Today, Walgreens is offering a special two for one sale: Buy Ozempic at the regular price and receive a free prescription of Viagra. Plus two bottles of Five Hour Energy or a case of Red Bull.
Ozempic May Have Another Side Effect: Better Sex
Drugs used for weight loss have helped millions of people take control of their physical health. But some patients are reporting unexpected improvements to their intimate lives.
By Sara Ashley O’Brien
Aug. 10, 2024 10:00 am ET
Jacqueline Smith had a healthy sex life until she began taking Ozempic to lose weight. That’s when she noticed some dramatic changes. Smith, 35, and her husband of seven years went from having sex several times a week to doing so daily, sometimes more than once.
“This put it to the point where my husband was like, ‘I need a break,’” she says.
Smith, who lives in Greenville, Ohio, has lost 67 pounds and says she’s now taking the drug on and off. When she stops, she says, her sex drive slows down a bit. “It’s not all crazy wild.”
Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound have transformed the lives of millions of people, helping them control their appetites and lose weight that once seemed impossible to shed. They have shifted the obesity paradigm, demonstrating that the disease is rooted in biology, not willpower. Studies have also found that the drugs may reduce the risk of heart and kidney disease.
And for some patients, they have offered another benefit: a boost in their intimate lives.
‘We Have a Newfound Intimacy’
Danielle Dollar’s health was driving a wedge in her marriage. She suffers from severe polycystic ovary syndrome and endometriosis, which made it difficult to lose weight and control inflammation in her body.
Her struggle meant her husband had to pick up the slack with their three sons, especially with social activities like birthday parties. “If you don’t feel good about yourself, it’s just going to spill over,” Dollar, 41, says. “It definitely affected us romantically, our friendship, our relationship.”
Then she saw a TV ad from Ro, the telehealth company, about its weight loss program, and began taking Ozempic. Dollar has lost 85 pounds to date, and hopes to lose another 40. “The last eight months of our marriage is better than the last about 12 years of our marriage,” she says.
She and her husband, who live in Las Cruces, N.M., and have been married for 15 years, used to turn down invitations to go on group vacations because of her insecurities. But in December, they went on a trip to Puerto Rico with friends. They’ve instituted a standing Friday lunch date, usually at a local spot with a salad bar, but once a month they’ll indulge at a Mexican restaurant.
Before, she says, “it was more of me just trying to cater to him.” Now, “we have a newfound intimacy,” she added.
In online forums, people have dissected all aspects of the drugs, including how they’ve affected sex and relationships. “Anyone had their *ahem* sexual desire plummet on Ozempic?” reads one Reddit thread, while another prompts: “Anybody else dealing with an insatiable desire for sex?”
What Drugmakers and Researchers Say
While the popular medications from drugmakers Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly indicate there is potential risk for pregnant women and those hoping to conceive, they do not indicate sexual side effects on their labels. There has been little research examining the relationship between these drugs and sexual behavior in humans.
“We actively engage in monitoring, evaluating and reporting safety information for all our medicines,” a Lilly spokesperson said in a statement, adding that if a patient experiences side effects, “we encourage them to speak with their healthcare provider.”
A spokesperson for Novo Nordisk said it would continue to monitor reports of adverse drug reactions, including sexual dysfunction. “Patient safety is of utmost importance to Novo Nordisk,” the spokesperson said.
Biology could explain changes that some people are reporting. “These drugs do work in the same places that pleasure and sexual interest are located in the human brain—male and female,” says Dr. James Simon, a reproductive endocrinologist, OBGYN and clinical professor at George Washington University.
The drugs’ effects on the brain’s reward system are drawing the interest of global researchers, who are studying potential applications such as curbing alcoholism and drug addiction. While Wegovy and Zepbound are approved by the FDA for weight loss, Ozempic and Mounjaro, which contain the same active ingredients, are approved only for diabetes treatment.
Novo Nordisk is investigating whether semaglutide, the active ingredient in its Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus drugs, can treat alcohol-related liver disease. Other potential benefits are still coming to light. Some women who have struggled with fertility have reported accidental pregnancies while taking the drugs. Their experience could be attributed to improved health markers that relate to pregnancy or new research that has found tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound, can interfere with the effectiveness of oral birth control. Prescription labels for these drugs advise women to take additional precautions if using oral contraception.
The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, which studies sexuality, gender and reproduction, said it was not aware of significant research into how the drugs were impacting peoples’ sex lives to date. “Hundreds of thousands of people are taking these drugs, so it seems important we invest in understanding how they affect this core aspect of their lives,” said Camilla Peterson, a spokesperson for the Kinsey Institute.
Better Than Sex
In some cases, desire and performance have slumped. One recent study, published in May by the International Journal of Impotence Research, found obese, non-diabetic men were slightly more likely to have a diagnosis of erectile dysfunction or prescription to a drug treating the condition after starting semaglutide than those who hadn’t taken semaglutide. The research was based on medical records and insurance claims for roughly 6,000 men between the ages of 18 to 50 that met certain medical criteria.
“We are assured that the rates of this are very low,” says Dr. Taylor Kohn, a fellow in male reproductive medicine and surgery in the Department of Urology at Baylor College of Medicine who co-authored the study.
The Novo Nordisk spokesperson said it was not involved in the study or analysis and that there was not sufficient information to know if the drugs were being used in an approved manner.
Before the study, Dr. Kohn, who was at Johns Hopkins at the time, said a few men had filtered into the urology clinic citing a dampened desire for sex after they’d started taking a semaglutide-based drug. “If you go on Reddit or [online] forums, there is this complaint floating out there of people who just lose all desire to have sex,” he says. “Fortunately, I don’t think it’s the vast majority.”
In the long-run, Dr. Kohn said that the cardiovascular benefits of the drug likely would serve to positively impact the likelihood of erectile dysfunction in certain men. “We know that if you reverse cardiovascular disease, erectile dysfunction improves as well.”
He’s planning a follow-up study to analyze the impact of semaglutide on male sexual function over time.
Los Angeles native Jared Spencer, 36, found he struggled with erectile dysfunction after he began taking the semaglutide pill Rybelsus. He has struggled with weight his entire life. He was at his heaviest—310 pounds—when he started the medication.
Within about a month, he noticed he was having “performance issues.” He started taking Cialis, the erectile dysfunction medication. He has also paused Rybelsus while taking vacations, including a romantic getaway. “You’re still somewhat in a weakened state,” he says. “It’s not like the marathon that it could be before.”
He speculates the effects of Rybelsus, like reduced hunger cravings which result in eating much less and being less energized, may have contributed to the issue.
Still, Spencer says he’d take the weight loss over anything else. “I have a dating life now, which is something that I didn’t have before,” he says. “I’m apparently handsome.” His confidence and sleep have improved.
“If I had to give up sex entirely until this journey is over, I would do that,” he says.
‘A Complete 180’
After Amy Kane’s youngest child was born in April 2020, she struggled with postpartum depression amid the Covid-19 lockdown. At 300 pounds, she was feeling very insecure in her body.
“I didn’t even want to be touched really, in terms of even hugs and kisses and things of that nature,” she says.
But things took a turn when Kane, 35, was diagnosed with diabetes and had to make her health a priority. She started taking Mounjaro in 2022 and has lost 160 pounds. She said she and her husband, who live in Naperville, Ill., started going to couples therapy. Sometimes they’d follow their sessions with drinks. Eventually, the two quit counseling; their post-therapy drinks became a standing weekly dinner date.
Kane has been vocal about her experience, posting about it on TikTok and Instagram and even appearing on Oprah Winfrey’s March special on ABC about the “weight-loss revolution.” But she still has her own insecurities. “There’s a lot of loose skin in your private area when you lose a lot of weight,” she says. She plans to get a tummy tuck at some point.
Still, intimacy with Kenneth, her husband of eight years, has greatly improved. “A complete 180,” he says. The two now sleep, she says, cuddled up “like a newlywed couple.”
Comments