This TikTok influencer opens up about her struggles with Ozempic, the popular weight-loss drug.
You can’t scroll through TikTok It’s impossible to hear women talking about Ozempic (or any celebrity story, for that matter). One popular TikTokker and model, Remi Bader, is opening up about the side we don’t often hear when it comes to Ozempic—what happens when you stop taking it.
“I’m like, almost annoyed that it’s this trendy thing now when I went on it for actual issues,” she tells Amanda Hirsch on the popular Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast. Though according to Bader, she was prescribed Ozempic before it was “trendy.”
What is Ozempic, you ask?
OzempicThe medication, also known as semaglutide (generic name), is used to increase blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes. Ozempic, an FDA-approved prescription medication, is also used to aid weight loss. It stimulates insulin production and targets brain areas that regulate appetite. The medication is administered an injection under your skin once a week, and it’s usually self-injected.
In recent years, people have been sharing their experiences with Ozempic and (both diabetic and non-diabetic-related) weight loss on social media. It has become so popular that, according to the FDA websiteThere is a shortage of this drug.
On the podcast, Bader said she didn’t feel Ozempic was the best treatment for her. While she did lose weight, when she stopped taking it her binge-eating disorder—which she says she’s struggled with for years—returned with a vengeance.
“They said I You are required this. And I had a lot of mixed feelings,” she said of doctors prescribing her the drug. “A few months later I went off it and got into the bad binging.”
“I saw a doctor and they were like, it’s 100% because I went on Ozempic,” Bader continued. “It was making me think I wasn’t hungry for so long, I lost some weight. I didn’t wanna be obsessed with being on it long term. I was like, I bet the second I got off I’m gonna get starving again. That’s what I did and my binging became so much worse. So then I kind of blamed Ozempic.”
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Once she stopped taking it, Bader claims she “gained double the weight back” after stopping the medication and she thinks it really should just be used for patients with diabetes.
Hollywood and Ozempic
Hollywood, as a whole, has contributed to the Ozempic craze beyond the influence of social media. Last year, Variety It was reported that the drug is now a common part of celebrities’ lives.
Moguls, reality starlets, veteran film producers and, of course, actors are quietly singing the drug’s praises on Signal, the encrypted messaging app mostly used for confidential conversations. Celebrities’ hair, makeup and styling staffs have begun to accept injections as part their grooming routines before major events. In a matter of months, it has become the worst-kept secret in Hollywood – especially given that its most enthusiastic users are not pre-diabetic and do not require the drug. It is currently being provided by nutritionists and doctors, but rumours suggest that you could also find the drug in Arizona’s medical spas.
It’s been rumored that stars like Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Mindy Kaling, and even Adele have used the drug to “slim down.”
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While there are many problematic elements at play here—a diabetes medication being used to help celebrities fit into gowns isn’t a great look—if societal fatphobia wasn’t as horrific as it is, this would, arguably, be a non-issue. But given the way the fat population is treated by the medical community, Hollywood, social media, fashion brands, etc., it’s honestly understandable why people would gravitate to injecting themselves weekly for $1200-$1500 a month just to fit societal beauty standards. Is it “right?” Well, assigning morality to food and thinness is how diet culture prospers, so that’s not for anyone to say, really. It’s an unfortunate truth, but a truth nonetheless.
Dr. Caroline Apovian, co-director of the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, tells PEOPLE that the increase in demand for Ozempic is concerning because those in need of the drug aren’t getting it.
“We’re not talking about stars who need to lose 10 pounds,” Apovian says. “We’re talking about people who are dying of obesity, are going to die of obesity. You’re taking away from patients with diabetes,” she continued. “We have lifesaving drugs… and the United States public that really needs these drugs can’t get them.”