If You Are Using Semaglutide Drugs to Lose Weight Are You Hooked on Them for Life?

I have fought my weight for most of my life. COVID-19, a knee replacement, and the length of the pandemic haven’t made keeping the weight off an easy thing to do. Fortunately, since my wife and I moved out of Toronto to an apartment with a pool and gym, I have been exercising and the results are visible as I shed the kilograms.

Since Semaglutide arrived on the pharmaceutical scene, a medication originally developed to treat diabetes, the drug has morphed into the anti-obesity medication of choice for millions.

Semaglutide, developed by the Danish pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk, is available under two names: Ozempic and Wegovy. A similar drug called Tirzepatide, from U.S.-based Eli Lilly, is sold as Mounjaro and Zepbound. The results of taking these drugs related to weight loss have been astounding.

For people classified as morbidly obese, the taking of these drugs has given them a new lease on life. Losing weight has reversed prediabetic diagnoses.

In 2021, an article in The New England Journal of Medicine described the results of a double-blind trial using semaglutide and a placebo. All participants fit the body-mass profile of obesity. Over 68 weeks, both semaglutide and the placebo were administered using subcutaneous injections. Weight loss results for those taking semaglutide averaged 14.9%. Those on the placebo lost 2.4%. Some participants went off the semaglutide during the trial because of its side effects.

The trial didn’t follow the participants after the 68 weeks. What would have been interesting is to see how many who stopped taking semaglutide saw their weight loss vanish.

In an article appearing on ABC News on March 6, 2024, health reporter Jonel Aleccia wrote about the trials of those who have been prescribed these weight-loss drugs and then gone off them.

Obesity is a chronic condition treated by doctors who are weight loss specialists. Obesity leads to chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Obesity can lead to strokes, congestive heart failure, and heart attacks.

Currently, in the U.S. more than 3 million prescriptions of Semaglutide and Tirzepatide drugs are dispensed monthly. In worst cases, these drugs cause a condition called gastroparesis with symptoms including severe nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. That’s why many who have been prescribed these drugs try to get off them after achieving their targeted weight loss. Some try to combine exercise with reduced use of the drugs. Or they cut down to twice-monthly injections. However, obesity researchers note, that used intermittently, Semaglutide and Tirzepatide don’t work very well.

Administered weekly these drugs can cost$1,000 to $1,300 U.S. per month. This puts a financial strain on a segment of the population that is most susceptible to obesity, the poor. That’s because low-income diets often include cheap, high-fat, high-sugar fast foods. As well, low-income earners may not have health insurance coverage to pay for the drugs making their cost an added burden.

So going off the drugs and hoping the benefits will last ignores the reality of obesity as a chronic condition. The ABC article notes: “Many people dropping off the medications report a sharp rise in symptoms of obesity. They include so-called food noise or intrusive thoughts of food; raging hunger; and decreased feelings of fullness when they eat.”

Why is this happening? Dr. Amy Rothberg is a University of Michigan endocrinologist who directs a weight-management and diabetes treatment program. She told ABC News, “These drugs are just a super-suppressor of…native signals and we should expect that’s going to occur” referring to increased weight gain.

When I was diagnosed as being prediabetic, my doctor offered me Ozempic. I read the literature and decided to stick to portion control, less meat, and more exercise in my life. I haven’t been sorry.