Sex File: Has Ozempic killed my libido?
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Ozempic was launched in 2017 to help people with type 2 diabetes to regulate their insulin levels, but its adoption as a weight-loss drug is much more recent. To get medical approval, the manufacturers had to prove that it was safe and effective, but side effects such as any impact on sexual function would not have been considered.
Like all new medications, Ozempic has various side effects, the most common being nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, diarrhoea and constipation, but recently there have been rumblings about its impact on libido and sexual function.
This year a study from the University of Texas looked at medical insurance claims in the US and found a link between prescriptions for semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic) and for phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors, the active ingredient in drugs for erectile dysfunction such as Viagra. Men in the semaglutide group were also more likely to receive a diagnosis of testosterone deficiency compared with the control group. Clearly, more work needs to be done to explore this, but it is worth pointing out that all the men in both groups were obese, and there is a well-known relationship between obesity and sexual dysfunction. There is no comparative research on the impact of Ozempic on female libido, and if there were, removing the confound of obesity would be equally important.
If your weight has dropped very quickly, the psychological impact will have been as profound as the physical transformation. Losing vast amounts of weight in a relatively short space of time can be life-changing, but it can also be very confusing. Many women go through their entire adult life believing that everything would be better if they could just get thinner. For these women Ozempic may be the much longed-for magic bullet, but what a lot of people find is that losing weight doesn't change anything other than the size of their trousers.
You don't write about the state of your relationship, just that you have lacked sexual confidence in the past, so I wonder whether you thought that your weight was what was coming between you and sexual pleasure, and now that you can't blame being overweight you are being forced to consider other possibilities.
I should add that there is an alternative, much simpler explanation for your loss of interest in sex. You are almost certainly consuming far fewer calories than you used to, so you may just have less energy - and let's face it, no one feels in the mood for sex when they are tired and hungry. Making sure you are eating enough to maintain your energy levels may help to boost your libido, even if it means you lose weight more slowly.
The other thing you need to do is introduce strength training. The weight that you have lost will have included muscle mass, and as muscle diminishes so does strength, stamina and resting metabolic rate. Strength training will keep you toned, and research suggests that it can also temporarily increase testosterone levels, which may in turn increase your libido.
Finally, any issues with your libido may be short-term, but losing weight will have lifelong benefits for you, so don't give up.
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