Ozempic transformed my health but then an alarming side effect kicked in...
Published in
By Olivia Falcon
Last year, after months of feeling bloated and exhausted, with debilitating back pain, I decided enough was enough and it was time to see a doctor.
Thanks to the peri-menopause, I'd ballooned to 11 stone — the same weight I was at full-term pregnancy 13 years ago. At 5ft 6in, I was still a healthy weight, but nudging the overweight category on the BMI scale, and I simply didn't feel good. So I wasn't surprised when a blood test revealed I was pre-diabetic.
Vowing to overhaul my lifestyle, I began taking a suitcase of supplements, exercising more and eating mindfully, which meant slowing down and cooking from scratch whenever I could.
Yet the real eureka moment came when I went to see a London-based private GP, who suggested weekly injections of the weight-loss drug Ozempic. That's when my health really began to turn around — with one major caveat.
I eased into my Ozempic journey in April last year on the lowest 0.25mg dose, which I took for three months.
Starting low like this meant I avoided the common side-effects of nausea and stomach cramps and could then slowly up my dose — until my weight plateaued and I finally graduated to the full 1mg dose a couple of months ago.
I am now 22lb lighter than I was, the crippling lower back pain has disappeared, my cholesterol has dropped from a high of 6.6mmol/L to a far healthier 5.5 and my bloodwork shows I am thankfully no longer in the pre-diabetic zone.
And yet one side-effect I had not bargained for has hit me hard, as it has hundreds of other Ozempic users.
The first signs of trouble started about six months ago. Standing in the shower, my heart sank as I noticed clumps of my long, blonde hair washing down the plughole. When I ran my fingers through it, wisps came away.
Panicked, I went from washing it three times a week to just once. Brushing also produced a bird's nest of hair, so I cut that down, too. My signature ponytail thinned out by about 30 per cent and, most distressing of all, my hairline around my temples was looking patchy. Yes, I loved my newly slim frame, but I was terrified I was going to go bald.
At first, I didn't link this alarming hair thinning to Ozempic — but then I visited my hairdresser, Tom Smith, who said he sees clients every day suffering from hair loss who say the only lifestyle change they've made is to take Ozempic.
Curiosity piqued, I spoke to Jane Martins, senior consultant trichologist at Philip Kingsley. 'Although there is no evidence stating that Ozempic will cause hair loss, some individuals using it have reported an increase in hair shedding,' she told me.
'Rapid weight loss appears to be the cause — it's a condition known as telogen effluvium, which means the good news is that it's temporary. It's all down to a change in eating habits or a low- calorie diet and the nutritional deficiencies that can introduce.'
Other hair-loss specialists, such as Kelly Morrell, of Scalp Confidential, and cosmetic doctor Munir Somji, are also seeing an increase in clients using weight-loss injections coming into their clinics with excess hair shedding.
One of the most effective solutions they recommend is the Calecim Advanced Hair Regrowth System (calecim professional.com), an innovative stem cell serum therapy which can either be self-administered at home (kits that last six weeks from £315) or applied in a clinic using a more powerful microneedling machine (from £350 per treatment at drmedispa.com).
Having used it myself religiously over the past six months, it does indeed make a palpable difference. After just eight weeks, I noticed a frizzy halo of baby hairs sprouting and, three months in, my ponytail has definitely thickened out.
It's been difficult to accept that my weight loss has come with a side order of hair loss. But the reality is, I care far more about the health of my body than the health of my hair.
However, I'd be lying if I said I didn't love my crowning glory and I'm extraordinarily grateful to have been rescued from lank hair and a patchy hairline by this high-tech hair solution.
Olivia Falcon is founder of @theeditorslist
