.

“I tried the ‘weight loss’ drug everyone is talking about”

A treatment developed for diabetics — semaglutide — is now being used by dieters. Lauren Clark was one of them

By Lauren Clark

Link to Full Article: I tried the ‘weight loss’ drug everyone is talking about

When I look up, all I can see is stars — such is the dizziness as I kneel by the loo and flush for the third time in a row. Hours earlier I had sought to satisfy a mix of vanity and curiosity by taking a diabetic medication I’d first heard muttered about on Instagram for its ‘miraculous’ weight loss properties. Despite being a size 10, the allure of losing a few pounds with zero effort, after indulging during my 30th birthday celebrations last year, was strong.

Semaglutide — under the brand name Ozempic — became available to treat type 2 diabetes in the UK in 2019. Prescribed as a weekly self-administered injection to control blood-sugar levels, it has the twin side-effects of reducing appetite and making you feel fuller faster. Not surprisingly, it has been whispered about as a weight loss treatment in A-list circles ever since.

It was after rumours that Kim Kardashian used the jab to lose 16lb and fit into Marilyn Monroe’s dress for the Met Gala last May that interest in its use among non-diabetics truly ballooned. Stocks have since run low on both sides of the Atlantic, Vogue has reported on the rise of “Ozempic face” (“gaunt, deflated and saggy”) and many people now know someone who’s either on it, or wondering how to get hold of it, to shed that stubborn half-stone before a big birthday or holiday.

That looks as though it’s about to get easier now it’s coming to Boots. This spring, the high street chemist (among others) will start prescribing and selling Wegovy, Ozempic’s sister jab, specifically licensed for weight loss.

In my experience, however, it may not be as hassle-free as it seems. The version of the drug I tried was Rybelsus — another sister brand, taken as a tablet and approved as a type 2 diabetes treatment in the UK in 2020. Within an hour, nausea hit me. Triggered by even the thought of food, it took three days to subside and it was a week before my appetite fully returned. Sure, my calorie intake had been slashed more effectively than any diet and my clothes felt slightly looser after seven days, but I realised then that this medication isn’t skinny tea 2.0.

Semaglutide works by mimicking the action of the satiety-signalling gut hormone GLP-1. “It functions by helping insulin work better, to drive satiety, make us feel full and reduce our appetite,” explains Dr Mark Vanderpump, a London-based consultant endocrinologist who has prescribed Ozempic privately to patients for type 2 diabetes and weight loss, at a cost of £120 per month. “I’ve not seen any other weight loss treatments have such a dramatic impact on people’s quality of life,” he notes.

Naturally, it’s huge in Hollywood, with celebrities reportedly stealthily using the drug as part of their red carpet prep. A handful have gone on the record, including the entrepreneur Elon Musk and the comedian Chelsea Handler.

Such is the demand, though, that the UK and US have experienced shortages — leaving many type 2 diabetes sufferers without — while the Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, which manufactures all three brands, is expecting soaring profits.

Last February the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) approved Wegovy for weight management on the NHS, meaning it will be available on prescription from GPs this year. According to Nice, that means those with a BMI of at least 35 with at least one weight-related condition, such as high blood pressure or sleep apnoea. In “exceptional” cases, it may also be prescribed to those with a BMI of above 30 as part of a specialist weight management service.

This is how it will be privately prescribed by Boots, through its Online Doctor Weight Loss Treatment service. The company hasn’t yet released its prices — Nice guidelines suggest £73.25 for a month’s supply of four weekly injections — but has explained that customers will only be able to get a prescription “following their completion of an online consultation form, which will be assessed by a clinician”.

Asda Online Doctor — which has also announced, alongside Superdrug and Lloyds Pharmacy, that it will be offering Wegovy “soon” — has suggested that its “rigorous checks” will include ID verification, and requests for photos.

Which all prompts the question: how did I, as a size 10 with a BMI bang in the normal range, come to be in possession of Rybelsus without speaking to a medical professional? Scarily easily. Over coffee, my clued-up friend Padraig*, also 30, had mentioned that semaglutide was the secret to the 2st he’d lost in a year. He had put on weight during the pandemic and, after some research, was able to order a three-month supply for £300 from a UK-based online pharmacy. “All I had to do was tweak my height and weight so that my BMI fell high enough to be issued a prescription,” he recalls. Days later, the package arrived on his London doorstep.

It is this ability to obtain semaglutide “off label” that worries doctors. This week, I tried for myself, on the slickly designed website of a London-based online pharmacy, where I massaged my height and weight to make my BMI 35.8. It took me five minutes to reach the checkout page for a month’s supply of Ozempic for £195. The online questionnaire did ask about my mental health — though I was able to swerve questions about any history of eating disorders — and the service comes with supervision from a “health coaching team”, but I couldn’t believe how easy it was to access.

This is important because, while semaglutide has been rigorously tested — on those who are overweight or obese — it isn’t without its side-effects. These can include nausea, cramping, diarrhoea, acid reflux, vomiting and constipation, which is why the dosage should be gradually increased under medical guidance. In the long term, there’s also a slightly increased risk of conditions such as pancreatitis and hypoglycemia and Nice guidelines already put a cap of two years on its use.

And, of course, slimming drugs do nothing to tackle the root cause of obesity. Dr. Supatra Tovar, clinical psychologist and registered dietitian, is concerned they could promote disordered eating, if people taking it lose grasp of their natural hunger and fullness cues.

Could this be behind the swelling body of research warning about weight regain? Last year, a study published in the Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism journal found that within a year of stopping medication, most people put back on two thirds of the weight they had lost.

This was the experience of Yasmin Shaheen-Zaffar, 51, a counsellor from Leeds. She first got hold of Ozempic online in 2019, after grief-related weight gain and concerns about her strong family history of high cholesterol. “I persisted through the first wave of nausea and lost 12lb in a year,” she recalls. After stopping the jabs during lockdown, however, she regained about 80 per cent of the weight.

Vanderpump, who has had patients ask him for a prescription to lose a few pounds before a wedding, wants it to be more widely acknowledged that semaglutide has limitations. “Our bodies are very clever — they are trained to survive famine,” he explains. “This means that when people diet, their body will not only try its best to help it regain weight but it will also make weight loss more difficult in the future. I’ve got patients who have regained weight even though they have stuck to their exact same routine. Losing weight is far more complex than people realise.”

However, Shaheen-Zaffar suggests there is hope. She took one more off-label Ozempic jab in October, which kick-started healthier weight loss. She has since lost (and kept off) 21lb with the help of a healthy eating plan, regular gym sessions and no more injections. “The difference this time is my mindset,” she says. “I’ve done work to get to the bottom of the emotional side of my eating.”
*Name has been changed