Millionaire Matchmaker Patti Stanger Tried Ozempic and Now Takes Mounjaro, Though She Doesn't Have Diabetes

Millionaire Matchmaker's Patti Stanger says she has taken drugs intended for people with type 2 diabetes or chronic obesity.

"I'm on the shot," she told host David Yontef on his Behind the Velvet Rope podcast. "I'm gonna tell you the truth. I went on semaglutide, which is the ingredient in Ozempic."

Semaglutide is a drug that is branded as Ozempic for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, and Wegovy for the treatment of chronic obesity. The FDA has listed a shortage for both brands.

Stanger, speaking about the prevalence of "skinny minis" in Hollywood and the pressure to conform to that ideal, explained her experience with the drug, which has a variety of reported side effects including nausea and heartburn.

"I got the worst acid reflux," she related. "And I was not feeling good. So, I stopped three weeks in."

RELATED: Are Ozempic and Wegovy Safe? All About the Diabetes and Obesity Drugs

Vivien Killilea/Getty

According to Ania Jastreboff, M.D., PhD., an obesity medicine physician scientist at Yale University, semaglutide can cause side effects when the patient does not increase the dose slowly.

"It's always important to start at the lowest dose and to go up slowly. If the medication is increased too quickly, then these side effects are more likely to occur," Jastreboff told PEOPLE.

Semaglutide works to "mimic those hormones that are released from our intestine and our pancreas when we eat, then impact different tissues in our body. One of the targets is the brain. So, they work in the brain to impact satiety," she said.

RELATED: What's Really Causing the Ozempic Shortage? An Expert Weighs In

Due to the side effects, Stanger switched to another diabetes drug, Mounjaro, or Tirzepatide.

"I waited, and all my hairdresser friends went on Mounjaro," she said. "I'm not diabetic, but I do take a sugar pill twice a day to keep my sugar down," Stanger noted. "So my doctor recommended it, and she said, 'I'll give you the vial of Tirzepatide,' which is the ingredient."

She added, "I am not nauseous like everybody else."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.