Sunday mid-day speaks to a person who "scored" Ozempic injections on the grey market this year. Here's what happened, in his own words
Pic/iStock
I started using Ozempic three months ago. My decision to use the drug to lose weight wasn’t impulsive. I had tried multiple weight loss supplements, including apple cider vinegar, a blend of probiotics from various brands, physical exercise, and various diets, but nothing worked for long. However, when I discovered that there might be a quicker option with Ozempic, I decided to take action.
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I first consulted a well-known endocrinologist in Mumbai, who recommended that I undergo a full-body checkup before using the drug, including tests for my blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and other markers. Everything was normal, and I got a green signal to proceed.
Ozempic isn’t legally available in India in injectable form, which shows much faster results compared to the oral form. I managed to contact a medical dealer, who came across more like a peddler than a pharmacist. He shared that Ozempic is often smuggled in from Turkey or Dubai. I sourced authentic doses and had them verified by several doctors in my family.
Illustration/Uday Mohite
Then I began the regimen with the help of doctors in the family, starting with the 0.25 mg dose, which was supposed to be injected once weekly for four weeks. You’re supposed to use a micro-needle around the stomach’s fatty area. It doesn’t hurt much. Think of it as the slight prick you feel when testing blood sugar levels.
By the second month, it was time to escalate to the 0.5 mg dose. But I made a mistake. My eagerness to see quicker results made me skip a step, and I leapt straight to the 1 mg dose. As I feared, it caused side effects, like nausea, acid reflux, and dizziness. These symptoms occur anyway when you get started on the medication, but they were way more intense when I leapt directly to the 1 mg dose.
Over time, the body gets acclimatised to the drug. The maximum dose you can take is 2 mg, but that should be over a period of time. I know all this because I read up a lot before I began, and made sure that I am only reading from legit sources.
Pic/iStock
Ozempic definitely affected my diet. I went from easily demolishing a medium Domino’s cheeseburst pizza to feeling full after just one slice. It’s perhaps because Ozempic regulates insulin and suppresses appetite by “fooling” your brain. The shift in how much I eat eventually made me re-evaluate my eating habits by the third week, and I began choosing healthier food in general.
From a financial point of view, it’s not cheap. Ozempic set me back by Rs 25,000 per month. But now, there’s also Eli Lilly’s newer competitor drug, Mounjaro, which is more affordable by 20-25 per cent and legally available with a prescription. It will cost you R16,000 roughly. But by the time Mounjaro was launched in March, I was already committed to Ozempic for two months, so I decided to stick with it.
The results have been encouraging. In just two months, I shed 9 kg, roughly 7 per cent of my body weight. But it doesn’t work like a magic wand. Skipping doses or indulging in unhealthy habits, like the occasional pint or two, causes quick rebounds. I learned this after gaining back 1.5 kg during a two-week lapse when I was travelling.
Overall, Ozempic has caused a lifestyle shift for me. Today, I start my day with black coffee and protein shakes and follow a one-meal-a-day diet and consistent gym sessions. If I don’t prioritise nutrition, Ozempic can lead to muscle and bone density loss. That’s evident in many celebrities and influencers of late, whose faces look sunken. It’s called the “Ozempic face”.
If you want to properly lose weight without many side effects, it’s more about discipline than it is about the medication itself. I plan to use it for just a year, and then carry on with the routine it has helped me build.
9 KGs
Weight lost in two months
Rs 25,000
Monthly cost of the treatment
What is it?
Ozempic (semaglutide) is a medication that’s used to manage blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. It’s also used as an anti-obesity medication for long-term weight management. Its huge popularity among Hollywood stars and, reportedly among Bollywood stars too, led to an “Ozempic wave” in popular media.
Semaglutide is legally available in India, but only in its oral form (Rybelsus) for type 2 diabetes and weight management, not the injectable forms (Ozempic, Wegovy).
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