The Physicians Really Are Healing Themselves, With Ozempic

[Hekate]

42. Regarding wrinkles: your skin gets stretched -- by pregnancy or fat. I was pregnant at 28 and 30...

Not young, not old. When I gave birth my tummy was all stretched out. For me, it was easy enough to return to my pre-pregnancy diet and do a few sit-ups every day. Nurse the baby knowing they consumed 1,000 calories a day from me. How lucky I was.

Because it was luck — many women come out of pregnancy and childbirth with skin that does not snap back. Women know what I mean — stretch marks on breast, belly, thighs — lower belly that pooches out a bit, or a lot. The skin has been seriously stretched.

In midlife I was given a prescription that I didn’t know caused weight gain. All I knew was that something unreasoning took place and I incessantly craved food. When I stopped the medication, I could feel a switch in my brain click back, which made me furious. I had gained a lot of weight and endured a lot of medical shaming.

My skin did not snap back. I was now old. My obesity had given me jowls — and losing some of that weight made the jowls become wattles. Age by itself slackens the skin — stretching aged skin with fat makes it smooth to a certain extent, but losing that weight reveals wrinkles. I wonder how it will be, at 77, if I have the luck to go on this new medication?

Because here are the consequences of this weight: diabetes, sleep apnea, gastric reflux, all kinds of difficulties trying to exercise: aches & pains, huffing and puffing. And gods know what else. Oh yes, increased risk of stroke, heart attack, and cancer.

I thought it was too late for me to try this, but apparently not. Hubby still has medical coverage from his job — it could happen. Wrinkles? Pfah.