I used to be a happy drunk — Ozempic made me a sad…
Welcome to The Thin Line, The New York Post’s collection about the darker facet of GLP-1 medication. Though GLP-1 agonists offered under model names like Ozempic have helped thousands and thousands of people lose weight, handle diabetes and improve other health situations, they aren’t without dangers. Check back for more tales about the lesser-known downsides of these wildly in style drugs.
Trey Luker-Stewart was prepared for a change.
“For the longest time, I was using eating as an activity,” the 29-year-old Texan told The Post. “We don’t have mountains or an ocean here in Dallas. We just love to shop, eat and drink.”
So two years in the past, he determined to break the cycle. Like thousands and thousands of Americans, Luker-Stewart went on a GLP-1 weight-loss drug — and rapidly watched 60 kilos soften away.
Trey Luker-Stewart is a 29-year-old from Dallas, Texas who used GLP-1 drugs to lose weight. Courtesy Trey Luker-Stewart
But the slimmer waistline got here with a curveball he didn’t see coming. “I was always a super happy drunk, but once I got on Ozempic, I wasn’t,” he admitted. “I became a lot more emotional.”
Suddenly, the carefree nights he spent sipping drinks at the neighborhood watering gap with pals began to really feel something but enjoyable.
“Something that was once a fun thing to do now made me anxious and upset,” Luker-Stewart said. “I start overthinking everything and my feelings get hurt easier.”
The next morning is even worse.
“Before, I could wake up after drinking at 7 a.m. and go to the gym and be productive,” Luker-Stewart said. “But once I started taking a GLP-1, I was down for the count ‘til lunchtime.”
And that was after just one or two drinks.
For Luker-Stewart, a real estate agent who also owns a bar, Ozempic — and later tirzepatide, the lively ingredient in medication like Mounjaro and Zepbound — hasn’t just affected his nightlife; it’s taken a chunk out of business, too.
“In Dallas overall, we’ve seen a 35% drop in alcohol sales across the board, and I think a lot of that has to do with GLP-1s,” he said. “I know I’m not the only one that feels this way when they go out.”
After beginning GLP-1s, Luker-Stewart discovered that his expertise ingesting alcohol had shifted. Courtesy Trey Luker-Stewart
Doctors say he’s onto one thing.
“The truth is, GLP-1 agonists alter your reward system,” said Dr. James J. Chao, co-founder and chief medical officer of VedaNu Wellness, who works with sufferers taking the medication.
“When you drink, that warm, comforting glow you feel after knocking back a few might not happen,” he explained. “It could feel worse. It could feel like nothing at all.”
To perceive why, it helps to know what these blockbuster obesity and diabetes remedies are doing inside the physique.
GLP-1s work by mimicking hormones that your intestine usually releases after eating. Those hormones help control blood sugar, regulate urge for food and quiet cravings — which is why the medication can be so efficient for weight loss.
But they don’t just act on the abdomen. They also have an effect on the mind.
One key goal is a tiny, pea-sized area identified as the habenula, which performs a major position in how we expertise reward, motivation and aversion.
GLP-1s are diabetes and weight loss remedies that have skyrocketed in recognition in current years. Deborah – stock.adobe.com
“When the habenula is on, it causes all kinds of trouble, including cravings and withdrawal symptoms,” said Dr. Kyra Bobinet, a doctor and behavioral neuroscience professional. “It really drives us to use.”
substances like Ozempic seem to dial that system down. When the drugs attain the mind and bind to receptors in the habenula, they cut back the compulsive pull behind behaviors like overeating — often described by sufferers as “food noise.”
That’s one cause why GLP-1s are now being studied as potential instruments for treating or stopping substance use problems. Researchers suspect they could curb reward-seeking conduct and cut back cravings for people struggling with issues like alcohol, nicotine and opioids — though we’re still fairly a few years away from them being coated by insurance coverage fort that function.
“Am I bummed about it? A little bit, because I used to be a fun drunk. But it’s better for my health.”Trey Luker-Stewart
But the consequences could not be restricted to people with an dependancy. Experts say even informal drinkers like Luker-Stewart could discover their relationship with booze altering while taking GLP-1s.
“When the usual dopamine-driven euphoria is blunted, the emotional effects of alcohol can feel very different — more subdued, more introspective, or even dysphoric or ‘a sad drunk,’” said Dr. Fernando Ovalle Jr, a double board-certified plastic surgeon and obesity medication specialist.
The medication could also clarify why Luker-Stewart now pays a steeper price the morning after.
Luker-Stewart misplaced more than 60 kilos taking a GLP-1 — but he gained horrendous hangovers in the method. Courtesy Trey Luker-Stewart
“GLP-1s slow gastric emptying, which changes how alcohol is absorbed,” Ovalle said. “That can make intoxication feel delayed, prolonged, and in some cases, people feel ‘off’ the next day.”
There’s also a basic but often missed issue: People on GLP-1s have a tendency to eat and drink less.
“liquor consumed in a relatively dehydrated, under-fueled state, especially with low protein intake, will hit harder and produce worse hangovers,” Ovalle said. “That alone can explain severe next-day symptoms.”
And for many sufferers, their tolerance naturally drops along with the quantity on the size.
“Some people weigh significantly less than when they started GLP-1s, which would contribute to a lower alcohol tolerance,” Chao famous.
At one level, Luker-Stewart stopped taking the weight loss medication for about six months, happy with the kilos he’d shed.
His urge for food and cravings for food got here roaring back — but his previous expertise with ingesting didn’t.
“I expected the alcohol side effects to do the same thing as the food, but it didn’t really ever go away,” he said. “Am I bummed about it? A little bit, because I used to be a fun drunk. But it’s better for my health.”
Luker-Stewart and his husband, Zach, on a current hike.
Experts say there’s at the moment no strong evidence that GLP-1s completely change how the physique processes alcohol or alter customers’ mind chemistry in the long time period. But Bobinet suspects Luker-Stewart’s mind’s reward system could still have been adjusting.
“The habenula is an area of nerves that become calibrated to your lifestyle,” she said. “It might still be getting signals to be like how he was on a GLP-1.”
A Novo Nordisk spokesperson famous that there are “numerous studies” exploring the affiliation between GLP-1 use and reductions in behaviors sometimes linked to dependancy.
“GLP-1 receptor agonists are known to affect areas of the brain associated with controlling hunger and satiety and these are also home to the brain’s reward system,” the spokesperson said in a assertion shared with The Post.
These days, Luker-Stewart takes a upkeep dose of tirzepatide about once a month to help maintain his weight loss. His decrease tolerance for alcohol — and the rougher mornings that come with it — have caught around.
“It definitely changed something in me,” he said.
Still, Luker-Stewart believes the trade-off has been value it.
“I would not have lost 60 pounds any other way,” he said. “I’ve gone to the gym my whole life and nothing has given me the results that I received from a GLP-1, and ultimately, that’s what I was going for.”
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