Weight loss with Ozempic has garnered enormous buzz on social media. Even though it’s a treatment for Type 2 diabetes, many people are using the medication off-label to shed pounds — a famous side effect.
But other known common side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain and constipation, according to Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical giant that makes Ozempic.
Demand for the drug, which patients self-inject once a week, has been so high that it has led to shortages for people who need it for Type 2 diabetes and fueled a cottage industry for people who want to get a prescription without seeing a doctor in person.
Ozempic is still listed as “currently in shortage” by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
What is it like to actually take the drug and what happens when you stop?
NBC News senior consumer investigative correspondent Vicky Nguyen talked with three women who used the medication: Shea Murray, a single mom with Type 2 diabetes; Ebony Wiggins, who also has diabetes; and Danielle Baker, who says she was prescribed the drug to lose weight.
Ozempic has not been approved as a weight-loss drug by the FDA — that designation has gone to Novo Nordisk’s other drug, Wegovy, which contains the same medication, semaglutide. But Ozempic can lead to weight loss, an outcome mentioned in ads for the medication. Two of the three women TODAY interviewed did lose pounds.
Semaglutide is in a class of drugs that work in the brain’s hunger centers. It mimics a hormone that makes you feel full longer, reduces food cravings and suppresses your appetite. The medication also slows down stomach emptying, so patients are satisfied with smaller portions and feel less hungry overall.
“I didn’t even think of (food). … Looking at a bag of Doritos was kind of like looking at a pair of socks,” Murray said.
Shea says if she ate too much, she would feel nauseated. Wiggins and Baker had a similar experience.
“No matter how little I seem to eat in that sitting…. I…
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