Despite social media buzz, Ozempic is not a quick-fix weight loss solution, doctors say
Kerry Toneguzzi has attempted everything to shed fat.
From reduced-calorie and liquid weight loss plans to Weight Watchers, nothing at all labored. In 2007, she had bariatric operation and misplaced 100 lbs . — only to gain it all back again.
When she was identified with diabetic issues in the drop of 2020, her medical professional advised she consider Ozempic — a drug accredited in Canada to treat diabetes, with a repeated aspect influence of weight decline.
“In the beginning, I did not imagine it would at any time operate for me due to the fact almost nothing definitely had worked for me,” Toneguzzi, 55, claimed.
But it did. The Ottawa-location insurance policies underwriter shed 115 lbs . about about two several years. What she finds even more impressive is that she has not attained any of it back again.
“For me to sustain my excess weight for a calendar year, it really is a acquire,” she reported. “This drug has supplied me a second chance at daily life.”
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Desire has risen steadily
Like Toneguzzi, a lot of Canadian obesity professionals and endocrinologists are welcoming Ozempic as a drug that in fact functions in treating what they say is a genetic, clinical issue.
“We’ve unsuccessful to have success in pharmacotherapy until eventually now,” stated Dr. Sean Wharton, an inner drugs expert who operates a excess weight and diabetes administration clinic in Burlington, Ont.
With the arrival of Ozempic, individuals dwelling with being overweight ultimately have a drug that can make a distinction and can be an substitute to bariatric surgery, he mentioned.
But Ozempic has obtained notoriety in new months, with celebrities singing the drug’s praises and many individuals putting up achievement stories in fat loss they attribute to the drug.
Need for Ozempic in Canada has risen steadily more than the previous yr, in accordance to the Neighbourhood Pharmacy Association of Canada, which signifies most of the key pharmacy chains in Canada, as effectively as several local community drugstores.
The dilemma with that, some health professionals and pharmacists say, is that Ozempic isn’t supposed for clients who want to drop a few lbs . of “beauty excess weight.” Moreover, men and women who have to have Ozempic very likely have to have it for lifetime. Research have demonstrated that as soon as they prevent taking it, the weight frequently will come back.
“[There] should be no query about that. No one really should feel that they’re working with this for quick expression and going to stop it,” Wharton reported.
“This is a for good medication mainly because [obesity is] a genetic illness.”
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A illness, not beauty
Ozempic costs amongst $200 and $300 for each thirty day period in Canada. Its company, Novo Nordisk, also received Wellbeing Canada acceptance in 2021 for a drug known as Wegovy. Ozempic and Wegovy have the identical energetic component — semaglutide — but Wegovy is a higher dose to exclusively address being overweight.
Wellness Canada has also accredited Wegovy for people who are over weight and also suffering from a critical bodyweight-connected situation this sort of as hypertension, diabetes or obstructive sleep apnea.
Semaglutide functions by performing like a hormone known as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which promotes insulin output and also stimulates part of the brain that controls urge for food. Sufferers consider it by injection after a 7 days.
Because Wegovy is not however offered in Canada — and Novo Nordisk has not supplied a day when it will be — some medical professionals are prescribing Ozempic at larger doses for their people suffering from being overweight.
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Dr. Ehud Ur, an endocrinologist at St. Paul’s Hospital and Vancouver Basic Hospital, mentioned it can be significant to glimpse at Ozempic and Wegovy as a professional medical resolution to take care of a everyday living-threatening healthcare issue, in conjunction with changes to food plan, exercising and snooze practices.
“Most individuals will not have an understanding of that being overweight is not a cosmetic trouble. It truly is a sizeable disorder. Men and women with being overweight will have a 10, 15, 20-calendar year reduction in their everyday living expectancy mainly because of their pounds difficulties,” reported Ur.
‘Asking for the drug’
But on the entrance traces of major care, relatives doctors have been fielding a developing variety of pleas from patients who want an Ozempic prescription, even even though they’re not suffering from being overweight, mentioned Dr. Iris Gorfinkel, a family members medical professional in Toronto.
“People today who are coming to me as a family members doctor are individuals who, you know, they are struggling with the belly extra fat, they’re not even diabetic, they’re not even pre-diabetic and they’re inquiring for the drug,” she explained.
Shelita Dattani, vice-president of pharmacy affairs for the Neighbourhood Pharmacy Association of Canada, also practices on a household health crew that is dealing with sufferers on the lookout for Ozempic as a “swift repair” for body weight reduction.
“I’ve had people today talk to me, I’ve experienced friends ask me … ‘you know, I have a wedding day coming up’ or ‘I have to have to be in a bikini’ or whatsoever it is,” Dattani mentioned.
Gorfinkel and Dattani equally say people requests demand considerate discussions with sufferers about body weight reduction and other measures they can just take.
“Weight problems is a holistic difficulty. It is a biopsychosocial challenge,” Gorfinkel mentioned.
All those conversations just take a good deal lengthier than just expressing indeed and writing a prescription, she reported. Gorfinkel also anxieties about opportunity facet consequences.
Critical opportunity side results
In accordance to Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic details website, the most prevalent aspect outcomes include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation and belly soreness.
People symptoms go away soon after a few months, reported Ur. The web site also lists more really serious probable aspect results like irritation of the pancreas, gallbladder difficulties, kidney problems and minimal blood sugar.
It also notes that research in rats confirmed thyroid tumours. Both equally Ur and Wharton said there is no purpose to think that would come about in human beings.
The health and fitness hazards of dwelling with weight problems typically outweigh the opportunity hazards of taking the drug, they claimed.
“It is really significant to realize who are the acceptable people to take care of since not everyone is a candidate for Ozempic,” Ur explained.
“The very simple point to make is that in any procedure in medicine you might be balancing possibility in opposition to advantage.”
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Gorfinkel claimed she would take into account prescribing Ozempic together with life-style changes if the client satisfied the health care standards for being overweight.
But so considerably, that hasn’t happened.
“I have nonetheless to prescribe it to any clients,” Gorfinkel said.
“I am incredibly skeptical. I be concerned tremendously that if I do prescribe it what may occur is that when they arrive off of it, they may well working experience major excess weight acquire.”
‘Not a miracle’
When asked if Ozempic and Wegovy are meant to be taken for the relaxation of patients’ life, Novo Nordisk Canada stated in an email “just like other chronic health conditions, type 2 diabetic issues and obesity both involve long-term management.”
“Decisions about the appropriateness and duration of any medicine really should be produced on an unique basis in session with a well being-care qualified,” spokeswoman Amy Snow mentioned.
Toneguzzi, who has begun a Facebook team in Ottawa for other folks who are contemplating Ozempic, has no illusions that the drug is everything brief of a lifelong determination to assist retain her body weight.
She also would like to enable other people be real looking in their expectations, noting that alongside with taking Ozempic, she worked tough on her body weight loss, including a “really regimented” technique to her diet program.
“It truly is not a wonder,” she stated.
“It was not just the medicine. I had to improve my complete way of living.”
