A hedge fund allegedly banned its traders from taking Ozempic. The theory, as one tech investor put it: “GLP-1s reduce appetite for risk. They cause anhedonia. People’s personalities change. They stop drinking, gambling. It takes your edge away.” I read that and felt my chest tighten. Because my father drank himself to death at 54. … Read more
I sat in a cardiologist’s waiting room last October — not as a patient, but as a journalist working on a story about women and heart disease. The TV in the corner was playing a segment about “Ozempic face.” The woman next to me, probably 60, turned and said, “My daughter wants to stop her … Read more
A reader named Katie messaged me in January and perfectly captured something I’ve been trying to explain to doctors for two years: “Month one on Ozempic was amazing. Month two, the scale went UP three pounds, the nausea came back worse than ever, and I almost quit. Then my period started and everything was fine … Read more
My sister called me on a Tuesday night, halfway through a bottle of rosé, reading me numbers off her phone. “Charlotte, it says women lose more weight on Ozempic than men. Like, significantly more. Why didn’t my doctor mention this?” Because her doctor probably didn’t know. And because the real story behind those numbers is … Read more
My cousin Angela called me three weeks ago. She’s 36, has PCOS, was told five years ago she’d likely need IVF to conceive. She’s been on research-grade semaglutide for four months. She wasn’t calling to talk about her weight loss. She was calling because she was pregnant. “Is this… is this an Ozempic baby thing?” … Read more
I interviewed an endocrinologist last spring — sharp woman, runs a packed practice in Atlanta — and asked her how she approaches PCOS now that GLP-1 drugs are on the table. She went quiet for a long time. Then: “Honestly? I’m still mostly prescribing metformin and spironolactone. The GLP-1 data looks promising but I haven’t … Read more
I’ve been a health journalist for twelve years. I’ve covered diabetes, cardiovascular disease, women’s health, and now the GLP-1 revolution. And I don’t think I’ve ever been this angry about an information gap. Three out of four people taking GLP-1 medications are women. 76%. Not a slight majority — an overwhelming one. In any other … Read more