"Post-GLP-1 shot, I could physically feel the desire cravings leave my head."

A shopping addiction and alcohol addiction disappeared with semaglutide.

We’ve posted a number of stories about people dramatically reducing their alcohol and drug intake due to GLP-1RAs. But there are also a lot of reports of compulsive shopping, online gambling, and social media addiction being reduced.

Drew is an administrative assistant in her mid-30s who works for the family business. She spends her free time playing with and cleaning up after her cats, working out, and watching old horror movies with friends.

She spoke to CASPR about how going on GLP-1s helped decrease her alcohol consumption and her shopping urges.

If you’d like to tell your story, whether you are a patient or a provider, please reach out.

I knew I needed to drink less. I was consuming 10-12 drinks a day, 5-6 days a week. I tried different methods to quit. Nothing stuck. Going cold turkey barely lasted more than a day. Naltrexone worked amazingly well, but the side effects were horrible. Campral didn't seem to do anything. Topiramate left me unable to experience any sort of pleasure or happiness, so I ended up binge drinking on it.  

I heard about GLP-1s on Reddit. I am subscribed to r/Alcholism_Medication, and someone posted about their success with reducing their drinking on Ozempic. 

I decided I would try that route. About 6 months ago, I went to a medspa specifically to get a GLP-1 prescription for alcohol. I was concerned they might not write me a script since my BMI was 26. Most of the places I saw online required a BMI of 27 to 29. But I explained to the nurse practitioner how I had tried naltrexone/campral/topiramate, that they didn’t work or had horrible side effects, and that I was getting desperate. She said she didn't mind that I wasn't quite heavy enough. The NP had and still has other patients who were going to her for GLP-1's to help with their alcoholism.

She put me on a compounded semaglutide. I noticed a decrease in the desire to drink and a lack of "alcohol noise" within 10 minutes of getting my first shot. My appointment was at the end of the day, and I went into it feeling the normal after-work alcohol craving. Post-shot, I sat in my car and could physically feel the desire cravings leave my head. I immediately went down to ~5 drinks twice a week. When I bumped up the dose, I went to ~5 drinks once a week. 

I also felt my desire to shop fall off completely. I loved (and still very much love) designer shoes. Before going on the meds, I almost always had loans from Klarna or Affirm to buy some $400 to $1000 pair of shoes. It was very easy to overextend my finances, especially now that I am also paying $500 a month for GLP-1s. But it’s so much easier to step back from the checkout button without feeling the nagging sensation in my brain like, "What if they sell out of your size? What if this style never comes back?" I can shut down those intrusive thoughts and feelings. I can now tell myself, "You will not love this style forever. There will be new styles you will love just as much in the future.” I still really do like fancy shoes. But I will probably treat myself once a year around my birthday, rather than making a new purchase every time I've paid off a Klarna or Affirm loan.  

I had one bump in the road with the shots. I'm very sensitive to medications that affect the brain's reward system. Semaglutide was working very well for me initially, but once I went up in dose for the third or fourth time, I lost the ability to feel any pleasure out of life. I started binge drinking every other day to get some relief. We went down on dosage for the next couple of weeks, but I still couldn’t get any level of reward from my day-to-day life. We switched to a low dose of tirzepatide. I haven't had that problem since.  

I now drink ~5 drinks once every two weeks or so. These nights usually occur after I've had a particularly frustrating day at work. Even when I’m drinking, I feel so much more in control. I have also lost about 30 lbs. My BMI is ~22, and my blood pressure is much better. I still like to shop for fancy groceries and get DoorDash, but I'm eating less, so it's not that big of a deal in comparison.  

Fighting my addictive mind and behaviors felt like a full-time job on top of another full-time job. After feeling tired at the end of the day from my actual job, I barely had any energy left to put up a defense against my addict self. Now I can go home and relax after work without having to feel like another battle has just begun. That is a massive relief.

Articles you may have missed:

• Do GLP-1s reduce drug or alcohol withdrawal symptom severity?

• “On Mounjaro, my daily alcohol cravings are gone. Now I just drink one, 8.4-ounce can of Red Bull a day.”

• “Overnight, the alcohol noise was gone.”

• “It was an immediate obliteration of alcohol and opioid cravings.”

• How an addiction medicine doctor has made GLP-1s like Ozempic central to his practice

• How an addiction medicine doctor has used tirzepatide to transform his own life, and translate that experience to benefit his patients.

We will be publishing more patient and provider stories soon. Please be in touch if you are interested in sharing your story.