The popularity of Ozempic and other weight-loss drugs continues to soar, with everyone from Elon Musk to Oprah Winfrey admitting they've been taking the so-called skinny jabs. However, with these semaglutide injections being typically used as an anti-diabetes medicine, helping people lose weight wasn't their primary purpose.
The health world still seems divided by Ozempic, Mounjaro, Wegovy, and the rest, with drawbacks like fears of pancreatitis and a potential mental health pandemic being discussed in the same debates as supposed benefits.
As well as losing weight, champions of the skinny jab claim it could be used to help reverse liver disease. Others are getting more intimate and have spoken about the supposed 'Ozempic penis' that can make your member look bigger.
Sticking with saucy topics of conversation, others are concerned about another unwanted side effect.
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Over on the r/Ozempic subreddit, one user shared their personal story and claimed that they're suffering from a massively reduced sex drive since starting their dosage.
The OP wrote: "I have been on Ozempic for about 3-4 months and I feel like my sex drive has disappeared. Anyone else found this? Female, by the way."
It's not just women, as someone else said: "I've been Ozempic on and off for two years. At lower doses it didn't change sex drive. Now, at 2mg, it feels like my penis is broken. Like even with viagra can barely get it up. Before Ozempic, no problems at all.
Another added: "Ozempic takes the joy out of a lot of stuff. Food tastes bland, alcohol isn’t enjoyable, and sex is whatever. Even hobbies aren’t enjoyable. But hey, I lost 35 lbs!"
Not everyone was concerned, with someone else concluding: "I've mentioned this before, I have zero sex drive in the almost 2 years I've been on glp1s. But I'm single and it's allowed me to focus on my career. So it's not a loss to me."
In contrast to this, Dr. James Simon, a reproductive endocrinologist, OBGYN and clinical professor at George Washington University, told The Wall Street Journal how Ozempic could lead to better sex: "These drugs do work in the same places that pleasure and sexual interest are located in the human brain—male and female."
The outlet spoke to several users who reported having rampant sex lives since taking these medications, with Dr. Taylor Kohn, a fellow in male reproductive medicine and surgery in the Department of Urology at Baylor College of Medicine, suggesting they could improve erectile dysfunction.
The study noted how "obese, non-diabetic men were slightly more likely to have a diagnosis of erectile dysfunction or prescription to a drug treating the condition after starting semaglutide than those who hadn’t taken semaglutide." Still, Kohn added: "We know that if you reverse cardiovascular disease, erectile dysfunction improves as well.”
A quick search of Reddit comes up with posts titled everything from "Anybody else dealing with an insatiable desire for sex?" to "Anyone had their *ahem* sexual desire plummet on Ozempic?"
It seems that it's different for everyone, and while some of you would rather just curl up with a good book, it sounds like others are ravenous between the sheets on their skinny jabs.