Ozempic is a famous kind two diabetes drug that lowers blood sugars and helps enhance HbA1c levels, whilst additionally assisting those who take it to lose or keep weight.
In this article, we’ll cowl the entirety you want to comprehend about Ozempic, which includes its benefits, facet effects, and how to use it effectively.
What is Ozempic?
Ozempic is the company title for a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist medication.
Its energetic ingredient is semaglutide and it used to be first accredited by using the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States in 2017.
This injectable kind two diabetes drug is solely taken as soon as per week, due to its lengthy length of action.
What are the advantages of Ozempic?
Ozempic has three most important advantages for humans residing with diabetes:
Improved blood sugar management
Ozempic helps enhance blood sugar stages by growing the quantity of insulin the pancreas releases whilst additionally inhibiting the launch of glucagon from the liver. This consequences in decreased blood sugars and A1C levels.
Weight loss or weight maintenance
Ozempic helps minimize meal consumption by reducing the urge for food and slowing digestion. In scientific trials, humans taking Ozempic misplaced a common of 4-5% of their physique weight.
Ozempic is frequently prescribed “off-label” (without FDA approval) for humans with kind 1 diabetes or even any kind of diabetes to assist with weight loss.
The lower threat of cardiovascular diseases
Ozempic has been tested to limit the danger of fundamental coronary heart attack, stroke, or death in adults with kind two diabetes and coronary heart disease.
Why would you be prescribed Ozempic?
Ozempic is solely FDA-approved for humans who have kind two diabetes. Not everybody with kind two diabetes will be prescribed Ozempic due to the fact many humans are in a position to manipulate their blood sugar ranges with diet, exercise, and every so often with insulin therapy.
However, if you’re struggling to preserve blood sugar tiers inside a healthful vary with ordinary diabetes medications, or if you’re struggling with insulin resistance, you might also be prescribed Ozempic as a complement to your diabetes therapy plan.
Many humans who have kind two diabetes and present coronary heart ailment are additionally prescribed Ozempic due to the fact Ozempic reduces the hazard of stroke, coronary heart attack, and untimely deaths in this population.
What are the facet effects?
The most frequent facet outcomes include:
Nausea
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Stomach pain
Constipation
Weight loss
Low blood sugar, in particular if you take insulin
Although rare, greater extreme problems may also include:
Thyroid tumors, together with most cancers
Pancreatitis
Changes in imagination and prescient (worsening of diabetic retinopathy)
Kidney troubles
Serious allergic reactions
Several of these extra extreme aspects consequences can lead to fitness problems and death.
Call your medical doctor or search for emergency clinical interest if you advance a fever, ride modifications, or worsening of your vision, or if you are feeling vulnerable or in aches after taking the medication.
How a lot Ozempic do I take?
This will range via affected person and it will rely on your fitness history, fitness goals, and lifestyle.
However, most medical doctors will begin sufferers on 0.2 mg as soon as per week. It is essential to take your Ozempic on an identical day every week.
After a few weeks, if you’re no longer having destructive aspect results and you’re experiencing fewer blood sugar spikes after meals, your physician might also expand your dose to 0.5 mg.
If you’re nevertheless having blood sugar spikes with no damaging facet effects, your health practitioner might also enlarge your dose to 1mg as soon as weekly or as excessive as 2mg as soon as weekly.
0.5 mg, 1 mg, or two mg can also be your ultimate preservation dose, however, that varies with the aid of the patient.
The most dose for Ozempic is two mg taken as soon as weekly.
What occurs if you take a lot of Ozempic?
Taking to a lot of Ozempic can motive serious aspect effects, such as debilitating nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, belly pain, and even low blood sugar (especially if you’re additionally on insulin) which can come to be deadly if no longer dealt with immediately.
If you’ve by chance taken to a lot of Ozempic, name your medical doctor right away or are searching for emergency scientific attention.
Can I pass over a dose of Ozempic?
If you omit a dose of Ozempic, it is k to take it a few days late, however, if you’ve ignored your dose greater than 5 days ago, simply omit that week’s dose and take your often scheduled dose on time.
You will no longer trip insulin resistance or weight achieved from one overlooked dose. Try no longer to leave out doses regularly, however, as the medicine is most fantastic when taken consistently.
How to inject Ozempic
Check the Ozempic liquid in the pen visually earlier than injecting. If there are any particles or discoloration present, do now not use the pen.
Before injecting, ease the injection website with rubbing alcohol. Change the injection website every week to forestall accidents underneath the skin.
Ozempic is usually injected underneath the pores and skin in the thigh, abdomen, or top arm. Talk to your health practitioner about the quality locations for you to inject and how to rotate injection sites.
Who shouldn’t take Ozempic?
If you don’t have a prescription for Ozempic, do no longer take the medication.
It is no longer advocated for use if you are pregnant, planning on turning pregnant, or if you are breastfeeding.
It is no longer advocated for humans barring diabetes, or those with prediabetes or kind 1 diabetes, barring the coaching of a physician.
Do no longer use Ozempic if you or any of your household participants have ever had medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC), or if you have Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome kind two (MEN 2).
Do now not use Ozempic if you are allergic to liraglutide. If you’re involved in making an attempt a GLP-1 agonist however you’re allergic to liraglutide, you may also decide on Victoza whose energetic ingredient is liraglutide.
Talk with your medical doctor if you have questions or issues about beginning Ozempic or if you’ve currently been prescribed the medication.
How I do quit taking Ozempic?
There are many motives that you may additionally prefer to cease taking Ozempic: possibly you’re experiencing detrimental facet effects, possibly you don’t like how the medicine makes you feel, or perhaps it’s gotten cost-prohibitive.
Make positive you speak with your physician earlier than stopping any diabetes medication, together with Ozempic.
Your health practitioner will in all likelihood choose you to wean your dose earlier than stopping bloodless turkey. Be forewarned, however, that insulin resistance, meal cravings, blood sugar levels, and weight may additionally creep again up as soon as you cease taking Ozempic.
You will prefer to have a diagram in place, such as a choice of medication, exercise, or weight loss program designed to assist fight any rebound outcomes you might also experience.
How does Ozempic enhance diabetes management?
Lower blood sugar stages blended with weight loss or renovation make diabetes administration a lot easier. Additionally, research has proven that decrease A1Cs correlate with fewer diabetes issues over the lengthy term.
It is a good deal less difficult to preserve a decreased A1C if you’re no longer struggling with insulin resistance, which Ozempic helps to combat. Weight loss may additionally make bodily pastimes simpler as well.
Finally, due to the fact, Ozempic lowers the threat of coronary heart attack, stroke, and untimely death in folks with kind two diabetes and coronary heart disease, taking Ozempic as a prophylactic medicine can vastly enhance fitness results due to the fact coronary heart assault and stroke are acknowledged diabetes complications. \
Can Ozempic substitute insulin?
No. Ozempic is no longer like insulin and it is no longer an insulin replacement
If you have these days been prescribed Ozempic, do no longer end up taking your different diabetes medicines until your physician has in particular informed you to.
Ozempic lowers blood sugars over time, however, it does now not purpose acute low blood sugars in the way that insulin does.
If you typically take insulin for food, you will want to proceed to do so. If you’ve been on Ozempic for various months, you may also note that your insulin wishes are steadily lowering however this rarely, if ever, definitely takes away the want to take insulin for your diabetes.
Can I take Ozempic with different diabetes medications?
Depending on the different medications, yes.
Ozempic can be taken in aggregate with metformin, insulin, or different medications, however, be certain to ask your health practitioner if it will be contraindicated with any different medicinal drugs you take, and make positive your medical doctor is aware of each different medicinal drug you take earlier than beginning Ozempic.
Ozempic can't be mixed with Wegovy, Victoza, Trulicity, or Mounjaro, however. These are different GLP-1 agonist medicines and it is risky to mix them with Ozempic.
Does Ozempic want to be refrigerated?
Yes. Ozempic has to be saved in the fridge between 36°F to 46°F. It can be used for up to fifty-six days after opening.
How do I get a prescription for Ozempic?
Talk with your health practitioner if you favor a prescription for Ozempic. If you’re struggling with weight loss and insulin resistance and have kind two diabetes, they have to be capable to write you a prescription.
If you do now not have kind two diabetes however stay with any other structure of diabetes and are struggling with insulin resistance, discuss with your physician about your remedy options.
If you no longer have any kind of diabetes and are searching to lose weight, discuss with your medical doctor about FDA-approved weight loss medicines that may additionally be safer for you, besides the facet consequences that Ozempic can have.