'I thought I was taking Wegovy to lose weight - I never expected it to stop my drinking'

A retired Leeds woman, who started taking Wegovy to help shift her menopause weight, says the jabs had an unexpected side effect - helping her ditch a bottle of wine a day instead.

Julie Lord, 56, says her cravings for alcohol virtually vanished within a week of starting the weight-loss injections, after years of drinking every evening since retiring.

She went from regularly finishing a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc to barely half a glass, saving around £70 a week.

Now, six weeks after coming off the medication, she says the cravings have returned and she has gone back on Wegovy but not to lose weight, instead to help stop drinking.

Julie, a retired pharmaceutical worker, said: "I could not believe it. It virtually stopped me drinking within a week.

"It was a miracle. I literally just stopped. I can't explain it.

"I stopped craving it, I stopped wanting it, I stopped buying it. I just didn't feel the need anymore."

Julie says she never drank while she was working but developed the habit after retiring in 2017.

What started as a glass of wine while listening to music gradually became a bottle every evening, with alcohol becoming part of her daily routine.

She said she associated wine with relaxing and never considered her drinking a serious problem because she had no underlying health conditions.

Her GP, however, warned she was drinking at harmful levels and offered support groups to help her cut back.

Julie said she tried to stop several times but always found herself slipping back into old habits.

Julie said: "Before Wegovy I'd be thinking about what I was doing later because it meant I could have a glass of wine.

"I drank because it was pleasurable.

"Since I retired, I'd think, 'I'll have a glass of wine,' put some music on and before I knew it I'd gone through a bottle."

Julie says the first week on Wegovy marked a dramatic change.

She told Sell Us Your Story: "The first sort of week I had a couple of glasses just because the bottle was open and I finished it.

"Then I stopped buying wine. I realised I was drinking for the sake of it before.

"The cravings just all went."

Julie says giving up alcohol left her feeling healthier, more confident and able to face appointments with her GP knowing she had made a positive change.

Despite no longer drinking, she continued seeing friends and simply swapped wine for coffee instead.

Julie stopped taking Wegovy after two months because she had achieved little weight loss.

Six weeks later, she says she has started drinking again and is now considering returning to the medication because of the effect it had on her alcohol cravings.