What is Semaglutide?
Semaglutide is a medication known as a glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) agonist, which increases incretin hormones, so that your body produces more insulin when needed, and reduces the amount of glucose produced by the liver when it’s not needed, to control the blood sugar levels. In turn, this reduces the rate that the stomach digests and empties food, and it can reduce appetite.
Semaglutide is approved for people with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or above, or people with a BMI of 27 and above, and they have a weight related health condition, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is Semaglutide used for?
Semaglutide is an antidiabetic medication, which treats type 2 diabetes.
Semaglutide is the active ingredient in the branded medication Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus. In recent months, semaglutide has become increasingly popular as a weight management medication to treat obesity.
Semaglutide is generally taken by an injection, either daily or weekly. Ozempic and Wegovy consist of one injection, taken weekly. It also comes in a tablet form, known as Rybelsus. This is taken once a day, at least 30 minutes before food (it needs to be taken on an empty stomach).
Links between Semaglutide and Weight loss
Recent studies have shown that semaglutide can help people to manage their weight. One early study of 2000 obese adults, compared people taking Semaglutide alongside a diet and exercise programme, with people that followed the same diet and exercise programme without taking Semaglutide. The results showed that all the participants taking Semaglutide lost 15% of their body weight, and nearly a third of them lost 20%.
Whereas, the participants that followed the diet and exercise programme only, lost about 2.4% of their body weight. Newer studies have continued to show similar results, but in some circumstances, participants regained the weight when they stopped taking Semaglutide.
Semaglutide can be used alongside a healthy, balanced diet and exercise programme to help control blood sugar levels in adults with type 2 diabetes, but many studies found that it also helped people to lose weight. This may be because it interacts with the part of the brain that suppresses your appetite, so you feel full. The drug can also slow down the movement of food from the stomach to the small intestines, making you feel full quicker and for longer.
It’s important to note that Semaglutide (Ozempic and Rybelsus) is not currently approved for weight loss in the UK. However, Wegovy, a new Semaglutide injection, that has been specifically created for weight management, can help people lose weight. This is not available in the UK yet.
The demand and media interest in Semaglutide to manage weight loss has resulted in shortages. Many people have been using Semaglutide off-label to manage weight. Off-label is when a medication is prescribed for something that it is not primarily indicated for.
The high demand for the various forms of semaglutide, has resulted in shortages for people that are prescribed this medication to manage their diabetes. Additionally, TikTok trends are also impacting the shortages of Ozempic.
What are the side effects of semaglutide?
One of the main downsides to this drug is that most forms of Semaglutide are an injection shot.
The side effects are generally minimal, but some of the side effects include:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Diarrhoea
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Headache
- Stomach pain
- Bloating
- Constipation
- Heartburn
- Burping
You should not take Semaglutide if you have:
- A history of thyroid cancer
- Gallbladder disease
- Pancreatitis
- Multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2 (MEN2)
More serious, but rarer side effects, include hypoglycaemia, thyroid cancer, and endocrine neoplasia.
Buy Semaglutide Online
If you think you may be eligible or suitable for Semaglutide, you should contact your doctor, as they will be able to assess whether this is the right medication for you. It is a prescription only product, so if you have a prescription, you can purchase Ozempic and Rybelsus through Refine Pharma.
Another important thing to make note of is that with the increase in demand for Semaglutide, this has led to ‘knock-offs’ or fake Ozempic, so it’s important to be sure that your medication is safe and legitimate. This video explains in depth the dangers of the ‘Ozempic demand.’
