OPINION: Ozempic-like injection videos take over TikTok – I fear for Irish teenagers

As a 24-year-old recent graduate who rarely leaves TikTok, I’ve noticed a sad trend forming over the past few years.

The trend is to lose weight, but not in the way you think.

Not through proper diet or exercise, but rather through something much more risky and much more life-changing, called Ozempic, Quick, Fast and “Easy” Weight Loss.

In 2018, the HSE approved Ozempic for the first time Irelandfor the treatment of type 2 diabetes. However, This name is now used to describe an entire category of weight loss injections, including Wegovy, which contains the same active ingredient (semaglutide) as Ozempic but has a higher maximum dose.

In the US, from the beginning of 2020 to the end of 2022, the number of prescriptions for Ozempic and other weight loss drugs with a similar effect increased by 300%, According to the Journal of Plastic, Reconstruction, and Aesthetic Surgery, 9 million prescriptions were written in the last three months of 2022 alone.

I go on TikTok to laugh at people who fall and cry when families reunite with loved ones from a distance, not to feel anxiety over a “I was on Ozempic for a year and it changed my life” video.

Don’t get me wrong, I fully understand that for many these medical interventions are necessary and certainly provide many benefits for adults struggling with obesity, but I’m talking about those who are not obese, not even close.

What was once kept secret for medical reasons is now increasingly popular among those who feel uncomfortable and prey on their insecurities.

I’ve seen videos of friends laughing while injecting each other with the drug, and I’ve seen others put aside rent to buy Ozempic, which costs between €100 and €200 per injection.

Did I mention that none of the women in these videos are UK size 12?

Increasing normalization raises important questions about the impact on children who grow up seeing it.

I fear that kids prone to this way of thinking can internalize harmful messages about their own self-esteem and body image, and I’m usually a very confident woman, and I look back and wonder how that would have affected me, 13 years old.

FYI, 13-year-old me was totally insecure, and thinking about her as I used to be gives me vivid, sad memories.

I remember my birthday and how happy I was to finally be a teenager. “These will be the best years of your life,” my grandmother promised me.

My family showered me with love, gifts and of course cake, and what did I wish for when I blew out the candles, you ask?

Not to get rich, not for world peace.

“I want to lose weight,” I remember saying to myself.

I didn’t tell anyone, I was afraid it wouldn’t happen, because I was convinced that being thin meant being happy.

And yet, the message seems to be going strong, and I’m reminded of how little progress has been made a decade later.

Now I’m not perfect. I come to you, writing this, with lips filled with filler, false nails, and freshly dyed and blow-dried hair. I am far from natural and do not pretend to be.

However, that’s where my problem lies – transparency.

In my view, this change in openness has created a perception that weight loss is a quick fix, rather than a complex problem that is influenced by many factors such as genetics, lifestyle, health and mental health.

I remember how much I absorbed, even with limited social media and screen time, so I can’t imagine what kids think when they see videos like this these days.

As a child, I sat in bed for hours, aimlessly turning the page, looking at skinny models and celebrities, wishing I could be just a little bit like them.

Simply put, it took me 11 years to learn to be comfortable with myself. I wasted the best years of my childhood hating myself and the way I looked.

It’s something I shouldn’t have worried about at all, all because of what I see on social media.

I worry about the children now growing up in this generation and whether they too will spend decades learning how to look in the mirror without crying.

For now, I continue to select “not interested” in videos where the Ozempic crew appear, and I suggest you do the same.

And if you find yourself passionate about something just because everyone else is, think about whether it aligns with your true values and desires, or if you’re just following the crowd.