(PatriotWise.com) — Semaglutide, marketed under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic, has seen its popularity soar in recent years.
People with a body mass index of 30 or more, or 27 or more, who also have a weight-related disease such as high blood pressure, are eligible to use Wegovy for chronic weight control. Wegovy and its sibling medicine Ozempic have experienced meteoric rises in popularity, trending on social media and even getting a nod at the Academy Awards and on “Saturday Night Live.”
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Ozempic approval in 2017 to treat type 2 diabetes. In 2021, it was approved under the trade name Wegovy for chronic weight management.
People have flocked to the drug, despite its many possible side effects.
Sharon Osbourne recently admitted using an injectable medication to reduce her weight.
On Thursday’s “The Talk UK” broadcast, Osbourne, 70, revealed that she shed 30 pounds in just four months after using a semaglutide but was also quite unwell for a few months. She said she was sick to her stomach “pretty much every day.”
Participants in Wegovy clinical studies lost 15.8% of their starting body weight on average over the course of 68 weeks. Trials conducted with Ozempic demonstrated a 6% average weight decrease after one year.
According to MedlinePlus, the most common adverse reactions of semiglutide include feeling nauseous, throwing up, or having diarrhea; belly discomfort; constipation; heartburn; or burps.
Extreme discomfort, lightheadedness, changes in eyesight, rashes, swelling, trouble breathing or swallowing, skin and eye yellowing, and rapid heartbeat are all possible, albeit they occur seldom.
During a recent episode of “Fox & Friends,” Dr. Marc Siegel, a Fox News medical contributor and an internal medicine specialist at NYU Langone, discussed his concern about prescribing the medication with its possible side effects.
When asked about the long-term ramifications of the medicine, he responded, “I don’t want to commit people to years and years and years of it. If I can avoid using it permanently, I will.”
Elon Musk, a billionaire entrepreneur, attributed his recent weight loss to “fasting” and “Wegovy.”
With such an endorsement, no wonder the Wegovy demand is exploding, and the drug is facing shortages, even while the trade-off to the weight loss is possibly feeling ill.
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