Cheri Ferguson has switched over to an Olympic pen from a vape pen.
Seven weeks ago, Ferguson recalls, “I thought, ‘You’re doing something about your weight; leave your vape at home,'” he said. Since then, she adds, she hasn’t picked it back up.
Ferguson is one of many users of Ozempic and comparable weight-loss medications who claim to have experienced a change in their interest in addictive behaviors like smoking and drinking.
Ferguson, a lifelong smoker, started Ozempic 11 weeks ago to shed the 50 pounds she had acquired as a result of the Covid-19 epidemic, which had caused her to become prediabetic.
In an effort to stop smoking, she resorted to vaping last summer, but she soon discovered that it was much more addicted. She said that after beginning Ozempic, that altered. Ferguson described the feeling as being like “someone just came along and turned the light on, and you can see the room for what it is.” “And all of these cigarettes and vapes you’ve smoked throughout the years don’t look good anymore. It’s very bizarre. It’s quite bizarre.
The impression, according to Ferguson, was similar to “someone just came along and turned the light on, and you can see the room for what it is.” “Additionally, you no longer like the way that all of those cigarettes and vapes that you’ve smoked throughout the years appear. It’s really strange. It’s very strange.
To learn more about semaglutide’s long-term impact on hunger, Tronieri is conducting a clinical investigation. Semaglutide is the generic name for Ozempic, which is approved for treating diabetes, and Wegovy, which is approved for helping people lose weight. She has conducted several lifestyle change experiments, but never had subjects express this level of sentiment towards drinking.
On the other hand, when it comes to semaglutide, “people sort of describe, You know what, I’m just not really interested in it anymore. She said, “I don’t feel like drinking.
When they inquire as to whether the medicine may be to blame, she responds, “There is some reason to believe that could be one of the effects, but there is not enough evidence to say so with certainty.”
This problem is being researched at the National Institutes of Health by Dr. Lorenzo Leggio. He just released a study with a group of scientists demonstrating how semaglutide decreases rats’ alcohol consumption.
Because they have an impact on the brain as well as the stomach, medications like semaglutide, which belong to the GLP-1 analogue class, may affect interest in substances like alcohol, according to Leggio.
“We believe that at least one of the mechanisms of how these drugs reduce alcohol drinking is by reducing the rewarding effects of alcohol, such as those related to a neurotransmitter in our brain, which is dopamine,” the man stated. Therefore, these drugs could make drinking alcohol less enjoyable.
Leggio said his team is researching if semaglutide affects fentanyl use disorder in order to determine whether their effects go beyond those of drinking and smoking. People using Ozempic have claimed that it has assisted them in stopping compulsive behaviors like nail-biting and online shopping.
The brain systems that control addictive behaviors often “have a great deal of overlap,” according to Leggio. Therefore, it’s likely that drugs like semaglutide may aid those struggling with a range of addictive behaviors by working on this particular brain process.
