(NEW YORK) — The popularity around weight loss drugs like Ozempic is worrying eating disorder experts, who say the conversation risks making recovery harder and could put others at risk of developing disorders.

“My fear is that there is now a belief that anyone can and should achieve a certain body shape and size with the help of these medications, so there’s going to be an even greater drive towards a certain body type,” said Tracy Richmond, director of the eating disorder program at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro were originally developed and FDA approved to treat people with Type 2 diabetes. But they also lead to weight loss, and many doctors also prescribe them off-label to patients with obesity. They’re medically necessary for people with Type 2 diabetes, and the associated weight loss can also have health benefits for some people who are overweight or obese.

Now, celebrities and public figures are either taking or are rumored to take these drugs, as are others who aren’t overweight but who have the means to pay for a prescription out of pocket. Telehealth startups are advertising the drugs to anyone who wants to lose weight with little medical oversight, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal.

“You see celebrities shrinking,” Richmond said. “It points out that there is a desire for smaller and smaller body size. Even in people who are ‘normal’ sized, there’s still a drive to do something as extreme as taking these medications.”

That’s a risky environment for people with eating disorders — some of whom are also seeking out the drugs themselves, said Dr. Kim Dennis, a psychiatrist specializing in eating disorders and co-founder and CEO of SunCloud Health.

“It’s just another new tool in the toolbox for self-destruction for people who have eating disorders,” she said.

Dennis said she’s seeing that most from people who don’t fit the stereotype of a person with an eating disorder, including “folks in larger bodies.”

That could include people with atypical anorexia, a diagnosis where someone has all of the symptoms of anorexia but is not underweight, or people with binge eating disorder, Dennis said. A doctor might prescribe them Ozempic or a similar drug because they have a higher BMI, with the assumption that using the drug to lose weight would make that person healthier.

“That’s for sure not the case if the person has an eating disorder,” she said.

Experts also worry that people who take these drugs without a medical need and do see weight loss could go on to develop an eating disorder. People who lose a significant amount of weight often become fixated on body size and food and can develop eating disorders, Richmond said.

“We don’t know what that’s like with a medication like Ozempic, but I wouldn’t expect it to be very different,” she said.

The drugs don’t cause permanent changes — people can gain weight back if they stop taking it, research shows. Richmond said she’d be concerned about how people might react when the effects plateau or if they’re no longer taking the drug.

“You could see a drive for higher doses or more restrictive eating,” she said.

Overall, the conversation around the drugs risks reversing progress on the idea that there can be health at every size, Richmond said.

For some people, weight loss can help lower diabetes risk or lower blood pressure. But other people at higher weight might not have any health problems. Someone’s weight does not in and of itself give any information about any diseases they might have, she said.

“Weight alone is not a health issue,” Richmond said. “Weight is a health issue when it’s tied to adverse outcomes — and for some people it is, and some it isn’t.”

But the focus of the conversation around Ozempic and similar drugs is on the weight loss aspects, not improved health, Dennis said.

“It makes my work a lot harder,” she said. “It reinforces all of these ideas about the thin ideal that are so deeply embedded in culture and the medical establishment and are not founded in truth, or reality, or science.”

If you or someone you know is battling an eating disorder, contact the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) at 1-800-931-2237 or NationalEatingDisorders.org.

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(NEW YORK) — On the last day of February, Estefania Alvarado was experiencing a whirlwind of emotions, but mostly she was feeling excited. Her baby boy, who had been in the hospital since he was born last August, was finally getting discharged.

“I couldn’t sleep the night before,” Alvarado told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “I was so ready. It’s like, I finally get to take my baby home because I’ve been a mom for six months but I haven’t had my baby with me.”

Alvarado, along with her own mother, headed to Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, where her 6-month-old son Giorgio had been in the neonatal intensive care unit for the last 190 days. Giorgio’s team of doctors, nurses and hospital staff gathered to see him off, lining the hospital hallway and cheering with blue pompoms.

“All of them were there. Some of [the staff] were off and they even took the day to come in. So I just felt the love and I think not just for us, but for my kid, which is the most important thing,” Alvarado recalled.

“It was the best day of my life,” the 30-year-old added.

Alvarado and her partner Richard Fabsits welcomed Giorgio on Aug. 22, 2022. It was unexpected for the couple as Alvarado told GMA she was only six months pregnant at the time and had been feeling fine.

“I went to work. It was a normal day for me,” said Alvarado, who works for a fragrance company. “Basically, when I got to my job, I used the bathroom. I noticed there was some bleeding. I called my doctor and she was like, ‘Oh, just come in. Don’t worry. Sometimes, things like that happen.’ And I didn’t feel any pain.”

When Alvarado was seen at a local hospital in Carmel, Indiana, a doctor there broke the news to her that things weren’t going to go as planned.

“Another doctor came in because my doctor was going to leave and she checked me and she was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ She’s like, ‘You’re not going home.’ She’s like, ‘You’re dilated three centimeters already,'” Alvarado said.

Alvarado was transferred to Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at Ascension St. Vincent, and three days later, Giorgio was born via cesarean section at 23 weeks and five days gestation.

“He came out actually crying, so immediately me and mom knew at that moment … I don’t know if it’s a mother or dad’s intuition, but we knew he was going to make it,” Fabsits, 33, said. “However, it was quite the roller coaster.”

According to his dad, Giorgio was born with various health issues, including a hole in his heart, a birth defect called patent ductus arteriosus, or PDA, where a heart valve doesn’t close as it should, and a brain bleed. The baby boy also had to be treated for at least two septic infections, a skin infection called cellulitis, and seizures, among other developments, and had to undergo tests and surgeries for months.

Alvarado and Fabsits said they would visit Giorgio, who they call their “miracle baby,” every day at the hospital and never gave up on their son, even when there were times no one knew whether Giorgio would make it to the next day.

“I feel like what kept us alive, me and dad, is our faith. We prayed every day,” Alvarado said. “We had each other, we had our family. So to be honest, even though we went through what we went through, I do feel blessed, because I know there’s some people that don’t even have that.”

The first-time parents said they wanted to share Giorgio’s story publicly to offer hope to families, especially to other NICU parents facing the unknown with their kids, and to encourage parents to advocate for their child’s care.

“The utmost, No. 1 thing that has pushed me through is intuition,” Fabsits said. “A parent’s intuition is unmatched. A doctor knows their field and they know that the medicine that they need to provide, and they know their treatments, and they need to operate when they need to, but a parent’s intuition is something that can’t be beat because you have a connection with your kid.”

Speaking to other parents experiencing similar situations, Alvarado added, “I want them to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. It might take a long time but there is. Just keep praying and advocate for your kids. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it’s a great feeling.”

They also said they want Giorgio to know he’s been a strong child from the get-go and that from their view, his future looks bright.

“I just want Giorgio to know that he’s got loving parents that would do absolutely anything for him and that he is the strongest person I know,” Fabsits said. “In the six months he’s lived, he has went through so much, more than I have in my entire life and that no matter what, I know he can power through anything and to keep that mindset and that fight that he has, because he is absolutely a miracle to us and to the world. And I know he’s going to do great things.”

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