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Learn more about the side effects associated with Wegovy and Mounjaro
Please note that the suggested remedies are general recommendations found on NHS websites.
If your symptoms are persistent or severe, please contact a GP or medical professional for advice.
*Wilding, J.P.H. et al. (2021) “Once-weekly semaglutide in adults with overweight or obesity,” New England Journal of Medicine, 384, pp. 989–1002
*Jasterboff, A.M. et al. (2022) “Tirzepatide Once Weekly for the Treatment of Obesity” New England Journal of Medicine, 387, pp.205-216.
Nausea and Bloating
Participants on both Wegovy and Mounjaro commonly experienced mild to moderate nausea, particularly when participants stepped up the strength of their pen.
Nausea was less common with Mounjaro than with Wegovy.
It often goes away as you continue using the drug, but some helpful tips to deal with nausea include:
Diarrhoea
Diarrhoea can be an uncomfortable symptom when starting your treatment. However, many people have reported mild symptoms that have subsided over time. Here are a few ways you can manage diarrhoea:
Constipation
Some participants also report constipation from the drug.
Constipation is usually mild and does not persist for long periods of time. Helpful, simple remedies include:
Vomiting
Vomiting was also reported in clinical trials. Again, this tends to occur as you step up to higher dose pens, or in patients with poor eating habits (eating too much and too quickly despite lacking an appetite). Here are a few helpful tips to manage vomiting:
Headache or Dizziness
Headaches have been reported in 15% of those on the Wegovy treatment and it is also seen with Mounjaro.
Usually mild, you can manage these symptoms by:
Indigestion and Heartburn
Indigestion and heartburn were also associated with taking the injections.
To help manage acid reflux
Efficacy of the contraceptive pill (Mounjaro)
When oral contraceptives were taken with Mounjaro, the levels of certain hormones in the contraceptives were lowered.
This means we can’t be sure if the oral contraceptive pill will work as well when you are on Mounjaro, so it’s suggested that users switch to an alternative method of birth control.
Hair Loss (Mounjaro)
4% of participants in the Mounjaro clinical trial experienced hair loss or thinning. Most of the cases were mild, and the majority of patients got better while still on the treatment. None of the patients who took Mounjaro stopped taking it or left the study because of hair loss.
Other Side Effects
In clinical trials, treatment caused side effects preventing normal activities in less than 4% of patients on Wegovy and 0.1% of patients on Mounjaro (compared with those taking a placebo dummy injection). However, there are some rare, but potentially more severe, side effects you should be aware of. Most of these are just as likely to occur with Wegovy as with Mounjaro.
If you experience any of the side effects listed below, stop your treatment immediately and seek medical attention.
Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas gland (part of the digestive system). It is often mild and self-limiting but can become serious if left untreated. If you experience sharp, persistent pain in the centre of your stomach and that extends to your back, stop using the pens immediately and seek medical attention.
Weight loss injections may cause gallbladder-related disorders, including gallstones (cholelithiasis). Common symptoms of gallstones include persistent, severe stomach pains under the right rib cage, often with a high fever, and sometimes yellowing of the whites of the eyes (known as jaundice). If you experience any of these side effects, please stop taking the medication immediately and seek medical attention.
While reactions such as some swelling, tenderness, redness, or itching around the injection site are fairly common, a very serious allergic reaction to the pen is rare. However, if you have any symptoms of an allergic reaction, such as severe rashes and itching, swelling of the tongue, face, throat, or lips, and difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop using the pens immediately and seek urgent medical attention.
If you have diabetes or are taking certain diabetes medications such as insulin or another weight loss injection, taking the pens may lead to low blood sugar. We will ask supplementary questions about your diabetes treatments to assess your suitability for the treatment during the SemaPen programme onboarding process. It is important to make sure to measure your blood sugar levels regularly and speak to your diabetes healthcare professional if you experience any symptoms of hypoglycaemia such as dizziness, anxiety and palpitations, sweating, turning pale or fainting.
All GLP 1 agonists like Wegovy and Moujaro work (in part) by slowing down stomach emptying to promote a feeling of early and more sustained fullness. Gastroparesis is a very rare condition reported with GLP1 agonists, which is a particularly severe manifestation of this expected effect of treatment. In gastroparesis, the muscles lining the stomach slow down to such a marked extent that undigested food consumed hours or, in more serious cases, days before can sit around in the stomach and be vomited back. If you are concerned that you are experiencing gastroparesis or vomiting frequently, you should contact your clinical support team for medical professional advice.
Following a small number of case reports in Iceland and the USA, agencies that monitor the safety of new medicines are assessing a potential link between the use of weight loss injections and thoughts of self-harm. At the time of writing, no causal association has been demonstrated, but our advice is to stop your treatment and seek urgent help from your family doctor or mental health practitioner in the unlikely event that you experience suicidal thoughts whilst on the treatment. In addition, we will send you questionnaires to monitor your mental health during your time on the SemaPen programme.
In some cases, particularly as you start taking higher doses, you may find that you experience increased side effects. This is completely normal and is the reason why we increase your dose gradually. If you are unable to tolerate the side effects of your new dose, we recommend switching back to your previous dose.
We recommend switching back to your previous dose and resuming the SemaPen programme at a dose you are comfortable with. This doesn’t mean you will not lose any more weight, but you may find that your rate of weight loss can slow down. You may still see results on the lower dose.
You can reduce your dosage and switch back to your previous month’s pen strength by simply logging into your SemaPen account using the SemaPen app and changing your subscription. Please note that you will need to do this a few days before your next billing, to allow sufficient time for processing.
If you are satisfied with your current dose and do not wish to automatically step up to a higher strength pen next month, you can edit your plan details through the SemaPen app. Please note that you will need to do this every month, as our program will automatically upgrade your dose each month.
You can read answers to frequently
asked questions here.
