I quit microdosing Ozempic and it's an enormous release

The new craze of using lower-than-recommended dosages of weight loss drugs to slim down might sound tempting, says Charlotte Cripps, but counting the clicks is no way to live

- Charlotte Cripps

Is it 32 clicks? Or 37 clicks? I'm holding my Ozempic pen, a prefilled injection containing the active ingredient semaglutide, and trying to remember how many clicks I should listen out for when turning the pen dial to split my 1mg dose in half to 0.50mg. But then I realise I have no more needles left – each pen has four doses and I’m trying to get six doses out of it.

Damn! I could buy another new box of them online for next-day delivery. I’ve done it before. Or should I leave this dose in the fridge for a rainy day – and bring it out if an insatiable hunger returns and I start laying into a loaf of bread?

I’ve also been spacing out the 1mg dosages for a while, so instead of taking it weekly, as per the instructions, I take it every two weeks, or even three. It certainly saves money – a 1mg pen costs about £160 for four weeks – and it still seems to do the trick if I make it last for longer.

It’s not an exact science, though at least I don’t get side effects like nausea and fatigue on the lower doses. But I do feel confused. I’m back to my pre-pregnancy weight six years after my last child was born, but I’m not the same person. What is my comfortable weight now I’m older and a mother?

I have too many questions, and don’t want to be dependent on a drug forever. Is low-dose Ozempic a good way to maintain weight loss for the foreseeable future? Or else, I could just use it liberally, as and when needed. What happens if I stop? Should I wean myself off it?

It sounds insane – and it is. Welcome to the world of microdosing weight loss drugs. If I’d had this conversation with myself a few years ago, I would have sounded like I was from another planet but now it’s the new normal. I didn’t even know I was microdosing when I was playing around with doses of my own accord.