Ozempic or no?

[Johojo]

im massively overweight
I hate taking medication but I don’t want surgery due to the risks and considering ozempic? What is everyone’s experiences

actual ozempic from the doctors or the otc equivalent?

Unless you have Type 2 diabetes you won't get it prescribed, this is a life saving drug for diabetics not a weight loss drug.

Don’t do it, it makes you so poorly and really messes with your body. (from experience)

honestly it’s not worth it. If you want help losing weight please look up Team RH on any social media they are brilliant.

If you're not diabetic, you don't need it. Save it for those who do.

Not very helpful answers so far. Wegovy is the brand name of the drug now prescribed for weightloss. It’s the same drug with a different name.

there are hundreds of threads on here about it so you’d be better off reading them. I found the threads ‘Ozempic - for those of us a few months in’ really helpful because people talk about their long term experiences.

i think people who use it fall into three categories:

1. they have bad digestive side effects and don’t continue

2. the have very dramatic results very quickly but have to work long term to change the habits that might lead to weight gain after they stop taking it.

3. they have slow results and either persist (this was me) or give up because it’s really expensive.

You won’t know unless you try it. But you have to know that if don’t change your habits while you are taking it, then the weight is likely to go straight back on again. It has to come with behaviour change.

It was good but once you stop I think a lot of people put the weight back on, because no habits have changed etc.
Some people will need to be on it for life.
Try and get it from your GP if you're going to need it for a while, as it is expensive.

Don't do it OP.

Medication is tempting as a quick fix but you will be much better served in the long run by fixing your relationship with food and learning to eat healthily, which you'll have to do anyway if you want to keep the results from the medication.

We still don't know the long term effects of what this medication does to us. Unless you have a genuine medical need for it (I.e. diabetes), don't touch it.

If you can afford it (around £300 a month once you're on a full dose) then it could be worth giving a try. The medication licensed for weight loss is called Wegovy, same active ingredient as Ozempic, semaglutide, just different branding.
Some get bad side effects and can't tolerate it. Others, like me, have had no side effects and have found it to be life changing.
I've been on it nearly a year, I've carefully - with healthy eating and increased exercise - lost around 25kg and my health is transformed.
The trick is not to ask permission from strangers when you want to do something to help yourself.

Obesity is also a recognised disease with risks etc and OP says she's very overweight.

@Johojo I didn't have any side effects, it maybe made me feel a bit queasy sometimes at first but that was even better for appetite suppression :) I stopped because of the cost really, and probably put all the weight back on very quickly.

Oh, and obesity is a 'genuine medical need'. It causes a raft of illnesses, issues and complaints and it is proven time and again that diets don't work to cure it. Globally we need to change our thinking re the causes and solutions to obesity. No more shame.

You can get Wegovy (which as others have said is the same as Ozempic) from Boots or Asda or Superdrug if you meet the criteria. It is very difficult to get it prescribed from a GP.

wegovy is not quite the same as ozempic, it has a smaller amount of semaglutide in the ozempic but is is the nearest thing that is approved for weightloss.
save the ozempic for t2 people

It is just a tool like any other. Personally I haven’t had any problems on it, but you should only go ahead if you are prepared to make lifestyle changes. If you don’t once you stop taking it, you will pile back on all the weight and possibly more.

I’ve been using it to keep me motivated to continue eating healthily. I plateaued, was starting to feel demotivated, and I noticed a little some bad habits starting to creeping in. Don’t expect a miracle because not everybody loses lots. The scales have started moving for me, but it’s modest weight loss.

I have been on it since late November.
I have lost a stone, but I still have needed willpower and determination.
It costs me £200 per month
I probably wont continue long term as I find the side effects too much, nausea/ vomiting and the therapeutic effect so far has been weak. I have only just gone up to 1mg. I will see if the bigger doses are better- keeping an open mind at the moment.

don’t be so selfish. It’s a drug for diabetes and supposed to be in short supply because of overweight people using it

diabetes kills

I say this as someone who is also overweight all you need to do is put in less calories that you use. Look at what you eat and cut out the crap.
you also need to look at your relationship with food and diet that

using this drug is a quick fix. Once you stop using it weight goes on

obesity kills, in fact it often leads to diabetes.

Love it! I had no bad side effects thankfully and lost 4.5st between April and September last year. I came off it after that and have kept it all off.

I’ve just started it a week ago and no side effects (and no appetite either). I expect I will stay on this or another drug like it forever which is fine. Better than staying the weight I am and getting all the other diseases that go with that.

If I could afford it (super expensive here in USA), I would totally take it! But I would also do the surgery, too, personally (not both together :-)

Wegovy and ozempic are both semaglutide, exactly the same ingredient. Wegovy is a higher dose, that's the only difference.

@porridgeisbae so I guess the diabetics need it more if the thing the obese ppl are worried about is diabetes. What about the ppl who aren't trying to prevent diabetes, but actually have it now ???? Logic would dictate they should be prioritised.

So sick of hearing about how it's okay to use diabetic medication because obesity also is a health condition. There are so many ways to treat obesity and in ideal world of course use diabetic medication but there is a shortage and people with diabetes, which is a horrible disease and more likely to cause complications than just obesity, are unable to access medication they need to live.

I say that as someone who is obese myself. Obesity is horrible to deal with and I have every sympathy OP but this is a quick fix and is causing issues for ppl with a very serious health condition.

It is licensed to be prescribed for weight loss not just diabetes. It is quite a new drug for both uses. It does have unpleasant side effects so lots of people do give it up within a year whether they have taken it for weight loss or to control blood sugar levels for diabetes.

I think saying you shouldn't take it because some diabetics cannot get it is a bit like saying you shouldn't eat because some people in the world can't get food. It is not quite as simple an equation than that.

I've been on it and metformin since end of June last year. For me it was a very very last resort. I'd been trying to lose weight for 14 years. I run, eat clean and my body just kept putting weight on. I'd seen every dietician, specialist etc and nothing worked. The day i actually wanted to die i felt that bad - i found a dr specialising in it. For me though It just wasn't weight, my insulin levels were high, i had become pre-diabetic and bloods showed high chance of stroke and my levels just rose every single month yet regular dr's didn't know what to do so i just had blood tests every month. So as a very last resort i tried it and it's worked. My dr is in constant contact and i'm monitored closely. So for me it's worth it. I'd rather not and wish the regular diet and exercise worked for me. My body feels calmer now and not like it's in constant crash mode.

Just on the Superdrug app and they were willing to give it to me, and I’m 10.5 stone. (3 stone overweight for my BMI).

I was on ozempic a year and a half.i didn't need to lose weight but I'm diabetic. I dropped 30 pounds without trying. It's like the best food in front of you and you are not the slightest bit interested. But I was sick as a dog a couple of days a week. And then there is bathroom problems galore. I lost weight but my quality of life sucked. If you do it be sure to take breaks to give your digestive system a break if you start being very constipated.