“Wegovy rewired my brain. I have no desire for cigarettes and minimal desire for alcohol.”
How a Fortune 50 VP controlled his "20 pack-year" and a 5- to 6-drink a night habits.
At CASPR, we’re working to address the addiction crisis at scale by advancing breakthrough medicines, research, and policy. We have been particularly focused on the near-term possibility of GLP-1s (Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound) to revolutionize addiction treatment. The scientific evidence is growing every month and the experiences that patients and providers are reporting are incredible.
Today, we bring you the story of a large company executive who started Wegovy to lose weight, only to find that it help him quit a lifelong smoking habit and drastically curb his alcohol intake.
If you’d like to tell your story, whether you are a patient or a provider, please reach out.
The VP’s story
I’m a vice president at a Fortune 50 company who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. I’m in my mid-50s. I’ve been smoking since I was 19, and I have about “20 pack-years.” I was drinking the equivalent of 5-6 drinks per evening, mostly vodka martinis or whiskey and ginger ale. That amount wouldn’t get me drunk, but it did lead to hangovers once a week or so. I knew it was way above the recommended intake and clearly into alcoholic territory.
I’ve tried to quit smoking and drinking multiple times. I’d make it a few days or maybe a few weeks, and then fail. Life stress or upset would hit, and I would start smoking and drinking again. The physical and psychological cravings would overwhelm me.
In the past few years, I gained 25 pounds above my lifelong baseline weight of 175 pounds. I pursued Wegovy in an effort to drop the weight. I was prescribed by Plushcare, a telemedicine firm. I accomplished the weight loss in 10 weeks, never moving past the second level dosing of .5mg.
I wasn’t getting any kind of fulfillment from smoking. The interest was just gone.
I was not aware that Wegovy had an addiction reduction benefit. My doctor said nothing about addiction reduction.
About 3 days after starting Wegovy, I noticed that I was “forgetting” to smoke throughout the day. Work break smokes, after work smokes, smokes while drinking at night — none of them mattered to my brain anymore. I tried to keep smoking, and would have 1-2 cigarettes with my partner, but they weren’t “pleasurable.” I wasn’t getting any kind of fulfillment from smoking. The interest was just gone. I went from 15 smokes a day to either 0 or 1, primarily for social reasons with my partner. After a few weeks, the lack of camaraderie caused him to essentially lose interest in smoking (he was never a heavy smoker). I stopped going outside with him to smoke.
Within the first week, I also noticed that my alcohol cravings were markedly reduced, too. I would have 1 drink and be somewhat repulsed for no reason. My body wasn’t loving it or craving it like it did before. I didn’t even realize I had reduced my drinking by 80 to 90%; I just stopped thinking about it.
I’m having a glass of wine right now for Christmas Eve, but there is no strong desire to drink.
After hitting my weight goal, I transitioned from 7-day dosing to 10-day to retain the benefit of addiction elimination. I have not considered stopping Wegovy, so I do not know if the addictions would reappear if I stopped. But I feel like Wegovy rewired my brain. I have no desire for cigarettes and minimal desire for alcohol.
It’s been a month since my last cigarette, and I’ve smoked less than a pack in the last 3 months. My brain does not care to smoke and I never think of it; it actually grosses me out now. I cannot drink martinis. Even thinking about drinking straight vodka makes me feel nauseous. I will have a whiskey and soda water 2 or 3 nights a week. I’m having a glass of wine right now for Christmas Eve, but there is no strong desire to drink. I’m drinking at a level that most doctors would consider within the healthy acceptable range.
I’m so impressed by Wegovy for its ability to cancel addictions. It’s truly shocking, and it outweighs the weight-loss benefits in my opinion. If “Make America Healthy Again” is really a goal, then we need to study these GLP-1s immediately. I look forward to the FDA trials needed for proper marketing for these conditions. I’ve had almost universal feedback that is similar from the several family members who are on Wegovy: the near elimination of addictive behaviors.
Articles you may have missed:
“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
We will be publishing more patient and provider stories soon. Please be in touch if you are interested in sharing your story.