# Ozempic, the bowel paralyzer **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 16, 2025, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozempic-the-bowel-paralyzer/1015661 "2025-03-16T15:13:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozempic-the-bowel-paralyzer/1015661/21 "2025-03-16T23:13:25Z")
Upcoming video visit this week. It was only last week that it crossed the line from “annoying as heck” to “something’s got to be done”. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2025, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozempic-the-bowel-paralyzer/1015661/22 "2025-03-20T20:20:35Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Without getting too graphic, _how severe_ constipation? Passing nothing for 72 hours isn’t an inconvenience, it’s approaching requiring medical intervention. So far nothing I’ve tried– pushing water, magnesium, MiraLax®– has sufficed to correct the problem. Perhaps I am just an outlier but from what I’ve found online I’m not alone. I’ll just say that it sounds like your situation is considerably more, um, impacted, and you’ve done a reasonable job of exhausting OTC remedies. For me, a fiber-rich diet and magnesium take care of it. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2025, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozempic-the-bowel-paralyzer/1015661/23 "2025-03-20T21:13:01Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I tried psyllium but promptly had to give it up. Extra fiber doesn’t _do_ anything if your GI tract is on strike, it simply creates a blockage. To be sure, modification of diet might not be relevant to a particular individual’s problems with gut motility. That said, there’s two primary types of fiber - soluble and insoluble. Psyllium is high in both and, frequently, the problem that people have is that they’re deficient in both. If that’s not the issue though, one type of fiber (soluble?) tends towards slowing things down and the other (insoluble?) tends towards speeding them up. If you’re getting sufficient fiber but the balance isn’t good then psyllium didn’t do much to shift that balance. You may want to try a fiber source that’s less balanced between the two types. And that’s just assuming that there’s nothing more to fiber other than the two types. For example, [this study](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36041173/) breaks things down into several dozen categories and analyzes the effects of nine. If you haven’t found an answer yet, there’s nothing like using yourself as a guinea pig. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozempic-the-bowel-paralyzer/1015661/25 "2026-04-05T18:48:49Z")
Update: Strangely, my comparatively brief use of Ozempic has had an enduring side effect. One reason why I’ve overeaten most of my life is that eating tranquilized me. When I was stressed or depressed or upset, eating (especially carbs and sugar) was like getting drunk; it was a mood lifter. What taking Ozempic did was to completely turn off this reward system and keep it off. As a result, in the past twelve months I have endured near-mental breakdown levels of stress and anxiety, including night sweats, waking up gasping for breath with heart hammering, and morbid thoughts that at times approached in severity the “voices” that torment schizophrenics. My new normal is to wake up at 3:00 A.M. every night, no matter how exhausted and sleep deprived I was when I went to bed. A “good” night is one where after an hour or two I’m able go back to sleep. A so-so night is when I’m up for three or four hours, finally fall back asleep after dawn, and sleep in (often broken into two or three brief naps) until 10:00 or 11:00. A bad night is when the four or five hours sleep I start with is it the night. For whatever it’s worth, I’m down about sixty pounds from my peak weight and a low-carb diet suffices to keep my blood glucose at or below 100. But the last year has been like a preview of death. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozempic-the-bowel-paralyzer/1015661/26 "2026-04-05T19:24:57Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > One reason why I’ve overeaten most of my life is that eating tranquilized me. When I was stressed or depressed or upset, eating (especially carbs and sugar) was like getting drunk; it was a mood lifter Reminds me of an exchange from American Dad. I assume this isn’t an uncommon issue with people that are overweight: Barry: I’m hungry Snot: Are you sure you’re not just tired? Barry: I don’t know, all my feelings feel like hungry. (For those that don’t know American Dad, Snot is voiced by Curtis Armstrong, AKA Booger from Revenge Of The Nerds. I always liked that Easter Egg) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozempic-the-bowel-paralyzer/1015661/27 "2026-04-05T20:29:15Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > I never felt like not eating. I only lost the urge to eat large amounts and the cravings for heavy or rich food. Same here (lost 60 pounds 11 years ago, have regained only 10 of them). For me it was learning to know to difference between “hungry/need food” and “feel like tasting something.” And Metformin for the first year. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozempic-the-bowel-paralyzer/1015661/28 "2026-04-05T21:06:09Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Thanks for posting this. I’ve been wondering about Ozempic. From what I’ve been reading, it almost seems like the way it works is that you feel so miserable you don’t feel like eating, and you can’t eat the stuff you really want to eat anyway. Constipation/bowel blockage is definitely not something I want to tangle with, as it were. The worst side effects I’ve had with Ozempic has been some infrequent nausea, even more infrequent vomiting (I can’t remember the last time), and occasional diarrhea. The most common side effect is that I feel full. Like the type of full you feel when you’ve just finished your Thanksgiving dinner. Another oddity is I have a hard time eating a lot of beef. That might be a very personal thing, but I find if I’m eating something with beef I’m pretty much done after a few bites. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2026, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozempic-the-bowel-paralyzer/1015661/29 "2026-04-07T00:21:54Z")
When I was suffering increasing constipation, my DIL recommended I take a small amount (start with 1/4 tsp) of polyetheline glycol, the main ingredient in the colonoscopy prep. It works and I have not had to increase the dosage over several years. I mix it with a roughage powder. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2026, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozempic-the-bowel-paralyzer/1015661/30 "2026-04-07T02:59:47Z")
AKA MiraLAX. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozempic-the-bowel-paralyzer/1015661.md?page=1)