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- Hacker News
- So how does this work? Does it somehow boost "willpower" so we can rationally decide which substances we want to consume? Does it somehow smooth out the negative moods that lead us to snack/drink/sleep around/inhale/..? Does it mess with "desire" in general?by elric
- From my experience, yes, these things as well as making you feel sick and full quicker illicit the same feeling for me as building consistency and routine and grinding it out and a sense of self pride - you know that feeling when you are heading in the right direction and are able to take the harder rather than the easy option deliberately. It's pretty strange that a drug does this and I wonder if coming off them you then find making difficult decisions harder than before because you were faking a muscle normally built through hard work, one of the reasons I decided to stop taking them.by andy_ppp
- My understanding is it essentially tamps down cravings.by ceejayoz
- On possibility I've seen raised is that slower GI movement -> slower alcohol uptake -> not getting as much of a "hit" from drinking as the effects come on more slowly.
- One thing i noticed being on ozempic at first and then mounjaro after, while mounjaro is better for weight loss in general, ozempic was better at tampering my desire to drink throughout the week (although i wouldn't say i had AUD on either). I think the reason for this is the half life: ozempic is 7 days, (enough to get you until the next once a week dose), while mounjaro is only 5 days (which means by day 6/7 less than half the dose your took at the beginning of the week is still in your system). This also applies to food as well: my craving were less for sweets etc by the end of the week before the next dose on ozempic vs now on mounjaro. Although I think because mounjaro has 2 mechanisms of action vs just 1 for ozempic, I still end up losing more weight. But this is subjective based on my experience.
However, Ozempic will be generic early 2026 in Canada, and there's no way in hell I would pay 4-5x the difference (I'm guessing) for mounjaro as the benefit is relatively minor already given the half life difference (right now the price is almost the same).
I’m not diabetic, so my insurance doesn’t cover it, meaning I have to pay full price, which only went up after Eli Lilly switched from vials to pens in Canada. I genuinely hate Eli Lilly for : 1) their pricing, 2) for eliminating vials in favor of pens, and 3) for how they handled my situation. I reached out to their customer service honestly, admitting I wouldn’t qualify for a discount (even though I’d seen countless Reddit posts from people lying on the form and getting approved anyway and told them this). I reached out and requested in good faith and was flat-out denied, basically brushed off by their support team. This destroyed a lot of goodwill i had initially towards them because of better results and any future brand loyalty I might have had.
by testaburger - buy a share of LLY every time you buy a pen, you'll be selling the stuff to yourself soon.by baq
- Is there any anecdata about emotional well-being for people without any conditions these medications are usually prescribed?by yewenjie
- I recall reading a book where a guy used these meds to lose weight. One thing he found was that because he was overeating due to depression, removing his appetite left him a bit stuck because his coping mechanism had been taken away. I would worry that if you're drinking due to an emotional issue, exposing that issue so immediately could have serious consequences if it didn't come with some serious support.by basisword
- It's interesting how many people in the HN comments are on this stuff - here in the UK you can't get it unless your BMI is pretty high. Is it easier to get prescribed in the US or are people just buying the chemicals online?by crimsoneer
- Note that you can't advertise prescription drugs in the UK. There's also still a bit of a stigma about going private, and it's expensive.by pjc50
- You only need a BMI of 30 to get a private subscription. That's a pretty large portion of the population (no pun intended).by lebski88
- It's estimated that 1.5 million people are taking them in the UK, most of them privately [0].
It's really easy to get them in the UK from a variety of online and high street pharmacies, including from well-known brands like Boots, Lloyds Pharmacy, or ASDA.
by daveoc64 - A side effect of healthcare being a for-profit system in the US means it runs the gamut, from a doctor you meet with in a clinic irl, to a doctor you never actually meet online, you just fill out some digital paperwork for, to the exteme where users get chemicals from sketchy websites and do chemical prep at home. The middle ground is to use an online "pill mill" that ships out from a compounding pharmacy, often not covered by insurance so paid out of pocket. Maybe $300/month? According to online sources aka reddit it's fairly accessible, just fill out an online questionaire and get a prescription from a doctor, followed by getting the medication shipped to you. It was a bit more open during Covid, but it's still relatively accessible. If you do have a high BMI then more mainstream sources are available to you though.by fragmede
- As an alcohol enthusiast on 12.5mg of Zepbound for the last several months, my ethanol consumption hasn’t diminished muchby sghiassy
- have you lost weight?by anonu
- I can also add I have little to zero side effects from Zepboubd if that adds anythingby sghiassy
- Interesting. I'm at zepbound 5mg and noticed that alcohol brings me no joy.
It used to be the case that 1-2 drinks would make me feel good, and introduce a craving for more (a "just one more will get me right" feeling).
But that's gone now. It's an amazing side effect.
- As a beer enthusiast drinking unhealthy amounts rather too frequently, my drinking went way down when on Mounjaro.
(Maybe it wouldn't have made the same difference if I was into whisky instead of beer - with beer, I suspect it's the relatively large volume of drink involved that may have made it less appealing?)
Recently switched to Wegovy since the big Mounjaro price hikes here in the UK, and it seems rather less effective overall. Both beer and snacks are somewhat more appealing again :(
by bluescrn - My 24yo is on Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes and has said it’s also eradicated her interest in alcohol. She’s been a typical social drinker but now she’s doing mocktails.
It’d be interesting if these meds help with weight and addiction or just even overdoing it regularly.
by ChicagoDave - Just to counter some anecdata here - doing glp-1 for quite some time for weight loss. It works for me for that specific purpose. But I noticed no effect on mood or addictive aspects. But it appears to lower my alcohol tolerance, so I drink less of it. Ymmvby hippich
- > A more recent RCT showed that low-dose semaglutide reduced laboratory alcohol self-administration, as well as drinks per drinking days and craving, in people with AUD [72].
I think this quote is... wrong? Or at least extremely misleading? Here, citation 72 refers to a paper by Henderson et al. That paper did (sorta) reduced laboratory alcohol self-administration, but did not find any reduction in the amount that people drank. https://dynomight.net/glp-1/
by dynm - OK looking at the original abstract:
> Semaglutide treatment did not affect average drinks per calendar day or number of drinking days, but significantly reduced drinks per drinking day (β, −0.41; 95% CI, −0.73 to −0.09; P = .04)
So they didn't find any reduction in (1) drinking, or (2) in the number of days that people drank, but they did technically find (3) a reduction in the number of drinks that people consumed on the days that they drank. So I guess what they said is technically correct... but I still think it's very odd not to mention the headline result that there was no actual reduction in drinking!
by dynm - All I will say, is if/when you start noticing digestive issues, it's probably the GLP-1 even if it's after a year of taking the stuff... and woah boy, coming off the stuff is anything but fun.by tracker1
- How so? Can you describe more of your experience if you don't mind sharing?by tanvach
- I have the sulphur burps on Ozempic/Monjourno if I eat too much. I can tell that my digestion has slowed considerably regardless of the affect on my hunger. But the first time it occured terminating the injections terminated the sulphur burps.by protocolture
- What was your comedown like? After 6 months of taking subcutaneous semaglutide, I just stopped taking it one day and it was fine. Need a bit more effort to be mindful of snacking now, though.
EDIT: saw your other comment that you felt you were starving. that sucks. the whole thing experience sounds awful.
by titanomachy - Just a single datapoint here. About 8 months after starting on semaglutide I took a month off alcohol and by the time the month was over had lost all interest for alcohol.
Almost 2 years now. I'm not religious about it and will occasionally drink the celebratory glass of bubbles or a beer (alcohol free if available) when it's hot outside.
Very interesting how it has worked.
by jnsaff2 - I was a light or social drinker for decades. Probably 3-5 drinks per week.
In November of 2024, I decided to avoid alcohol as a personal experiment - no GLP-1 medications involved. I have not consumed any alcohol since.
After 3-4 months, my interest in alcohol seemed to really fall off a cliff. I joked with friends that I was going "dry in 2025", but I am now more seriously considering taking 2026 off from alcohol as well before making a decision about whether to add alcohol back into my diet.
by clusterhacks - I think the calorific content of alcohol and general habituation are under-looked. I also basically never drink any more (and am on zep), but when I do occasionally have a craving, an alcohol-free beer 100% hits the spot for me.by petesergeant
- I'm not trying to pick on you because I've seen this anecdote on many occasions; however, it strikes me that people are quite willing to walk past "personality changes" as a side effect of a drug.
Does anyone else feel a slight sense of worry about this?
by themafia