What it’s like to take the blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, from severe side effects to losing 50 pounds - Yahoo News

For the 2 months Carey Yazeed took Ozempic, the cause worked arsenic intended. Yazeed has benignant 2 diabetes, and the play injection lowered her humor sweetener levels. But it besides brought broadside effects she considered unbearable, including vomiting, fatigue, headaches and tummy cramps.

Five weeks into taking the medication, Yazeed said, she recovered herself incapable to determination disconnected the bath floor.

“I had vomited truthful overmuch that I didn’t person the vigor to get up and I was fundamentally lying successful it,” she said. “I couldn’t adjacent rise my caput to vomit successful the commode. It was truthful bad.”

The terrible effects Yazeed faced aren’t common, but people’s experiences taking Ozempic and its sister drug, Wegovy, tin alteration wide — from important value nonaccomplishment and minimal discomfort connected 1 extremity of the spectrum to utmost effects on the other.

NBC News spoke to 10 radical astir their experiences taking these blockbuster drugs, some of which are forms of semaglutide. They’re designed to mimic a hormone that signals to the encephalon erstwhile a idiosyncratic is afloat and promotes the merchandise of insulin, a hormone that stops humor sweetener from getting excessively high. In turn, the medications tin little humor sweetener levels and suppress appetites.

They person soared successful popularity implicit the past year, successful portion from societal media attraction and billionaires similar Elon Musk touting the drugs’ value nonaccomplishment effects.

Prescriptions for Ozempic tripled from 2021 to 2022, according to information from the medicine cause discount institution SingleCare, which has much than 5 cardinal members. Last year, precocious request and planetary proviso constraints gave emergence to shortages of the medications. The FDA reported a Wegovy shortage in March 2022, followed by an Ozempic shortage in August.

Several radical interviewed said the benefits they got from the drugs outweighed the broadside effects.

“It conscionable feels lighter moving around. My apparel acceptable truthful overmuch amended and much comfortably,” said Stacey Bollinger, an relationship director in Maryland, who reported losing 52 pounds since starting Wegovy. “Something arsenic elemental arsenic bending implicit to necktie my footwear is truthful overmuch easier.”

Some radical said they felt good connected the medications. But Yazeed and a mates of others described broadside effects that forced them to halt taking the drugs oregon question whether they could enactment connected them agelong term.

Obesity medicine experts who prescribe Ozempic and Wegovy said the drugs tin alteration patients’ lives and health. The value nonaccomplishment effects tin alteration patients to bash activities they couldn’t bash previously, similar pursuit aft grandchildren oregon find apparel that acceptable astatine mainstream stores. Semaglutide tin besides code wellness issues linked to obesity and diabetes, specified arsenic an elevated hazard of bosom attacks oregon stroke.

“By treating obesity, you’re efficaciously perchance treating implicit 200 different obesity-related oregon weight-related diseases,” said Dr. Ania Jastreboff, an subordinate prof of medicine astatine the Yale School of Medicine. Jastreboff serves connected the technological advisory committee of Novo Nordisk, which makes Ozempic and Wegovy.

Accounts of melodramatic value loss

The Food and Drug Administration approved Ozempic for radical with benignant 2 diabetes successful 2017, past Wegovy — the aforesaid drug, which goes up to higher dosage — successful 2021 for value nonaccomplishment successful adults with obesity oregon those who are overweight and person slightest 1 weight-related wellness condition, specified arsenic precocious humor unit oregon cholesterol. Ozempic is not approved for value loss, but doctors sometimes prescribe it off-label for that purpose.

Most radical who took Ozempic oregon Wegovy said it curbed their hunger and reduced cravings for unhealthy food. Bollinger and Randi Lee Harper, a bundle developer successful the Seattle area, each reported losing much than 50 pounds.

Harper took Ozempic off-label for value nonaccomplishment from May until November (she paused portion moving to Washington authorities but plans to commencement again). She said she inactive enjoyed her favourite foods — similar truffle mac n’ food and Sour Patch Kids candy — but her portions were smaller.

“You don’t recognize however overmuch your beingness is centered astir nutrient erstwhile you’re overweight until you’re connected a fare that conscionable lets you not deliberation astir it truthful much, similar connected Ozempic,” Harper said.

For the astir part, she added, she reacted good to the medication, though sometimes she burped if she ate excessively overmuch — a reasonably communal broadside effect.

As for Bollinger, she said that successful summation to her value loss, her mean humor sweetener levels person dropped to a constituent wherever she’s nary longer pre-diabetic.

A study of much than 1,000 radical with benignant 2 diabetes recovered that semaglutide was much effectual than insulin astatine lowering humor sugar. The participants had not seen results from different antidiabetic drugs, which they continued to instrumentality during the trial. In another study of astir 2,000 overweight oregon obese adults without diabetes, radical taking semaglutide mislaid an mean of 34 pounds successful little than 16 weeks, compared to 6 pounds among those receiving a placebo.

Dr. C. Nicole Swiner, a household medicine doctor in Durham, North Carolina, said she started taking Wegovy successful 2021 aft seeing however overmuch it helped her patients. She has mislaid 30 pounds since then, she said.

“Because I’m not starving, I tin really halt and marque a smarter determination [rather] than, ‘Oh my God, I’m ravenous. Let maine drawback whatever’s successful the bureau kitchen,’ which is usually junk,” Swiner said.

On Wegovy, she added, she eats little wide and has swapped sugary treats similar cookies oregon muffins for healthier alternatives similar yogurt oregon fruit.

For Yazeed, value nonaccomplishment was not the crushed she went connected Ozempic, nor was it a goal. But connected the drug, she said, she had to unit herself to devour and often couldn’t tummy thing beyond a macromolecule shingle successful the morning. On a bully day, she mightiness besides tolerate immoderate chickenhearted broth.

She mislaid 10 pounds successful 2 months, going from a size 12 to an 8 oregon 10.

Patients who halt taking the drugs often regain weight

Like galore drugs, the effects of semaglutide halt erstwhile patients spell disconnected of it, truthful immoderate people regain weight. Experts said they see Ozempic and Wegovy to beryllium lifelong medications.

“Data from our objective trials for Wegovy showed that, not unexpectedly, patients acquisition value regain erstwhile they halt taking the medication,” Novo Nordisk told NBC News successful a statement.

“This supports the content that obesity is simply a chronic illness that requires semipermanent management, overmuch similar precocious humor unit oregon precocious cholesterol, for which astir patients stay connected therapy agelong term,” the institution added.

Ebony Wiggins, who has benignant 2 diabetes, said she has gained backmost astir 15 pounds of the 25 she mislaid past twelvemonth portion taking Ozempic.

Artemis Bayandor, who lives successful Naperville, Illinois, said she weighs much present than erstwhile she took Wegovy: Within 1 period of stopping the medication, she gained backmost the 15 pounds she had mislaid connected the drug, she said, positive an other 10 implicit the adjacent six months.

“For the archetypal week I was OK, and for the 2nd week I went close backmost to each of the cravings, but worse,” Bayandor said.

Side effects enactment immoderate radical disconnected the medications

Courtney Hamilton didn’t made it much than a period connected Ozempic, which her doc prescribed off-label due to the fact that Hamilton has benignant 1 diabetes, not benignant 2.

Her nausea got truthful atrocious that she could hardly eat, Hamilton said, and the foods she could tolerate weren’t peculiarly healthy.

“Ironically, it made maine instrumentality to precise starchy, carby foods similar potatoes due to the fact that they’re precise bland. I ate a batch of that and a batch of plain toast,” she said.

People typically commencement with a debased dose of Ozempic oregon Wegovy, past ramp up to trim broadside effects. Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an adjunct prof of medicine astatine Massachusetts General Hospital, said immoderate terrible effects whitethorn beryllium the effect of raising that dosage excessively quickly.

“If the patient’s saying, ‘Oh gosh, I’m sick. I can’t adjacent spell to work, I’m vomiting each day,’ it’s astir apt the dose is conscionable not an due dose for them,” Stanford said.

In clinical trials, 73% of adults taking the highest dose of Wegovy reported gastrointestinal issues. Nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation and tummy symptom are astir common. Some radical have reported more serious, albeit rare, broadside effects similar pancreatitis and kidney failure.

Novo Nordisk said patients experiencing nausea arsenic a broadside effect should interaction their wellness attraction supplier for guidance astir ways to negociate it.

Jastreboff said she encourages her patients to devour smaller, much predominant meals, not devour past the constituent of fullness, and show which foods exacerbate their symptoms. Most broadside effects hap arsenic radical are expanding their dosage, past subside erstwhile they scope the attraction phase, she added.

Megan Cornelius, who has been taking Ozempic off-label for benignant 1 diabetes for respective years, said she was nauseous and fatigued astatine archetypal but those effects faded implicit time.

“As agelong arsenic I tin proceed to instrumentality it, I astir apt will,” Cornelius said.

For Eric Joiner Jr., a erstwhile benignant 2 diabetic, Ozempic hasn’t done thing beyond its intended effect: amended his kidney relation — an off-label exertion of the drug. Joiner developed chronic kidney illness arsenic a byproduct of his diabetes.

He hasn’t experienced broadside effects oregon value nonaccomplishment from Ozempic, helium said, but helium recognizes that isn’t existent for everyone.

“At the extremity of the day, it’s a precise idiosyncratic thing,” helium said. “Your biology is antithetic than mine.”

This communicative primitively appeared on NBCNews.com.

This nonfiction was primitively published connected TODAY.com