After five months on Ozempic, I have discovered a miracle side effect – but there’s still one downside no one seems to want to talk about…

We had barely been in the nightclub for an hour when I turned to my husband and said, “I’m sorry, I’m going back to the hotel.” I really don’t feel great.’ He seemed as disappointed as I felt.

We’d flown to a popular island destination for a much-needed vacation without the kids, hoping to recapture those heady days when we first met, when we’d drink late and go clubbing until dawn.

But this time it all seemed hollow. That desire for hedonism had just disappeared. All the things I used to love made me feel… nothing.

It wasn’t until I came across a column in the Daily Mail that I realized what was behind it.

Ozempic, the weight-loss drug I’d been taking for the past five months, had not only helped me shed the pounds, but had also affected the pleasure I got from other things.

The miracle weight loss drug had dramatically affected my relationship with alcohol and food.

I pretty much stopped drinking from the moment I started. And as a forty-something who still had a bit of a reputation as a party girl, the impact on my life was enormous.

The decision to take Ozempic – first formulated to treat type 2 diabetes and later known for its weight loss effects – was not one I took lightly. (Another brand, Wegovy, has since launched exclusively in Australia to treat weight loss.)

I was 42 and had had a baby two years earlier. Despite eating healthily and staying fit (I had a personal trainer, had run a marathon and taken on various exercise challenges), I couldn’t lose the weight.

At 160cm tall and weighing over 76kg, I was medically classified as obese. I simply didn’t recognize myself.

I spoke to some friends who were using Ozempic and researched their medical paperwork before sending my details and photos to an online pharmacy who agreed I was a suitable candidate.

Shortly after I started taking it five months ago, it changed my attitude towards food: not only does it dampen hunger pangs, but I also noticed that I wasn’t craving my usual favorites.

I used to think, “I really want a pizza,” or “I’d like a sandwich to go,” or long for some home comforts like a cheesy baked potato.

But none of that was there. It was a strange suppression of my food cravings.

And it had the same effect when it came to alcohol. I work in digital marketing and do quite a bit of customer entertainment. I love margaritas, espresso martinis, champagne – or at least I used to.

But after taking Ozempic, nothing tasted good. It was bitter or sour, and when I drank alcohol, I didn’t get the buzz from the drink that I did.

In the past, when I was out with a client, we might have a few cocktails and a few bottles of wine over dinner. When I was out with friends, we would drink champagne or margaritas. When I went to the club with my husband and friends at the weekend, we would have two or three gin and tonics before leaving the house, and in the evening it wouldn’t be unusual for me to have eight or nine vodka sodas.

But on Ozempic I stopped drinking alcohol completely.

Most people knew I was on a health kick, even though I hadn’t told them I was taking Ozempic, so it wasn’t hard to explain the change in my behavior. And if anyone wondered where I got the willpower, they didn’t ask. I still went out with clients and friends, but I ordered one drink and nursed it with a bottle of sparkling water all night long.

Of course, ditching the booze undoubtedly helped with weight loss, but I also experienced the other benefits of being sober. I slept better (when I wasn’t in the mood for the little one), and because I wasn’t hungover, my productivity improved and I was better able to deal with toddler tantrums.

While it’s entirely possible that I would have ditched alcohol one day without Ozempic, I also didn’t complain that the drug had forced me into a life of sobriety.

However, that evening in Ibiza surprised me. I had had some sangria earlier that evening and I think the unexpected sugar injection hit me hard. That’s the thing about Ozempic, I don’t know if it’s physiological or psychological, but it makes you want to make healthier choices and live healthier.

And when you don’t, you really feel it.

Ozempic – mainly prescribed to treat type 2 diabetes – can help people lose weight

The rest of the trip was the same. We had tickets to some of our favorite clubs, but my heart wasn’t in it. At 1am, with no booze to keep me going, I just didn’t feel like staying up. I also didn’t want to fall into bed for the kind of action we enjoyed pre-baby.

Losing weight with Ozempic has made me much happier with my body – after eight months I’m now close to my target weight of 54 kg (8.5 or 120 lbs), so I feel more comfortable wandering around in my underwear or naked – but it hasn’t boosted our sex life.

To be honest, I’m not sure I can blame my low libido solely on Ozempic. Having a toddler who doesn’t sleep has a big impact on that front, and my husband doesn’t have a particularly high sex drive, so often I was the one to initiate it.

But lately he’s been the one suggesting an “early night” and I’ve just gone along with it. There’s no doubt that Ozempic has changed the way I feel and respond to things I used to enjoy, but I’m starting to think it’s affecting me in the bedroom too.

If so, I hope I get my libido back when I get off it. Once I reach my target weight, I try to maintain it without the injections.

I feel like my brain has been reprogrammed when it comes to food. I can’t imagine going out and ordering a huge pizza, or craving something sweet like I used to. I’m not sure if the same goes for alcohol, but I know that staying away from booze helps me stay slim.

Until I started taking Ozempic and stopped drinking, I hadn’t realized that a night out would knock back 3,000 calories on drinks alone. And morning workouts (and waking up) are much more fun when you’re not working through a hangover.

I’d like to think the new, sober me is here to stay. But it remains to be seen whether Ozempic has temporarily tamed the party girl in me, or banished her forever.