Many people, on social media, are saying that they’re losing weight on the new diabetes drug Ozempic. This drug works by lowering blood sugar and spurring insulin production, but insurers are reluctant to cover it, and it can cost $900 or more a month. However, some people who have tried the drug seem to have serious side effects.
“Though the drug’s manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, cautions that”Ozempic is not approved for chronic weight management,” doctors are increasingly prescribing it off-label to the point that there is a product shortage.”Though the drug’s manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, cautions that “Ozempic is not approved for chronic weight management,” doctors are increasingly prescribing it off-label to the point that there is a product shortage.
Patients are finding out the hard way that the drug can have serious side effects, including nausea, constipation, diarrhea, and other possible issues into account. They’re finding that Ozempic isn’t always the best way to lose weight.
There’s a private group on Facebook called the Ozempic® Weight Loss Support Group for T2D and Other Issues, but you have to agree to the rules. This includes No. 5: Posting about Negative Side Effects. “Most people taking this medication DO NOT have negative side effects. Over 80% of people taking Ozempic have mild or no side effects; still, social media posts about the negative side effects are increasing.
“The gastrointestinal side effects weren’t even the main issue for others. 32-year-old Mila Clarke, who has latent autoimmune (LADA) diabetes and runs a well-known blog in the diabetes community, chronicled taking Ozempic for her 30,000 YouTube subscribers last year.
She lost weight quickly, but how little she wanted to eat frightened her.” Sometimes I would drink a glass of water, and I would be full for the entire day,” she said. In a month, she overcame other side effects, like nausea and acid reflux. But within a week of starting the drug, she got the same Apple Watch notification telling her that her heart rate was high. She says she brought it up with her doctor, who initially said it was probably anxiety because he thought heart palpitations weren’t a documented side effect of Ozempic.
A couple of months later, she quit the medication.” I could feel my heart beating out of my chest,” she said.”It was hard to breathe. I woke up in the middle of the night from these heart palpitations. And I could not take it anymore” Afterward, she heard from other people experiencing these symptoms, too.”I’m grateful I made that choice and that my doctor supported that choice because my mom recently passed away from a heart attack,” Clarke says. (According to Novo Nordisk, the drug’s manufacturer, Ozempic can result in a slightly increased heart rate. Those who experienced this in clinical trials amounted to”less than or equal to 1% of patients,” a Novo Nordisk spokesperson said in an email, adding that the increase in heart rate “has not been associated with a negative impact on cardiovascular outcomes.
Novo had to know that people would line up for a drug that promotes weight loss when the media is promoting stories about patients losing a lot of weight. Rather than address this, Novo has decided to remain quiet and allow their fair balance to do the talking, Fair compensation that most people fail to read.
I talked to some physicians, and most refuse to prescribe the drug to people for weight loss and even have reservations about prescribing it for diabetes. Their biggest concern was the cost to the patient and the side effects of long-term use. It’s by no means a big enough sample, but it tells me a lot.
People are desperate to lose weight, and rather than using common sense, and they’re looking for easy fixes. The DTC marketers at Novo are probably keenly aware of this, but they also know the FDA is watching. The FDA would serve the public a lot better by warning these products about long-term use and updating people on the number of people experiencing side effects, but that would be too easy.