And on to Ozempic

Start Weight in November 2023:⟫ 207.7 kg 457.9 lbs

Current Weight in January 2024:⟫ 195.2 kg 430.3 lbs

Eating Plan:⟫ Ozempic 0.5 mg

Shocker of shockers, my doctor’s appointment was not to discuss the Trulicity but to talk to me about the Oviva programme. It’s a funded VLCD whereby they take you through a 12-week meal replacement then help you come off of that safely. I did actually look into this last year and self-referred. It took ages for them to come back to me, and when they did they said they needed more information from my surgery. I got in touch with the surgery to find out what the hold-up was, and was asked to forward the email to them and they would handle it.

(Narrator:) They did not, in fact, handle it.

Oviva discharged me from their programme due to non-response, so I chased the surgery again. Same person I spoke to who remembered me but ultimately, what I got back was that it was too late and they would have to start the referral process again.

Hence the phone call!

Anyhow, I explained about that snafu and also about the Trulicity being out of stock and we had a really good conversation. She was extremely impressed with how I’d done whilst taking the Trulicity and could completely understand my desire to continue on some kind of semaglutide, but ultimately it was down to supply issues. We spoke about Rybelsus and Ozempic and what was easiest to get hold of, and we decided Ozempic at 0.5mg was the easiest to get hold of at the moment so we would go with that and review the situation in six weeks.

She also moved me to a higher dose of Metformin in slow release form as she thought it made sense to get the best out of all of the medications I was taking, and also changed my Atorvastatin. It was quite possibly one of the most positive medical interactions I’ve had apart from the nurse who takes care of my Endocrinology appointments who I would marry if I could because she’s just so incredibly supportive and kind, even when our conversations stray from diabetes etc.

I didn’t want to make the swap to Oviva when the semaglutide is working for me – I’ve done VLCDs so often in the past and although I can lose weight, it’s so difficult to stick to. It made no sense to me to go back to that when I was finding that Trulicity was working for me.

Stripes picked up the prescription and I admit, I was a little squeamish. The thing about Trulicity injections is that it’s like a pen where the actual needle is pretty much completely hidden – spring release, ouch and done. This felt way more deliberate – opening and screwing on the needle, the test where you get a droplet of Ozempic on the tip of the needle (should have taken a picture as it would have looked so cool), then injection site and press, count to six. I hate needles – always have, which is kinda hysterical if you could see just how many tattoos I have – but I have to be completely honest and say not only did I not feel this needle, I was pretty much convinced that I had messed up and nothing had gone in!

The effects feel different – or maybe it’s the change to different type and amount – but the overly-full, nauseous feeling I was used to from Trulicity wasn’t there. In fact, the best way to describe it is a kind of big nothing – I don’t feel hungry, don’t feel sick, don’t feel much of anything when it comes to the whole food thing. But I think it is working. I saw an advert for the new McDonald’s Steakhouse and I thought that looked absolutely gorgeous and yes, I wanted some. I could picture it in my mind, as well as the hot, crispy, salty fries and how they would taste on my tongue – heck yeah.

Dinner time and the thought of the burger made me feel ‘meh’. Like, was it worth any potential gastrointestinal distress for a burger? And somehow my brain said nah, let’s not bother. And that was it – no back and forth about whether I really wanted it or not, would it taste as good as the adverts made it look, no bartering with myself about what I wouldn’t have if I decided to have the burger. It was just – nah not today.

I don’t know if anyone other than a ‘food addict’ or however you would describe some people who suffer with food noise, but this was pretty wild for me – even after ten weeks on Trulicity. With Trulicity, it was often the fear of the consequences that stopped me over-eating or choosing the ‘wrong’ things – that and the ever-present lump in my throat and feeling like everything I’d eaten was just sitting there, making my stomach and chest feel heavy. This wasn’t so much fear of the consequences as lack of real inclination to bother with that food.

The constipation is still real but I’m pretty sure that’s a leftover from Trulicity and I won’t see if Ozempic is going to affect me the same way for a little while. And I know it’s only been a couple of days so things might change in terms of this but I think that so far this is the smoothest transition I could have hoped for. And of course, I need to keep my eye on the supply issues so that I know what’s going on. I have three weeks’ worth left and a whole lot can happen in three weeks.