My eldest (17) was on Ozempic for weight loss. And it did help with suppressing their appetite. With Ozempic not having been approved for weight loss at this time, their next option is weight loss surgery. (They are 5’3", 267 lbs, so it isn’t a vanity thing.) They aren’t sure how they feel about that.
I had an episode of atrial flutter about a year ago, which was handled with a procedure called cardioversion (electric shock to the heart muscle to stabilize the heartbeat). All symptoms are now fine, but my cardiologist is after me to use Ozempic or one of that class of drugs to lose weight (I’m not diabetic, at least not yet, I’ve been pre-diabetic for years – but I am way overweight). She at least wants me to talk to an endocrinologist about it. She also threatens me with a procedure called ablation if I should get another episode of flutter.
I’m seeing my primary care doctor next week and I’ll talk to him about it, but based on what I’ve read here and elsewhere, I don’t want to take those drugs for weight loss. I have to find another way.
My wife is on it. It wipes her out for a day or so – tiredness, nausea. It’s hard to tell if it’s done anything for her A1C. It was quite good in the beginning, but her numbers now are not anything to brag about. She has lost weight, though.
I’m using Rybelsus. My A1C skyrocketed when I was put on it and I can’t get my doctor to go back on what I was taking before. I also can’t get another doctor. I did lose about 15 pounds, but that’s not important.
Saw my doctor today for my first post-covid physical. My A1C has been drifting up to 7 in spite of the fact that I’m 30 pounds lighter than I was at my heaviest and I’m on both Metformin and Jardiance, so we decided to give Ozempic a try. He said his patients have had good success with both A1C reduction and weight loss.
I’ll wait until the weekend for my 1st shot just to see what the side effects are.
Wegovy is the same thing as Ozempic but at higher dose and approved for weight loss. It may not be covered by insurance, though.
I’m now two weeks into my therapeutic Ozempic dose. My doctor wants me to stay at .5 mL at least until my 1st A1C in July and recommends keeping it there if I’m seeing any results and not ramping up.
So far I have noticed my random testing is down from before I started Ozempic and I have not seen anything over 8 mmol/L (about 150 mg/dL) with lows of 4.5 (80ish). Notably I am not very hungry, which I am sure is driving some of this.
Sounds good! I’m at .5 and my foc wants me to go up, but i want to see an A1c first.
How are you managing the costs? I’m type 2 diabetic and also need to lose weight (5’9, 245). My doctor suggested Ozempic or Mounjaro but they’re very expensive. Even with my insurance it’s still more than I can afford and I make good money!
My insurance doesn’t cover Mounjaro, but does cover Ozempic (the copay varies but is around $130 for a 3-month supply). Look on the manufacturers’ sites for discounted coverage to see if you qualify.
I’m your height and was 225 at my highest, under 190 now and ideally down to 170.
I cover the costs by 1) being Canadian and 2) having a drug plan from work. Ozempic is about $250/mth up here, leading to many USAians trying to get Canadian scripts.
Can I be Canadian? I promise I’m actually very nice, courteous, clean-up after myself, return shopping carts to the corral, and love animals.
Sorry, Canada is closed. Moose out front should of told ya!
When I first started Bydureon I was on an HSA/High Deductible account and they didn’t cover it at all. It was $700/mo. My only reprieve was that I would hit my deductible in July and not have to pay $700/mo for almost half a year. Yay.
I switched insurance to a new plan that covers Trulicity but I think it’s still $250 or something. BUT the manufacturer has a coupon so when that’s applied I only pay $25. My pharmacy just provides and applies the coupon for me! And now they’ve started giving me 2-3 boxes (4-packs) at a time and I get all that for just $25. The bonus here is that the full $250 goes towards my deductible even though I am just out $25.
Anyway, check this out: https://www.ozempic.com/savings-and-resources/save-on-ozempic.html and this Savings & Resources | Mounjaro® (tirzepatide) Maybe they can help you too.
I was told Mounjaro would cost me $500 a month, then another time they said $1000. Can’t afford that! But so far they haven’t even charged me a co-pay for the Ozempic 0.25.
Still have two more doses before going up to the 0.50.
In addition to all this weight-loss stuff, some patients have reported being able to give up other addictive behavior, such as alcohol abuse and tobacco. I believe it was in the NY Times.
Interesting!
Now, THAT would really be something else if it works.
I take metformin and glipizide, and my count is going down steadily.
I’ve taken four doses of the 0.25 mg and had maybe a very small reduction in appetite but no weight loss and no noticeable side effects.
Now that I’ve taken my first dose of 0.5 mg and am near taking the second, I’m definitely noticing a reduction in appetite. It’s really amazing. I’ve never been like this in my life before. I’m so afraid it will just go away like a puff of smoke and I’ll go back to having to constantly fight temptations to overeat.
Still not really any noticeable side effects.
I believe I’ve lost about 4 pounds, so it’s not dropping like crazy. Blood sugar still running high.
According to the New York Times, Ozempic Butt is a side effect. Spoiler alert, it’s just loose skin. After I dropped about 50 pounds, I noticed the change and referred to it as baby elephant butt and would whistle Henry Mancini’s “Baby Elephant Walk” when getting out of the shower.