A man says a GLP-1 weight loss injection not only changed his body, but also seemed to affect his personality.
Ozempic is prescribed primarily for type 2 diabetes, not specifically for weight loss, but many people have used it to help shed pounds because it can reduce appetite. When paired with diet and exercise, that appetite suppression may support weight reduction for some patients.
The drug received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017 for diabetes treatment. It contains semaglutide, which works by mimicking GLP-1, a hormone involved in appetite regulation and feelings of fullness.
It’s typically taken as a once-weekly injection. Treatment often begins at 0.25mg and is increased gradually over time, up to a maximum of 2mg.
As reported by Today, some people taking GLP-1 medications have described possible side effects that go beyond physical changes. One patient, who has used injections for both weight loss and diabetes management, said he began noticing shifts in what he enjoyed and how he felt.
He said: “It was about three years in when I really started to discover that I was really not having the same amount of pleasure or seeking the same amount of pleasure in the activities I once enjoyed.
“Oddly enough, baseball was the first clue, I’ve always been an avid baseball fan… it was a couple of years into my GLP-1 journey that I realised I haven’t been following baseball at all.”
He suggested that as his weight dropped, so did the excitement he used to feel for certain hobbies.
Obesity specialist Dr Christopher McGowan said he’s also heard similar accounts from a growing number of patients, though the issue is not yet clearly understood.
He said: “It’s a little unclear how frequent it’s occurring because this was not studied in the original clinical trials, but what patients are telling us is a general decrease in interest, or pleasure in activities they previously enjoyed.”
While the reports remain anecdotal, Dr McGowan argued the theory fits with what researchers know about how GLP-1 drugs function in the body.
Dr McGowan added: “They target the hunger centers and the reward centers, and that’s why food tastes less delicious, you have less food noise… if that extends to other aspects of life, that can be problematic.
“The first thing I tell patients is report these symptoms to your medical team.”
The patient said he stopped taking the medication for six weeks, then restarted at a lower dose.