Untangling Ozempic

Everyone has heard about the Ozempic craze in our country. It is helping obese people lose weight, and it is helping overweight people drop 10-20 pounds that they have been wanting to lose. So, what exactly is it?

First off, Ozempic is a GLP-1 antagonist. What that means is it is a glucagon like peptide receptor agonist. What many people do not know is that GLP-1 is a naturally occurring hormone in every human beings intestinal tract that tells the body when to stop eating food. The intestinal tract has numerous GLP-1 receptor sites and the self made hormone is supposed to naturally attach to those GLP-1 receptors to tell the body that when we are eating, we need to increase insulin secretion, decrease glucagon secretion, slow down food digestion, and maintain blood sugar levels.

What else do we know? GLP-1 receptors are also associated with the brain. Specifically, the dopamine portion of the brain where addition resides (the striatum). Dopamine release is the euphoric high that people get from anything from bungee jumping to race car driving to snorting cocaine and using other drugs. Dopamine also plays a role in people who binge eat, use nicotine, consume too much alcohol, etc. Dopamine release is the brain telling the body to eat that second cookie, drink that 3rd beer, take that bump of cocaine, etc. It has been found the GLP-1 reduces the release of dopamine so you no longer get pleasure from the things that previously gave you a dopamine rush. I can anecdotally say that I know of 1 person who drank beer pretty frequently and in a decent quantity, and after starting Ozempic they can no longer drink beer at all. Half of a bottle and they are done and do not want anymore. Ozempic turned off the pleasure from the beer.

So to summarize before going into the next portion, Ozempic is a GLP-1 receptor antagonist, it is NATURALLY occurring in the body with receptor sites in the intestinal tract, it is supposed to naturally regulate our digestion to prevent overeating and fat storage, and control how fast food goes through our digestive system, maintain blood sugar, and reduces dopamine in the striatum reward system in the brain. People who do not take Ozempic have this same mechanism in their body. We all do. So, it is hypothesized that people who take Ozempic have a deficient GLP-1 system in their body. It is not working correctly. Which is why it was originally introduced as a diabetic medication because type 2 diabetes is typically insulin resistance (not releasing enough in the pancreas) and improper glucagon regulation. And typically, obesity is a major contributor to developing type 2 diabetes, so weight loss is beneficial to a diabetic.

So now we get to the problem with Ozempic. Remember……it is a naturally occurring hormone in our bodies. Pharma has taken something naturally occurring in the body, and has made a synthetic version of it, and is charging thousands of dollars for it. Here is the simple truth: GLP-1 hormones are peptides. Naturally occurring hormones and peptides cannot be patented. Pharma has to make a SYNTHETIC version of it, patent it, and patent the SYRINGE it comes in to charge $1500 per month for it. The Semaglutide peptide version of Ozempic is available all over the internet for around $80 per month. Ozempic, the synthetic version of the NATURALLY OCCURRING HORMONE is expensive due to the patented dosage and syringe it comes in. Read that again. Pharma has taken something we naturally have, and they have patented the DOSE AND THE SYRINGE PEN and charge you $1500 per month for it.

Where could problems happen with this? We do not really know how much the body naturally produces, or is supposed to produce. It is a constant feedback loop centered around food consumption and digestion. We cannot put a quantifiable number on how many milligrams of the synthetic version equate into what our body naturally produces or should naturally produce. This is where some people are getting into trouble with rapid weight loss, severe nausea and vomiting, constipation, and delayed gastric emptying. Their body makes GLP-1 already, and the *patented super special dose of Ozempic* is too much for their body. They are getting TOO MUCH GLP-1 when combining Ozempic with their naturally occurring GLP-1 hormone their body is producing. That is the elephant in the room no one wants to talk about. This is why some people are super successful with Ozempic with no side effects, and others have health issues. Much like other body deficiencies, there is enough of a good thing and too much of a good thing. Too much Vitamin C at once will land you on the toilet with a great case of the trots. Too much GLP-1 will cause gastric problems. It has to be a balance between what your body already has, what the deficiency is, and the supplement should be dosed to fix the deficiency, not a one size fits all.

Unfortunately with Ozempic, it is patented and dosed as a one size fits all. Which is way too much for some people, and the right dose for others. There is no way to measure GLP-1 in the body before starting Ozempic.

I take a neutral stance on GLP-1 and the use of it. I have seen it work wonders in my type 2 diabetic patients, and personally saw the benefit first hand for people I know. It is certainly a hot button topic and much like the Covid vaccine, it is your body and your right to choose what to do with it. I am not going to tell someone to use it or not, that is your personal choice. I wanted to share information about it so that people better understand what it is, how it came to be a fancy new expensive drug that pharma is making a boatload of money off of, and where it can cause problems. Tucker Carlson did a fantastic interview with a former Pharma Rep and they discussed the money that pharma is doling out to weight loss practices and they are being paid to prescribe Ozempic. I recommend that video, it is a worthy watch. Fair warning, it is not pro Ozempic, so for those of you that are taking the drug, if you choose to watch it, just know going into it that it is not a favorable report about Ozempic. The main issue the pharma rep reports is the massive money being made, the “you must be on it for life” stance to keep the drug making money for big pharma, and the side effects some people have had.