My doctor just prescribed one of those A1C-lowering injection drugs because my blood sugar has remained above recommended levels. It’s been inching up over the past 10 years.
He says I’m knocking on the door to diabetes if not already there. The drug I’m taking is also popular with people trying to lower their weight, and begins with O, almost sounding like Olympic, but is spelled Ozempic.
Ozempic is the brand name for semaglutide, a prescription medication used to help manage blood sugar levels in adults with type 2 diabetes. It belongs to a class of drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists, which work by stimulating insulin secretion and lowering glucose production by the liver.
In addition to blood sugar control, Ozempic may also help some individuals lose weight. The medication is typically administered as a once-weekly injection under the skin, most often in the abdomen, thigh, or upper arm
Each week, I have my wife do the injecting because I don’t like poking myself with anything, especially a needle. The needle in this case is so tiny that I don’t feel it, with the location changing from the left side of the stomach to the right side every other injection.
When I told a friend what I was going through, he jokingly remarked, “So you’ve started shooting up.” I’m familiar with that term, having read about druggies doing such, but I never thought of it in the same sense as me. Self-administer sounds much better.
Years ago, in Anchorage, a friend wanted me to go with him to a log cabin sitting behind a popular tavern in Spenard called Chilkoot Charlies. He was told that someone was in that old cabin who owed him money, and Gary was attempting to collect.
We knocked, got no answer, and then walked in to see at least six young people lying on blankets and sleeping bags, some asleep and others too dopey to talk. One guy was in a kitchen chair, giving himself an injection in the arm. He had a rubber band wrapped around his bicep. I’d never witnessed anything like it—immediately wanting to turn around and leave.
The fellow we were looking for wasn’t there, and it’s probably good he wasn’t. That bizarre scene has never left my mind. I suppose it’s still played out throughout the country, although back then, this was heroin they were injecting, while smoking ‘crack’ seems to be the chosen drug amongst addicts these days.
Deciding to look up the term, ‘shooting up’ refers to the act of injecting drugs directly into the bloodstream using a needle and syringe. This method is commonly associated with substances such as heroin, methamphetamine, or other injectable drugs.
Injecting drugs this way leads to rapid effects because the substance quickly enters the circulatory system, but it also carries significant health risks, including infections, overdose, and the transmission of bloodborne diseases.
Thankfully, this A1C-lowering drug pen delivers only a small amount of medicine beneath the skin and does not inject it directly into a vein. I’d never go through with a dose if it were. Unlike my wife, I have a hard time going into a phlebotomy clinic to give blood; unfortunately, my doctor requires it at least twice a year.
I’m not sure how long I’ll be on Ozempic, but hopefully it isn’t long. It’s kept in the refrigerator as recommended, and I’m reminded that injection time is mere days away each time the fridge door opens.
People have told me that they, too, are using the same medicine, with almost all of them having diabetes. That’s a disease I want to avoid like the plague—and if “shooting up” works, as Tom jokingly called it, I’ll be more than grateful.
I like to write junk... 