Table Of Content
- Ways Weight Loss Can Help Control Diabetes
- Possible Ozempic side effects, including hair loss, probed by FDA; no link found to suicidal thoughts
- Side Effects of Ozempic: Examples and Treatment Options
- Warning
- What are the most common side effects with these drugs?
- Ozempic Hurts the Fight Against Eating Disorders
- Male Ozempic users reporting awful sexual side effect: ‘Say goodbye to sex’

Iron is important, particularly during menstruation, Surampudi said, and everyone may benefit from taking a vitamin D supplement while on weight loss drugs. They include a case report published in March from doctors in Canada of a patient who had too much food left in their stomach despite fasting for 18 hours before an operation. The patient had begun injections of semaglutide for weight loss two months before. This side effect was very rare in people receiving the drug in clinical trials. Gas and burping were reported in people receiving Ozempic in clinical trials. For some people with diabetes, this means they could lose weight while receiving the drug.
Ways Weight Loss Can Help Control Diabetes
Some experts, however, believe that Ozempic and related drugs are causing a surprising and worrying amount of muscle loss, more than we see with other weight loss methods. Ileus is likely a rare side effect — it wasn’t identified in previous clinical trials, which evaluated semaglutide in thousands of participants. Jaisinghani also advises people not to assume hair loss is because of weight loss. “You should also discuss what your diet should look like, including how much protein you should be consuming to keep your hair healthy and maintain muscle mass during weight loss.” she added.
Possible Ozempic side effects, including hair loss, probed by FDA; no link found to suicidal thoughts
Try to eat a balance of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats. That said, some of the health conditions that can prompt people to take semaglutide in the first place can cause hair loss, too. Dr. Priya Jaisinghani, an endocrinologist at NYU Langone in New York City, said that poor diet, calorie restriction or protein restriction can contribute to hair loss that’s seen with significant weight loss. Hair loss is a common side effect of significant weight loss during a short period of time, and people who undergo bariatric, or weight loss surgery, are usually warned ahead of time that this could be a side effect. The drugs work by targeting receptors in the body that are involved with producing insulin and regulating digestion.
How Doctors Fix Ozempic Face, Hair Loss & Loose Skin - RealSelf.com
How Doctors Fix Ozempic Face, Hair Loss & Loose Skin.
Posted: Wed, 18 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Side Effects of Ozempic: Examples and Treatment Options
The FDA advises patients to “inform their healthcare providers of palpitations or feelings of a racing heartbeat while at rest.” Patients that experienced “sustained” increases in resting heart rate should discontinue the medication. Delayed stomach emptying, the defining feature of gastroparesis, is a known consequence of Ozempic and related drugs. This delayed emptying has positive effects, helping to reduce hunger and provoke weight loss, as well as negative ones, contributing to gastrointestinal discomfort. There is no evidence that Ozempic or any other similar drug directly affects your appearance.
Warning
Examples of these problems include dizziness, blurred vision, or seizures. Contact your doctor right away if you experience any of these symptoms. If your doctor confirms you have pancreatitis, they’ll stop your Ozempic treatment and manage your condition. Before starting Ozempic, ask your doctor how often you should check your blood sugar. Also, ask your doctor or pharmacist to explain the symptoms of low blood sugar and how to manage these episodes. Flatulence (gas) and burping can occur with Ozempic, but they aren’t the most common digestive system side effects.

This means that people may experience hair loss at the same time as taking semaglutide, due to the rather quick weight loss, but not necessarily because of the drug itself. Chances are that if you’re taking semaglutide, you’ve been working to lose weight for some time. If you notice hair loss at any point in your weight loss journey, be sure to tell your healthcare provider.
Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available. If you’re breastfeeding or planning to breastfeed, talk with your doctor about the risks and benefits of using Ozempic. In rare cases, Ozempic may cause pancreatitis (swelling of the pancreas). This can be either acute (short-term) pancreatitis or chronic pancreatitis.
This potential side effect may also be a good reminder that Ozempic is inappropriate for people who do not have a good medical reason to lose weight. The science here remains unsettled; we don’t know if Ozempic causes extra muscle loss. Either way, experts agree that it would be wise for Ozempic users to engage in strength-building exercises to help preserve muscle mass during weight loss. Body composition analyses of volunteers in two trials (published in Diabetologia and The New England Journal of Medicine) found that semaglutide users lost about 40 percent lean mass and 60 percent fat. A review published in 2017 stated that dieters using other methods to lose weight tend to lose only 20 to 30 percent lean mass.

Animal studies showed that Ozempic increases the risk of thyroid tumors in animals. (A tumor is a mass of cancerous tissue.) But animal studies don’t always predict what will happen in humans. You’re more likely to have nausea when you first start Ozempic treatment or after your doctor increases your dose.
Certain medicines should not be used at or around the time of eating food or eating certain types of food since interactions may occur. Using alcohol or tobacco with certain medicines may also cause interactions to occur. Discuss with your healthcare professional the use of your medicine with food, alcohol, or tobacco.
The easiest way to lookup drug information, identify pills, check interactions and set up your own personal medication records. Usually, once your weight stabilizes, this side effect will subside and your hair will regrow to its original thickness before you started treatment. Although you may notice hair thinning, other people may not recognize it all. Regulators in the European Union and United Kingdom have signaled that they are investigating reports that Ozempic and similar drugs are causing thoughts of suicide and self-harm. Many Ozempic users are amazed to find that they are engaging in less addictive and compulsive behavior. Somehow the drug appears to reduce our damaging tendency to overindulge in activities like drinking, shopping, gambling, or to compulsively pick at our skin or bite our nails.
Ozempic is one of the brand names for a diabetes drug called semaglutide, a medication that can help those with the condition manage their glucose levels and has the side effect of appetite suppression. It's been around for years but in recent months Ozempic has become a hot topic of conversation as a shortage of Wegovy (the drug's sister brand approved for weight loss) led to Ozempic's off-label prescription as a weight loss drug. If you notice hair loss while using any of these medicines, or if you are losing weight more rapidly than expected, contact your healthcare provider.
If you’re dieting, your calorie intake may be too low—which can put you at risk for hair loss due to telogen effluvium. In clinical trials for the drug, which is specifically prescribed for weight loss, 3% of patients reported hair loss side effects compared to 1% of patients in the placebo group. However, the prescribed dosage for Wegovy is higher than for Ozempic, Dr Harris, who is also the medical director at Restore Hair, points out. The good news is that hair loss or hair shedding (telogen effluvium) is usually a temporary side effect of rapid weight loss with these medicines.
Eating disorders are complex illnesses that aren’t yet fully understood, even by experts in the field. Underneath the behaviors around food is often an intricate web of trauma, anxiety, and even genetic predisposition, all set against the backdrop of a culture that prizes thinness. Low weight is frequently (incorrectly) conflated with good health, and people in larger bodies are often subjected to bullying, negative stereotypes, and discrimination in the workplace. Researchers have looked at the role these medications can play in other addictive disorders, including drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.
Making sure to include enough protein, iron, B vitamins — especially biotin — and zinc could help prevent some hair shedding if malnutrition is a factor, she added. “It’s extremely common for people after bariatric surgery to lose quite a bit of hair. It’s one of the biggest complaints I hear and people are worried they’re going to go bald,” Kraftson said.
To reach your blood sugar goals while using Ozempic, you should follow the nutrition guidelines that your doctor recommends. Keep reading to learn about the common, mild, and serious side effects that Ozempic can cause. However, Ozempic has been said to be an ineffective treatment long-term. In January, several Ozempic users claimed they stopped taking the drug and ended up regaining more weight than they lost.