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The Ozempic Games
episode • Insight • Current Affairs • 51m
episode • Insight • Current Affairs • 51m
My story, whilst unique to me, will no doubt resonate with other people.
My husband Emanuel and I have been trying to have a baby, via IVF, since March 2020.
Whilst I was educating high school students in healthcare, full time, my husband and I bravely embarked on fertility treatment.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic no less.
After three unsuccessful IUI’s (intra-uterine inseminations) we started IVF.
This was a privilege, not to be taken for granted, but also a very expensive one as it turned out.
We have since completed eight IVF cycles and endured the trauma of two biochemical miscarriages and a third miscarriage at 9 weeks, in 2021.
It wasn't an 'if' but a 'when'
I had wanted children in my twenties, but then became very ambivalent, as I was really concerned about passing on my mental health conditions to a biological child.
People had asked us when we would have kids.
It felt like the comments started the day after our wedding, but it was about a year after we got married.
It wasn't if we would have kids, but rather when.
I am a firm believer in staying true to myself, so while the opinions of others were very upsetting, I wasn’t going to birth a child for someone else.
Zoe and her husband Emanuel. Source: Supplied
I needed to lose weight to increase my chances of having a baby
By 2019, I had decided I was happy to try to have a child.
But my doctor advised me that to increase our chances, I needed to lose a lot of weight.
Unlike age, weight loss was something I could control.
I was never overweight until my late twenties. Ever since then, my weight has fluctuated for a variety of reasons; as a side effect of medications for diagnosed mental health conditions, and my emotional eating.
I discovered that people, both familiar to me, and strangers, would start to make unsolicited comments on my appearance as I became overweight.
It was, and remains, hurtful and degrading. Words can be so damaging.
My Ozempic journey
Ozempic wasn’t initially on my radar, as I had been losing weight through a diet program that used a points system.
I lost some weight during the program but despite my goal-oriented and obsessive personality thriving in this formulaic data-driven process, I found this approach to be too restrictive and it negatively impacted my mental health.
Due to the trauma of IVF, crippling anxiety, metabolic impacting psychiatric medications, and emotional eating, my weight increased again later in 2021.
I have struggled to lose weight ever since.
Losing weight and keeping it off in order to start a family was at the forefront of my mind, so I decided to finally give Ozempic a go.
I was on the medication for a total of three months, but I had to stop due to a variety of factors.
Firstly, it was extremely expensive. We were paying $180 per month, for four weekly doses.
We could only just afford it. This expense coupled with saving for IVF put a lot of financial pressure on us.
The other issue was the side effects. Ozempic made me extremely fatigued and the irony of not having enough energy to exercise because of a weight-loss drug was not lost on me.
During the time I was on the medication, I also sensed some disordered eating habits creeping into my mindset as I didn’t 'need' to have food as often due to feeling full.
This mindset concerned me.
Ozempic — one of the hardest medications to access
The stress and anxiety of trying to access this medication was by far the biggest hurdle for me.
As a nurse educator, I knew the negative health impacts of stopping and starting medication — something I didn't want to experience but often faced the issue due to shortages.
I was prescribed Ozempic off-label for my weight loss, as the medication is currently only approved in Australia to manage Type 2 diabetes. But due to the complex nature of making the medication, including the use of specialised equipment in manufacturing — it made the drug almost impossible to find in stock at pharmacies in my area, with all strengths of Ozempic likely to be in short supply throughout the rest of the year.
I have never experienced such poor access to a medication in Australia in decades.
What happened after I stopped taking Ozempic
The impact Ozempic had on my mental health didn't stop when I stopped taking it.
Within 24 hours of stopping, I noticed that I felt 'out of sorts' and couldn’t sleep well.
It frightened me. Thankfully, my psychiatrist was able to call me back after hours and prescribed me short-term sleeping tablets, which really helped in much better energy levels and function in the ensuing days and nights.
Other than that, post-Ozempic, I feel well, and I am trying to rekindle some balance in my life.
I try to eat healthy, but don’t deprive myself of unhealthy food.
By being as mindful as I can, I can relax and enjoy food.
Exercise is a 'work in progress' but I have been going to the gym once a week and seeing sustained progress in getting healthy.
As for our journey in making our dreams of starting a family, my husband and I have just transferred our final, precious embryo.
We hope that this will lead to realising our dream of having a healthy baby.
Readers seeking support with mental health can contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636. More information is available at
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