What's your experience with Ozempic or Sandexa for weight loss?

Hello @surftohealth88,

To help keep the "Do Pluvicto patients live like those in the TV ad" - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/do-pluvicto-patients-iive-like-those-in-the-tv-ad/ discussion on topic, I moved your question about Ozempic to a discussion titled:

"What's your experience with Ozempic or Sandexa for weight loss?"
- https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ozempicsaxenda/

I did this so the members who commented on their experiences with Ozempic could see your question on possible side effects or successes on the medication could weigh in on your question.

The taking of weight loss injections does gurantee loss of appetite, weight loss, and not significant side affects. It is an individual think just like any medication. Where one will have side affects another will not. Success for some will not be success for others.

Many posters do well at certain dosage and then get serious side affects on higher ones. Some have great success and some will not.

I know many many people who did not have success with the weight loss drugs. Had bad reactions or did not work. It is common to have changes to digestion and bowel movements as digestion slows down.

I can pass on my experience with Wegovy. I had no side affects for all dosages except highest dose. The only side affect was change in bowel movements. I did not have and significant loss of appetite and actually gained some weight on Wegovy.

I had to stay with each dosage level for a month which is a lot of different ones. When I got to highest 2.4 dosage became nauseated 2 hours later after taking. Woke up sick next morning and vomiting. Called and got an appointment with PCP (Mayo) in afternoon. Before appointment vomited again. Bad headache.

PCP told me some react severely and some do not have success on these weight loss drugs and I am one of them. I was told I could not take nausea medication as interferred with 2 of my heart medications. I was told to eat spoup, etc. to prevent stomach upset and would take up to 5 weeks for the drug to be gone from body.

I then went home and vomited again. Nasuea feeling, burping, headache. I found I could eat mashed potatoes and drink a protein drink as only things I could keep from extreme nausea. It took many many weeks for me to return to regular eating and I still think I burp a lot.

I have posted many time I am jealous of those who had success and were able to tolerate it but it is not for all nor should it be refer to as going to work and success for all. I know many of my friends had same reaction to full dose and were put on lower dose. They also said tried to stip but appetite came back as well weight.

The cases of side affects are not rare. I have many friends who experienced same as I did at high dose and many had these severe reaction to even the low doses. However the majority on MCC posts say worked but not sure we are hearing from those who found it did not work or could not deal with side affects. Is not an easy thing to post the side affects or like me very disapointed did not work for me at all.

I'm going to throw a few thoughts out there, and apologies to those who have seen these before. I started with Zepbound, lost the weight I wanted to lose, and am now on Ozempic for maintenance.
-- All legit weight loss drugs work better for some people than others: a few of us are super-responders, a few of us are non-responders, and most people land in the middle. Ozempic/Wegovy/Zepbound, etc are no different. The only way to figure out where you land is to try it. Even then, you may find that if you are not responsive to one GLP-1RA, you may be to another. If you are interested in more on this, including the range of GLP1RAs available or switching from one version to another, I can post a few citations.
-- Many people have no side effects, some of us (me) have a whole suite of side effects, and many people have one or two. For the GLP-1RAs, it's commonly GI, and it's commonly dose dependent. If you are interested, I can post a few citations. I happen to have one of the permanent side effects, but those are vanishingly rare (in fact, it took a very long time to be diagnosed because most doctors practically never see these).
-- There are a number of new forms of these drugs that are currently in various stages of development and clinical trials. If you are interested, there's a website that posts quarterly updates on the drug pipeline. These include oral forms of the drugs if you are uncomfortable with needles. However, the tech for the needles is really good, and self-injecting these is easy and painless.
-- Just because the clinical trials studied particular doses, particular titrations, and particular frequencies, doesn't mean you need to stick with those. I wouldn't up the dosages beyond the max that was studied, but you can go up or down slower or (a bit) faster (I went slower) based on how well they work for you and the side effects. You can also pick a form of the drug/injector (requires a multi-pen) that allows you to click-count or microdose, which means you can use doses that are in between the studied doses. I'm now at an in-between low dose taken every six days using ozempic. If you want to customize, you need a doctor to prescribe it who isn't going to throw fits over this approach. I would start with the dosages and frequencies that were tested, and only move away from those once you understand how your own body is reacting. Also, really, don't go higher than a dose that has been studied.
-- The GLP-1 your body naturally produces vanishes from the bloodstream very quickly. These drugs are designed to vanish more slowly (the original forms were taken daily, and the more recent versions are taken weekly), but they still vanish. This means that you are not making a permanent change (if you want permanent, look into bariatric surgery, which is still the gold standard). In turn, this means that either you stick with it potentially forever (me), or use the opportunity to make sweeping behavioral changes that will allow you to maintain without the drug (very hard for most of us). It also means that in most cases, if you have bad side effects, you can just solve them by going off the drug.
-- People are exploring maintenance at very low doses, maintenance at very stretched-out doses (every few weeks instead of every week), or going off it for a while and going back on it if the weight comes back. There is no best answer yet for maintenance, so it's all trial-and-error.
-- Most US insurance will only cover the GLP-1RAs for reasons other than weight loss. If you can get it covered for diabetes, sleep apnea, etc, then start with the version of the drug that your insurance will cover.

When my PCP (Mayo) agreed for me to start Wegovy it was required by Mayo to have me start at lowest dose and move my way up to monitor side affects. The dosage comes in 4 shots which means first dose is 4 weeks then you move up to the next.

It is important to all to look at common side affects that have been reported. And emphasize common side affects means most will experience some or not all of them. My experience at low dosage was side affect of changed bowel movements and very slight reduction of appetite until I hit 2.4 dose of Wegovey and got severe side affects.

I have to remain off any weight loss drug for 5-6 weeks to get it out of my system. My PCP will then decide if I want to try Zepbound which had 2 recptors (Wegovy 1) that reduce appetite and maybe a better fit for me. Per my PCP his research is showing less side afffects. Now if you read MCC you will see many have side affects from Zepbound as well.

Weight loss drugs work for many many people. For some side affects prevent using. For some they don't get the reduction of appetite the drug should cause and this is know by medical experts to also happen to some.

I think important that anyone considering these drugs to talk to their PCP about the side affects that are common thus should be expected. Most all I know have changes to bowel movements and type. Nausea is common but can be minor or significant. Same for other side affects.

I am jealous of others who have had success and little side affects. However everyone considering look at common side affects of these drugs as the drug manufacturer is telling you these are common and expected.

I was using Ozempic for 3 months and had random, explosive, diarrhea. I lost 45 pounds. When working from home it was manageable, but I had to stop using it when I went back to working on the road.

These weight loss drugs are surely causing a lot of discussion. I think that is good and MCC here for posters to give their experiences with them and be when positive an inspirations to others.

I think where obesity is involved it is much different than just being overweight. Severe obesity comes with so many health and mental side issues. It is a personal decisions on what you do. From my personal experience, other posters, and drug companies of common side affects mean just that. There are known common side affects and should expect some of them. If you don't have them you are lucky and the exception outside the common side affects to be expected.

How an individual will react to these medicaions is specific to the individual. There is no way a person is going to know how they will react until they start taking them. I read sometimes that an individual will start at a higher dose than the lowest dosage. I don't know how a medical provider can do this knowing that as higher dosage are going to have a higher chance of common the side affects.

I wish my experience with Wegovy had worked for me. It did not. But it does not mean won't work for you nor will you have the serious side affect I had on the maxium dose of Wegovy 2.4.

I hope the long term study of thes medications does not reveal long term usage negative health issues. But as mentioned obesity itself comes with very negative possiblities of health issues.

I had bariatric surgery 20 years ago. I lost a great deal of weight and kept it off. If I gained a little, and I did, I know that it was my fault for not sticking to the program. I believe anyone who says, it didn’t work, means, they didn’t work at it. Bariatric surgery is a tool not magic. You will put weight on if you consume the wrong foods. Anyway. I am a Diabetic 2. When Ozempic first came out, my doctor put me on it to lower my A1C. It was awesome. I dropped about 10/15 pounds. The important thing to me, was keeping my blood sugars intact. My A1C has been wonderful. What I do understand that a diabetic and non diabetic metabolize Ozempic differently. It wasn’t made for weight loss to start off with. I know that I’ll be on it for the rest of my life. I am able to maintain my current weight without any complications (except for the cost, even with Medicare, prescribed for Diabetes 2). I know that it affects people without diabetes differently. People without Diabetes will lose more weight easily and quickly, more so than Diabetes. Complications might be due to the fact, that the drug was made to treat blood sugars. I understand if you stop Ozempic (for weight loss only) statistically you’ll gain 1-1/2 pounds per week. To me, unless you plan on using it for the rest of your life, you’re wasting your money and doing your body harm. By no means, am I perfect, however, whenever I hear that Bariatric surgery doesn’t work or Ozempic doesn’t work, it’s usually our lack of commitment. Everyday is a struggle, and I know what I should and shouldn’t eat. If I eat the wrong foods, it’s my fault, not Bariatric surgery or using Ozempic. 120 pounds down for past 20 years. Good luck to all.