Due to their potential to treat a wide variety of illnesses, Ozempic and Wegovy are swiftly earning the reputation of being wonder medications. Additionally, a growing number of anecdotal reports and scientific studies suggest that semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, can reduce cravings for and behaviours associated with addiction in users who were likely taking the pricy and fashionable drugs for a completely different reason.
Semaglutide appears to be able to manage several compulsions, such as:
- Drinking alcohol
- Impulsive snacking and binge eating
- Smoking cigarettes and using other tobacco items
- Using vaping devices
- Insane and “shopaholic” purchasing
- Biting one’s nails
- Drug abuse gambling
Despite the fact that clinical research have lagged well behind the tide of anecdotal tales, both patients and physicians are noticing an apparent pattern.
Cheri Ferguson, who started taking Ozempic to shed the weight she put on during the COVID-19 pandemic, remarked, “It’s very, very strange.” Additionally, she has lost 38 pounds and has lost interest in smoking and vaping.
According to Ferguson, who spoke to CNN, “it’s like someone just came along and switched the light on, and you can see the room for what it is.” “And all of those cigarettes and vapes you’ve smoked over the years don’t look so good anymore.”
As a result of his weight gain during the epidemic, J. Paul Grayson was also diagnosed with high blood pressure, prediabetes, and heart arrhythmia. When Grayson, 73, first started taking Ozempic, “right away, I started eating less and losing weight,” he told NPR. However, strange things also began to occur. “I ordered a beer, took a sip, and I couldn’t finish it,” he stated.
You know how, every now and then, when you taste a beer, you think, ‘Oh my God, this tastes so amazing that I want to guzzle it.’ Well, I wasn’t in the mood to drink. Grayson continued, “I just genuinely felt like sipping it. Medical professionals are aware of stories of obsessions and addictions that were successfully treated.
Many of my patients have asked me, “Hey, I’ve noticed this change; could that be caused by this medication?” stated Dr. Jena Shaw Tronieri, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania.
To learn more about semaglutide’s impact on appetite, Tronieri is undertaking a clinical investigation. People who use the substance frequently express such sentiments as, “You know what, I’m simply not really interested in that anymore. She said, “I don’t feel like drinking. According to some experts, dopamine, a neurotransmitter, may be involved in how drugs affect users since it rewards compulsive and addictive behaviour.
According to studies, semaglutide can reduce the amount of dopamine released in the brain when an individual consumes something exquisitely sweet or consumes a properly prepared, icy margarita. All of these stories, for the most part, are anecdotal, according to Christian S. Hendershot, a psychologist and addiction researcher at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. However, there does seem to be a rather strong signal here. He is one of many scientists working on clinical trials at UNC to look at the impact of semaglutide on alcohol and cigarette usage.
The amount of clinical and anecdotal reports indicating that people’s drinking habits are changing—in some cases quite significantly—while taking [Ozempic or Wegovy] has dramatically increased, Hendershot continued. Hendershot acknowledges that “[w]e do not yet have the clinical data required to draw conclusions,” but he also says that “[t]o see this extent of anecdotal clinical data emerging prior to any…work being published is a relatively unprecedented situation.”
Although some doctors are already prescribing Ozempic and Wegovy off-label for such patients, those who have battled alcoholism or other behaviours for years don’t wait for clinical trials to be published. The horse has already left the barn now that word of semaglutide’s efficacy has spread, according to Hendershot, and a rise in the number of prescriptions for the medication “is something that’s already appearing to happen, whether we like it or not.”
