WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Journal of the American Medical Association reports some of the most popular drugs available for weight loss, including Ozempic, Wegovy and Saxenda, may be linked to increased risk of severe stomach problems in some people.
The research was published earlier this month and highlights drugs that fall under the category of GLP-1 agonists, which are generally taken by injection and originally were developed to help people with diabetes manage their blood sugar. The drugs rose in popularity once it was discovered they also were good for weight loss.
In August, the company behind Ozempic, Novo Nordisk A/S, was sued for the drug allegedly contributing to a woman’s stomach paralysis.
An area neuro surgeon, Dr. Brett Osborn, said when prescribed and used appropriately, there isn’t much to worry about.
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“You can get some constipation so the bowel doesn’t really paralyze,” Osboborn, who is chief of neurosurgery at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach. “The medication is just doing what it’s supposed to be doing and again if you have a good medical supervision, proper medical supervision, the dosages of these medications can be reduced to mitigate that side effect or the other side effects you hear about. And it’s part and parcel to this constipation or this bowel paralysis is dehydration
To deal with dehydration and constipation, Osborn recommends patients using Ozempic or similar drugs drink plenty of water, and remember to eat and take laxatives as necessary. He recommends a gallon a day of water.
“All of our patients that are on Ozempic are encouraged to drink a lot because it also causes some constipation. … It also causes some mineral deficiency so people can lose this hair. One of the problems with Olympic is that yes you can become relatively malnourished, so they are all encouraged to take a multivitamin and to try to eat.”
The drugs reduce hunger.
“These molecules they tell you when to stop eating long and short of it whether it’s Olympic, whether it’s Wagov,y whether it’s Saccenda whether it’s Monjaro, they’re all GLP-1 agonists,” he said.
“You inject these things subcutaneously so just under the skin and in essence what you’re doing is you’re shutting off your eating.”
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Osborn spoke about the common diet.
“The standard American diet is laden with simple carbohydrates so if you can just imagine, just shutting off what we’re eating on a daily basis and just minimizing it by 30% to 40% the diabetes is going to come under much much more better control.”
He noticed some people even at a low dose will develop extreme nausea or they’ll develop stomach paralysis, which is just delayed gastric
“Some people mistake it and say ‘oh my stomach is paralyzed.’ No it is not. It just slow down significantly,” he said.
The drugs can be life changing.
“Although I don’t like to use the term miracle, but yes, in my opinion, these medications, if used properly are potentially one of the holy grails of medicine,” he said. “Why? Think of all the age-related diseases that we deal with, whether it’s diabetes, obesity, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease. They all underpinned by high levels of insulin for dietary choices, poor nutrition and relative lack of exercise.”
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