The Hidden Risks of Ozempic

Have you taken Ozempic?

Even if you haven’t, you probably know someone who has. Prescriptions for GLP‑1 agonists (Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound) tripled in 2024, up nearly 600% over six years. It’s the most popular Pharma drug on the market.

Not many people know this, but one of the first mentions of these type of drugs taking over America happened on this Newsletter you are reading now. Back in 2021, I was hosting a podcast when Marc Andreessen mentioned he was taking some experimental weight loss drug called semaglutide, a name that meant nothing to anyone at the time outside medical journals. "It's going to take over America soon," he said with that Silicon Valley certainty that usually sounds like delusion but sometimes turns out to be correct.

At the time, I didn't know what to say. The idea that a single drug could reshape American culture seemed far-fetched and science fiction. But he was right. It took over.

What was fascinating about watching Ozempic spread across the country is you got to watch how new tech/trends take over American society in real-time. First it starts with the futurist billionaires and biohackers, people like Marc who treat their bodies like startup experiments.

Then the celebrities. Jonah Hill suddenly skinny. Kim Kardashian shedding a decade of curves overnight. These are not gradual lifestyle changes. They are rapid, dramatic, impossible-to-ignore transformations.

By 2023 it was the wealthy professionals who got on board the weight-loss train. Upper-middle-class Americans who lived in nice urban neighborhoods or expensive suburbs who'd struggled with weight for years suddenly losing massive amounts in record time.

Then the flood happened in 2024.

Ozempic filtered its way through the general middle class population. Anyone with health insurance. US obesity rates stopped growing for the 1st time in a decade, with help from weight loss medications. Pictures popped up of before and after photos all over instagram and reddit of normal people losing weight. Meanwhile, the Pharma company that produced the drug surged to a market value bigger than the country it is located in, Denmark.

Although these drugs have been available for years for diabetics only, it was never scaled to the general population like this. Journalists hailed this drug as a miracle that’s going to stop the terrible obesity epidemic. The drugs became so popular we started to see side effects we never knew existed with this drug. Like Ozempic face. 

That’s because as much as 40% of the weight dropped on these drugs comes from loss of muscle mass rather than fat. We're even seeing signs of bone loss in patients of this drug. People sometimes have a sickly look to them, especially if they don't lift weights.

Even more unexpected discoveries popped up with the pharma use. Users reporting less interest in alcohol. Nicotine cravings disappearing. Compulsive behaviors, gambling, nail-biting, online shopping, just stopping. People describing fundamental changes in their relationship with pleasure itself. This is bigger than just a weight loss drug. This was a drug about behavior and pleasure seeking.

My Experiment with Ozempic

In 2024, I decided to try Ozempic for six weeks. Not because I needed it, I just wanted to see what this new super drug does to you. Don’t trust anyone writing about a substance without actually having done them. Skin in the game.

The first two weeks: nothing. Maybe I felt slightly less interested in lunch, but that could have been anything. Then week three hit and I woke up with this strange absence. No hunger. Not "I'm not that hungry", literally no hunger. I lost ten pounds without thinking about it. Without wanting food. Without wanting much of anything, really.

But other things started disappearing too. I lost cravings for the food I loved, like steak. But I expected that. What I didn’t expect is that I drove the speed limit more. I ordered one drink of alcohol instead of three. I stopped getting into pointless arguments with people. My sex drive flatlined. Ideas that used to excite me felt distant. Muted.

Recent research supports that something is going on we don’t know. For example, men taking semaglutide for weight loss were more likely to develop erectile dysfunction and low testosterone levels, the opposite of what weight loss typically produces. 'We know that weight loss generally has a positive effect on testosterone levels and sexual function, and as it turned out, the data showed the exact opposite,' says Joseph Sonstein, MD.

What Happens to Us When We Are On Ozempic

To understand what Ozempic does to us, you first need to understand what your body is supposed to do naturally. Every time you eat, nutrients hitting your small intestine trigger the release of GLP-1, a hormone that's essentially your body's satisfaction signal. It tells your brain: "You've had enough. Stop eating now."

It's an elegant system that evolved over millions of years. You feel hungry, you eat, you feel satisfied, you stop. Ozempic hijacks this system.

Instead of your natural, meal-triggered GLP-1, you're injecting synthetic GLP-1. The drug doesn't amplifies your natural satiety response. Food sits in your stomach like a stone. You finish breakfast and feel full until dinner, not because you're satisfied, but because your digestive system has essentially been put on pause.

@whospidey

How Ozempic Helps with Weight Loss and Diabetes Management 😮

But the interesting part of Ozempic and GLP-1s are the effects on dopamine pathways and reward circuits. This is all still emerging. The mechanisms aren't fully understood yet

It does seem like synthetic GLP-1 doesn't stay in your gut. It crosses into your brain and starts rewiring your reward system. Your brain has ancient pleasure centers that light up whenever you encounter something you want. Food, obviously. But also sex, risk-taking, the thrill of a good argument, the rush of buying something expensive, the dopamine hit of social media likes. These circuits don't distinguish between "good" desires and "bad" ones. They just signal: want this, pursue this, this matters.

When you mute these areas, you’re not just suppressing overeating, you’re suppressing the neural signature of pleasure seeking. The same circuit that makes you reach for cake makes you reach for a lover’s hand, a paintbrush, or a risky business venture. Evolution didn’t build a ‘junk food button’, it built a life force button.

Essentially, this a drug that involves chemical personality modification. This is unexpected. We thought we were just losing weight.

In This Newsletter

Obesity can kill you. If you can’t do it through diet and exericse (LINDY), then these drugs could save your life If you're carrying an extra hundred pounds. The health benefits are real, immediate, undeniable.

But we're also conducting the largest neurological experiment in human history. The question isn't whether these drugs work. The question is what version of humanity we're creating. Biology doesn't give you anything for free. There's always a trade-off. Always a price.

1) Risk 1: Long-Term Dependency. 

This drug is a life sentence. Stop taking Ozempic and you will regain much of the weight within twelve months if you don’t change habits.

2) Risk 2: Suppressing The Pleasure Drive.

The same neural pathways that make you overeat also make you start companies, chase lovers, create art, take risks. Ozempic doesn't distinguish.

Long-Term Dependency

There are two kinds of prescription drugs. The temporary kind, antibiotics when you're sick, painkillers after surgery. Take them, get better, stop. Then there are the forever drugs. Statins for cholesterol. Blood pressure medication. Antidepressants. You start taking them and you never really stop.

Ozempic is pretending to be the first kind. But it’s actually the second.

Subscribe to Premium to read the rest.