You're taking it for your health.

mrsconn23

Dear Prudence,

I don’t know how to tell my wife that I’ve started taking Ozempic. I am diabetic. For several years, I have worn a continuous glucose monitor and taken metformin. Unfortunately, the metformin gives me awful “gastrointestinal distress,” so I can’t take the full dose I actually need. My blood sugar is OK, but it could be better. Recently, my doctor recommended trying Ozempic instead (it is covered by my insurance with a normal co-pay). After two months, the Ozempic is working great. It does have its own weird side effects, but I’m no longer afraid to venture more than 50 feet from a bathroom. I haven’t lost any weight, but my blood sugar numbers have already improved dramatically. I haven’t had a high blood sugar alert from my glucose monitor in weeks. My problem is telling my wife.

She is very firmly (and loudly) against Ozempic. She doesn’t really say she thinks Ozempic is “cheating” at weight loss—she is more upset about so many people taking drugs that may have serious side effects in order to conform to problematic ideas about weight and health. I think she has a point! But she has been so outspoken on the subject that I feel like she would see my prescription as a rebuke. I don’t want to fight about this. It’s not really up for discussion anyway. If I tell her, I can only see two outcomes: Either there would be pointless conflict over a medical decision I’ve already made or she would feel like I was criticizing her and keep her real opinion quiet. Neither of those is a fight I want to pick. So I guess my question is: Do I actually need to tell her?

—Stealth Semaglutide

banana468

I would have started by asking where she went to medical school.    I'm no physician and I'm sick and tired of listening to people who went to FoxNews Google medical school as if they know more than the physicians we use.

So at this point talk to her and remind her that people using Ozempic for weight loss are using it for off brand results and your physician whom you trust with your care has prescribed this for your DIABETES treatment. 

Then be clear that you have no intention of not taking it and your involving her in the notification that you're on it is because your wife should be aware of what you're taking in the event of a medical emergency but not because she makes decisions for you. 

Casadena

banana468 said:

I would have started by asking where she went to medical school.    I'm no physician and I'm sick and tired of listening to people who went to FoxNews Google medical school as if they know more than the physicians we use.

So at this point talk to her and remind her that people using Ozempic for weight loss are using it for off brand results and your physician whom you trust with your care has prescribed this for your DIABETES treatment. 

Then be clear that you have no intention of not taking it and your involving her in the notification that you're on it is because your wife should be aware of what you're taking in the event of a medical emergency but not because she makes decisions for you. 

This exactly. I have no additional advice.

charlotte989875

Tell her your doctor prescribed it because for you the benefits outweigh the side effects and you’re using it as prescribed. Explain that you’ve seen substantial improvements and you’re going to continue taking it and monitoring for side effects under the care of your doctor. You can be open to her questions without making it seem like you’re willing to stop taking it. 

short+sassy

Imagine.  People using a T2 medication to treat their T2 diabetes.  Smh.

Though to correct you, @banana468.  Semaglutide, which is the active ingredient in Ozempic, has also been approved by the FDA to treat obesity.  For obesity treatment, the drug is called Wegovy.  But it is exactly the same as Ozempic.  I'm pretty sure they do the name change for insurance reasons.  Because they are technically used to treat different medical conditions.

Oh no.  The "serious side effects".  When Metformin already has bad side effects for the LW.  So bad that he can't even take the right dose.

Do you know what also has serious side effects?  Running your average blood sugar level higher than it needs to be.

I think he should tell his wife.  It's hard to have a secret like this.  Especially a drug like Ozempic because it's not a pill.  It's an injection and the medication has to be refrigerated (but never frozen).  Though tell her with a rule that this is a course he and his doctor have decided is best, so he doesn't want to hear an argument from her.

With all that said, I'm on forums for a similar drug that I take (Mounjaro/Zepbound/tirzepatide).  There are people who hide it from their partners because they are worried they won't approve.  Tips on how to hide it in the fridge.  Women who buy those small cosmetic fridges to hide their medication.  It makes me sad for them and for ALL this stigma around a drug.  Just because it helps with weight loss.

I remember one woman talking about that she hides it from her b/f because she is worried he will throw it away.  A SLEW of people told her how abusive this is and encouraged her to leave him, but it didn't seem like she was going to.

On a brighter note, everyone I've told has been super supportive.  Though I realize I also have the "privilege" of being diabetic so it's "okay" for me to take it, in society's eyes.  Though maybe not for the LW's wife, lol.  I told my husband when I was just thinking about it and my worries it wouldn't work.  He was always supportive of me trying it and really loves it now that he's seen what a difference it's made with my health.

CharmedPam

At this point LW has taken it long enough to say to wife “I tested it, it does A, B, and C to me, which I’m willing to live with and most importantly it doesn’t do D, E and F like metformin did and/or not taking anything does.  If serious medical conditions occur, i’ll get off of it”.
what’s the harm of that?

short+sassy

CharmedPam said:

At this point LW has taken it long enough to say to wife “I tested it, it does A, B, and C to me, which I’m willing to live with and most importantly it doesn’t do D, E and F like metformin did and/or not taking anything does.  If serious medical conditions occur, i’ll get off of it”.
what’s the harm of that?

It was months before I told my mom I was taking tirzepatide.  Not because she has a negative opinion of GLP-1 medications, but because she is a worry wart.  That way, I could give her the full rundown on how it has affected me.

She was tearing up with emotion when I told her how much it's helped my diabetes and how much weight I've lost.

That's also a stance the LW can take with his wife.  Emphasize how much better his blood sugar numbers have been.  It's too soon for his next A1c, but that improvement will be more proof in the pudding also.

levioosa

I've shared that I took Ozempic. Or rather, the compounded version, and I paid OOP for it because I couldn't take the pain and the mental discouragement of being obese/overweight any more. It took me nearly 6-9 months to see meaningful weight loss while I continued a very healthy diet and exercising 1-4.5 hours a day. SIL A (who is allllways trying to lose weight despite the fact that she is very fit and thin objectively) talked shit about it to me. We had that whole spat on my birthday where she threw it in my face again and said some really awful things, then when we finally started talking again she mentioned she had found a "new" medication called "S-Factor" from a weight loss clinic. I was like hm, that sounds a lot like semaglutide, aka Ozempic/Wegovy. Yup, it sure was. So she shit talked and then went out and took it herself, even though she was not in the overweight or obese category and she had talked shit to me about it. I was pretty miffed but I just left it alone. It's irresponsible for these med spas to be prescribing it to people who just want to lose five pounds, who are completely within a normal BMI category. She lost 15 lbs in 1.5 month and nearly went into the underweight category, and I'm positive a lot of it was muscle mass, because she was telling me at the same time how she needs to get to the gym again because she feels so tired and weak (she never stopped exercising, just not weights). Sarcopenia is a known side effect that you have to be very careful to combat with the obesity medications. I had to keep my mouth shut so hard my jaw hurt. 

Luckily H was supportive. He was more worried about side effects (I got suuuper nauseous for awhile) and he wanted to make sure I was okay, but in the end he deferred to my knowledge and I'm sure it comforted him that I was monitoring my A1C, my labs, and I was making sure to take calcium and increase my protein intake in smaller portions to combat muscle and bone loss. Unfortunately med spas don't do any of that. If you're willing to pay they pretty much give it and that's that. 

And I feel for LW. It's a legitimate med for obesity. It's also a legitimate medication and originally intended for diabetes. Both have long term consequences. But if wife wants him around for a long time, she needs to suspend her opinions on the medication and look at the fact that elevated blood sugars have long term highly negative effects.