Greg Davies and Ozempic: Long-Term Side Effects Explained

Why Greg Davies' Ozempic Experience Matters to You

Comedian and television presenter Greg Davies recently went public about a long-term side effect he experienced on Ozempic, the brand name for semaglutide. He described not liking the medication overall, pointing to a lasting effect that affected his relationship with food.

His candid account joins a growing wave of celebrity disclosures about GLP-1 medications. But what matters most for you isn't the celebrity angle. It's what his experience reveals about how semaglutide can affect people over time, and whether those effects are something you can plan for.

What Ozempic Actually Does in Your Body

contains semaglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist (a drug that mimics a hormone your gut naturally releases after eating). It was originally approved by the FDA to manage type 2 diabetes, and later recognized for its significant weight loss effects.

How semaglutide affects appetite

Semaglutide works through several overlapping mechanisms. It slows gastric emptying, meaning food moves more slowly from your stomach to your intestine. It also signals the brain's hunger and reward centers to reduce appetite. And it lowers glucagon, a hormone that raises blood sugar.

The result for most people is a significant reduction in hunger. Many patients describe feeling full after very small amounts of food, or losing interest in eating altogether. For some, this is the whole point. For others, like Greg Davies, it becomes a problem.

The Long-Term Side Effect Davies Described

Davies indicated that his experience with appetite suppression went beyond the early weeks of treatment. Many patients expect nausea and digestive discomfort in the first few weeks. Fewer expect that their fundamental desire to eat may change for as long as they stay on the drug.

Food noise and its absence

Researchers and clinicians sometimes use the term "food noise" to describe the constant mental chatter about food that many people with obesity experience. Semaglutide often quiets this significantly. For patients who have struggled with compulsive eating, that silence can feel freeing.

But for others, including those who simply enjoyed food as a pleasure, the loss of that drive can feel like losing a part of themselves. It can affect social situations, dinner with family, or even just the small daily joy of a meal you were looking forward to.

This isn't a failure of the medication. It's a real, documented psychological dimension of GLP-1 therapy that deserves more open conversation.

Common vs. Long-Term Side Effects: What's Normal

Not all side effects are created equal. Some are short-lived and tied to dose escalation. Others can persist for the full duration of treatment.

The key point: reduced appetite and altered food enjoyment are not bugs in the medication. They are features of how it works. But whether those features suit your life is a personal question worth taking seriously.

When a Side Effect Becomes a Quality-of-Life Issue

There is a difference between a side effect that is uncomfortable and one that meaningfully degrades your daily life. If you dread meals, feel anxious about social dining, or are consuming so few calories that you are losing muscle mass, that is not a sustainable situation.

Signs you should talk to your provider

• You are consistently eating fewer than 1,000 to 1,200 calories per day without feeling hungry or concerned, since chronic under-eating on GLP-1 therapy can accelerate muscle loss and create nutritional deficiencies that accumulate quietly over months.
• You feel anxiety or dread before meals, or you are actively avoiding social situations that involve food because the experience has become uncomfortable or stressful rather than neutral.
• Your enjoyment of food has disappeared so completely that eating feels like a chore or an obligation rather than a source of any pleasure, and this shift is affecting your mood or quality of life outside of mealtimes.
• You are losing strength, experiencing unusual fatigue, or noticing that your physical performance has declined in ways that suggest muscle loss is occurring alongside fat loss.
• You have lost interest in foods or activities you previously associated with celebration, comfort, or connection, and that loss feels more like deprivation than freedom.
• You are consistently unable to hit your protein targets even with deliberate effort, since protein deficiency during rapid weight loss can have meaningful consequences for metabolic rate, immune function, and long-term weight maintenance.

None of these signs mean you should immediately stop taking semaglutide. But they are all worth raising with your prescriber. Dose adjustments, nutritional support, or switching to a different GLP-1 medication may resolve the issue without abandoning treatment entirely.

Comparing GLP-1 Options if Ozempic Doesn't Suit You

Greg Davies' experience is a good reminder that not every GLP-1 medication affects everyone the same way. Semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound) work differently and produce different side effect profiles in many patients.

Some patients who struggle with semaglutide's effects find tirzepatide easier to tolerate. Others have the opposite experience. This is why individualized prescribing matters, and why comparing your options with a qualified provider is worth your time. You can browse Best Providers to find telehealth services that offer personalized GLP-1 prescribing.

What the Research Actually Says About Long-Term Tolerability

Celebrity accounts are interesting starting points, but clinical data gives a more complete picture. The SUSTAIN and STEP trial programs, which studied semaglutide across thousands of patients, showed that gastrointestinal side effects were the most common reason for discontinuation. Nausea affected roughly 40% of patients, and around 5-10% stopped treatment due to side effects.

Long-term appetite suppression was expected and intended. However, the psychological dimension, specifically changes in food enjoyment, pleasure-eating behavior, and emotional eating patterns, has been less formally studied. Emerging research suggests that GLP-1 receptors in the brain's reward system play a meaningful role, and this is an active area of investigation.

The takeaway: what Greg Davies described is real, recognized by clinicians, and more common than is often discussed publicly. You are not alone if you experience it.

Questions to Ask Your Doctor Before Starting or Continuing

Whether you are considering Ozempic for the first time or already several months in, these are the questions worth raising with your provider.

Before starting

• Based on my personal and medical history, including my relationship with food and any prior history of disordered eating, do you think the appetite-suppressing effects of semaglutide are likely to feel like relief or like a problem for me?
• What protein intake target do you recommend, and how should I approach nutrition if my appetite becomes so suppressed that hitting that target feels impossible?
• If I find that the changes to my food enjoyment are significantly affecting my quality of life or social relationships, what is your plan for addressing that, including dose adjustment, a medication switch, or additional support?
• Is there a threshold of caloric restriction or symptom severity below which you would want me to contact your office before my next scheduled appointment?
• Are there aspects of my current health profile that suggest tirzepatide might produce a meaningfully different experience for me compared to semaglutide, and is that worth discussing before we commit to a starting medication?

If you are already experiencing side effects

• The changes in my appetite and food enjoyment have gone beyond what I expected. Is this within the normal range of what you see in patients on semaglutide, or does the intensity of what I am describing suggest we should reassess my dose or medication?
• I am struggling to eat enough to hit my protein targets. What is the minimum caloric and protein intake you consider safe at my current weight and activity level, and what should I do if I consistently fall below that?
• Would a dose reduction improve my quality of life meaningfully while still providing clinical benefit, or do the effects I am experiencing tend to persist even at lower doses?
• Are there strategies, such as specific foods, eating schedules, or behavioral approaches, that you would recommend to make eating more manageable and less aversive while I am on this medication?
• Given that Greg Davies and others have described these effects as persistent throughout treatment, is this something I should expect to live with long-term if I stay on semaglutide, and does that change your thinking about whether this is the right medication for me?

Having these conversations proactively can prevent the outcome Greg Davies experienced, where the side effect became the dominant part of the story.