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Weight reduction with Ozempic can result in fairly a change.
Sufferers have been displaying off their slimmer our bodies, and crediting the self-injected Kind 2 diabetes drug for curbing their urge for food and consuming much less.
Ozempic isn’t authorized for weight reduction however that is a well-known aspect impact, so some docs have been prescribing it off-label for that goal. Individuals with weight problems looking for to drop some pounds may flip to Wegovy, which incorporates semaglutide — the identical lively ingredient as in Ozempic — and is authorized for weight reduction.
The treatment comes with side effects. The commonest embody nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, abdomen ache and constipation, in line with Novo Nordisk, the corporate that makes each Ozempic and Wegovy. However sufferers can also expertise severe unwanted side effects similar to pancreatitis, gallbladder issues and kidney failure, it warns.
Individuals need to preserve taking semaglutide for the drug to maintain working — in any other case, they’ll regain much of the weight, research have proven. It’s additionally costly when not lined by insurance coverage: The record worth for a month’s provide is about $900 for Ozempic and $1,300 for Wegovy. Novo Nordisk says it helps a healthcare system that ensures affected person entry and affordability.
“We acknowledge that some folks within the U.S. discover it exhausting to pay for his or her healthcare, together with our FDA-approved merchandise containing semaglutide, which is why we proceed to work to acquire broader protection and better entry,” the corporate says in a press release to TODAY.com.
Listed below are sufferers’ experiences with Ozempic and Wegovy, and their before-and-after images.
Pepper Schwartz doesn’t have Kind 2 diabetes, however says she started utilizing Ozempic off-label in 2022 after her physician and follow-up medical assessments deemed it acceptable for her state of affairs, and her private doctor prescribed it. She has misplaced about 30 kilos and says the burden loss has now stabilized, stayed near that quantity, and she or he’s sustaining it.
“I’ve actually considered this when it comes to well being rather a lot. I’m older. I simply don’t assume I can afford to (mess) round with weight anymore,” Schwartz, 78, who lives in Snoqualmie, Washington, told TODAY.com in April 2023.
“I really like the truth that my blood strain is low and my ldl cholesterol is low and all these good issues. These are my motivations now reasonably than making an attempt to slot in a measurement 4 gown.”
Moreover reducing blood sugar, Ozempic can also be authorized to cut back the chance of coronary heart assault, stroke or loss of life in adults with Kind 2 diabetes and recognized coronary heart illness, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration notes.
Wegovy cuts the risk of stroke and heart attacks, Novo Nordisk introduced in August 2023.
Schwartz, a intercourse and relationship skilled, says her weight issues started in her late 30s when she merely started overeating. The principle impact of Ozempic is she’s not hungry as a lot: “It makes meals much less necessary,” she notes.
Jamel Corona says she turned to Wegovy in 2021 after she couldn’t drop some pounds on her personal, regardless of a wholesome way of life.
She has misplaced about 60 kilos, however described the method as gradual and nonetheless requiring meals self-discipline and common train to work.
“I believe social media has made it like fast weight reduction with no effort. That is likely to be the case for some folks, however that’s not the case for me,” Corona, a 37-year-old Chicago accountant, tells TODAY.com.
“I work out 5 days every week and eat tremendous wholesome.”
Her weight reduction has now stabilized and primarily based on her July 2023 check-in together with her endocrinologist, she’s set to remain on Wegovy long run.
Corona additionally found an surprising aspect impact: She used to get pleasure from ingesting socially, however lost interest in alcohol after beginning the treatment.
Jeannine DellaVecchia, 40, says she was prescribed Ozempic to deal with signs associated to insulin resistance attributable to congenital adrenal hyperplasia and polycystic ovary syndrome.
Weight reduction wasn’t a precedence though she was intrigued that the drug may also assist her slim down. It did simply that, with DellaVecchia shedding 30 kilos between August 2022 and February 2023. She stopped taking the drug as a result of she couldn’t tolerate the unwanted side effects, and has not returned to it, she says.
The hospital employee in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, says she would generally pressure herself to eat when she was taking Ozempic due to the unwanted side effects.
She would have “completely no urge for food,” was “fully nauseous” and “vomiting on a regular basis,” DellaVecchia told TODAY.com in March 2023.
“You don’t really feel like consuming… it simply wasn’t good for me,” she mentioned.
DellaVecchia says she’s been in a position to preserve the burden loss she achieved with a keto weight loss plan.
Barbie Jackson-Williams, 54, of Des Moines, Iowa, says she has misplaced 180 kilos due to Ozempic and understanding.
She as soon as weighed greater than 400 kilos and began taking Ozempic in early 2021 to slim down and handle her Kind 2 diabetes. Since then, Jackson-Williams told NBC News she’s making higher meals selections, her blood sugar has dropped to prediabetic ranges, and she or he’s rather more lively and match.
“Persons are simply taking it simply to get skinny and that’s not true,” she mentioned. “It’s a must to do the work, and other people don’t understand that.”
Wendy Inform says she dreads gaining again the 25 kilos she’s misplaced with Ozempic, which she takes primarily for Kind 2 diabetes, if she stops utilizing the treatment. However she’s unsure she will be able to afford to remain on it.
The retired instructor in Yorktown, Virginia, is on Medicare however she informed NBC Information she pays greater than $700 for a 90-day provide due to protection limits in her prescription plan.
“I’m at a dilemma,” she mentioned. “Am I going to get it once more? As a result of who has that a lot cash?”
One study discovered individuals who acquired weekly semaglutide injections misplaced a median of about 15 kilos after three months and about 27 kilos after six months, which interprets into a couple of 5-pound weight reduction per 30 days.
To scale back nausea whereas on semaglutide, registered dietitian Emily Rubin recommends skipping sizzling, fried or greasy meals; and avoiding consuming or cooking strong-smelling meals.
Don’t eat too rapidly and don’t have a big drink with meals, says Rubin, who works at Thomas Jefferson College Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Can Ozempic kickstart weight reduction?
Semaglutide “works by making folks not hungry,” Dr. Leigh Perreault, an endocrinologist at UCHealth in Denver, Colorado, beforehand informed TODAY.com.
It mimics a hormone referred to as GLP-1, which the physique releases into the gut when folks eat meals and tells the mind you’ve had a meal.
Individuals have diminished urge for food, and after they do eat, they really feel full sooner, Dr. Louis Aronne, an weight problems drugs doctor and director of the Complete Weight Management Heart at Weill Cornell Medication and NewYork-Presbyterian, beforehand informed TODAY.com.
The treatment additionally slows down abdomen emptying, which slows down the absorption of energy and will contribute to the sensation of fullness, he added.
Semaglutide for weight reduction must be used along with a diminished calorie weight loss plan and elevated bodily exercise, the FDA says.
A. Pawlowski is a TODAY well being reporter specializing in well being information and options. Beforehand, she was a author, producer and editor at CNN.
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