Blood Sugar Climbs. For people with type 2 diabetes who take Ozempic to manage their blood sugar, halting treatment may cause blood sugar to rebound to around pre-medication levels, says Beverly Tchang, MD, an endocrinologist and an assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City.
If you stop taking Ozempic, the weight you lost will likely return, fast. People who ceased use of semaglutide gained back, on average, a full two-thirds of the weight they had lost on the drug within one year, according to an August 2022 study, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Another study, published in August 2022, found that one year after participants stopped taking semaglutide, they regained two-thirds of the weight they had lost. Weight gain can start to happen pretty immediately after you stop injecting Ozempic, or the other similar medications.
There's no withdrawal and you don't need to taper off the drug, although you may feel hungry again and regain the weight. But if you're taking the drug to manage Type 2 diabetes, the consequences could be life-threatening.
Your blood glucose (sugar) levels should start to fully decline within the first week after you start using Ozempic (semaglutide) at your regular maintenance dose. However, the full effect can take 8 weeks or longer, as this is a long-acting medication that is injected only once per week.
What Should You Do If You Want to Stop Taking the Drug? If someone chooses to stop taking semaglutide, there's no need to gradually reduce their dose or cadence. Once a person stops regularly taking the medication, their body will naturally cycle through the remaining drug, Fitch said.
Clinical trials have established that it is generally safe to take metformin and Ozempic together. Not only is it generally safe, but it is actually becoming common to prescribe these drugs together as a combination therapy, as both drugs complement one another in helping to manage blood sugar levels.
Similarly Gabel advises that if you're thinking about stopping Ozempic (and don't have a reason like pregnancy to stop cold turkey), try to taper off slowly to let the body adjust.
You start feeling those usual hunger pangs again, and consequently, you may start eating more to satisfy that hunger. An increase in your consumption can lead to the regaining of weight that was lost. A 2022 study found that most individuals gain weight back a year after stopping the medication.
In some cases, there may be no symptoms until the blood sugar level is very high. Symptoms of hyperglycaemia include: increased thirst and a dry mouth. needing to pee frequently.
Yes, you'll lose weight with semaglutide – until you stop taking it. Then, evidence shows you're likely to regain the weight: one year after discontinuing the use of semaglutide, there was significant weight regain among participants.
The most common side effect with Ozempic is nausea and occurs in about 15% to 20% of people. Others include vomiting (5% to 9%), diarrhea (8%), stomach-area pain (6% to 7%), and constipation (3% to 7%).
Like many drugs, the effects don't last after patients go off them, so people tend to regain most of the weight they lost if they stop taking the medication. Grunvald said many patients are under the false impression that they can stop taking Ozempic or Wegovy after they hit their goal weight.
Stopping Ozempic
Meanwhile, these are “not medications that our body becomes addicted to, there are no significant withdrawals and no significant major rebound effects,” emphasized Dr. Warriner. In her patients with diabetes, Warriner has also observed a return of increased appetite over time.
Ozempic can cause nausea and vomiting if taken after eating foods high in fat or sugar. It is recommended that you take Ozempic before meals, rather than after, to minimise any potential side effects from eating high-fat or high-sugar foods.
4,107 patients were treated with Ozempic and the others were in a placebo group with no active drug — or sometimes taking another diabetes treatment. Treatment with Ozempic demonstrated meaningful weight loss for up to 2 years compared to a placebo or other diabetes treatments.
How long does Ozempic (semaglutide) stay in your system? Ozempic® stays in your system for a little over a month when taken at the highest dose of 2 mg. This is based on the half-life of the medication which is the time it takes for 50% of the drug to be removed.
You may need to increase your physical activity
As mentioned above, Ozempic should be used in combination with a reduced-calorie diet and increased exercise. For those starting with Ozempic, health professionals may recommend beginning with 150 minutes per week of physical activity, such as walking.
Ozempic can result in greater weight loss than metformin
On average, people taking the highest Ozempic dose during clinical trials lost about 15 lbs over 40 weeks (about 9 months). Experts consider metformin to be a “weight-neutral” medication that has the potential to cause modest weight loss.
Ozempic can cause nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, and upset stomach, which may be worse if it's combined with alcohol. There's also a potential risk of serious side effects, including pancreatitis and kidney damage. You may not need to avoid alcohol entirely with Ozempic.
The most common side effects of Ozempic, according to the drug's website, are nausea, stomach pain, constipation, diarrhea and vomiting. Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, told CBS News that the drugs "are a well-established class of medicines, which have demonstrated long-term safety in clinical trials.
How Long Can You Stay on Ozempic (semaglutide)? A person can stay on Ozempic® so long as they are tolerating the medication and it is deemed appropriate by their treating provider. There is no specific time frame when someone should stop taking Ozempic as it is a medication that is intended for chronic (long-term) use.