“What are those needles in the fridge?” my 11-year-old, Nell, asked, peering at the boxed Ozempic medication that I had not-so-discreetly placed on the top shelf of our refrigerator.
“Oh, they’re Mommy’s new medicine,” I said nonchalantly, frantically trying to figure out how I would approach the fact that I’m taking a somewhat controversial weight loss medication with my preteen daughter.
That night I knocked on Nell’s bedroom door while she was getting ready for bed. I asked if she wanted to chat about the medication she had found. We ended up snuggled in her bed while I explained that my doctor had recommended that I take the medication because it would help me balance my blood sugar.
“I’m healthy, but the medication will help me be even healthier,” I explained. At this point, Nell didn’t know what Ozempic was, and she hadn’t seen any videos online or heard about celebrities using the drug. We focused on my desire to grow stronger and healthier, and I explained that one of the side effects is that my body could change.
“I love my body now, and I’ll love my body if it changes,” I explained. With my 9-year-old, I had a similar conversation. We agreed to keep the line of communication open, and over the next few months we did. Sometimes I was extra tired, and I’d explain that was one of the side effects of my medication. When we saw a commercial on TV for Ozempic, we talked about the messaging of the commercial and why the media was talking about the drug more and more.
“Not everything the media says is true,” I explained, which led to a deeper analysis of media literacy.
“We learned about this at school,” Nell added.
After six months, I decided to go off of Ozempic for a variety of reasons: my insurance wouldn’t cover it, and the side effects were impacting my quality of life. My kids didn’t ask, so I didn’t mention that I’d stopped taking it until they randomly noticed the medication had disappeared from the fridge.
How to approach semaglutide and weight-loss conversations with kids.
Nicole Roder, a board-certified therapist in Columbia, Maryland, has personal and professional experience in navigating these types of tough conversations with your kids: Roder was also prescribed a semaglutide in the past. “I try not to tell parents what they should or shouldn’t do. That being said, I do think it’s appropriate to tell your kids if you’re taking a semaglutide like Ozempic,” Roder told HuffPost.
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