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Learn more about Wegovy, the revolutionary treatment for weight loss
Wegovy injections mimic a natural hormone in the body that suppresses appetite.
It has been specifically designed for use as a weight loss treatment for people with a BMI over 27 and is one of the two most effective non-surgical weight loss solutions currently available.
The Science of Appetite Control
Wegovy works by mimicking the action of a natural hormone that is released into our bloodstream after meals. This sends signals to specific regions in the brain responsible for appetite control.
As well as reducing appetite, Wegovy also
So it’s no surprise that people taking Wegovy find it much easier to decrease their calorie intake by reducing portion size and eating less often.
Explore our Wegovy-related blogs to get all your questions answered.
Slows Stomach Emptying
You Feel Fuller For Longer
Suppresses Appetite
Each Wegovy pen contains a different strength of the active ingredient (semaglutide).
They start at a dose of 0.25mg and go all the way up to 2.4mg, because it takes time for your body to adjust to the medication.
If you started on the highest dose pens, your body would struggle to cope with the challenge, and you’d likely suffer side effects such as severe nausea, vomiting, bowel disturbance, acid reflux, and bloating.
Look at our affordable Wegovy injection prices here.
For this reason, you should always start Wegovy on the smallest starter dose of 0.25mg and gradually step up, one dose at a time, over a period of 5 months. Using the drug in this way minimises the risk of you getting side effects and having to come off treatment early.
It’s just like training your body for a marathon—you have to be patient!
Some people find that they get good weight loss without having to go all the way to the highest dose pen.
Others find that, despite building up gradually, the stronger Wegovy doses are just too strong and cause a lot of side effects, so they prefer to stay on a slightly lower-strength pen.
The SemaPen app lets you adjust your subscription so you can choose the pen strength that suits you best.
You can find our competitive SemaPen UK Wegovy prices here.
You’re in control with SemaPen!
*Results are based on the STEP 1 Wegovy Trial. Results vary - weight loss can be more or less than 15% average.
According to clinical trials*, Wegovy is most effective when taken for at least 12 months.
When it is stopped, people tend to regain about two thirds of the weight they’d lost on treatment within a year.
The SemaPen weight loss programme lasts for 52 weeks and is designed to maximise and sustain weight loss.
*Results are based on the STEP 4 Wegovy Trial. Results may Vary.
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(11), pp. 989–1002.
Nausea and Bloating
Almost half of the people in the Wegovy clinical trials experienced nausea, one of the most common symptoms reported. It was noted, particularly when participants increased their dosage. It often goes away as you continue using the drug, but some helpful tips to deal with nausea include:
Diarrhoea
Diarrhoea was reported in about a third of patients using Wegovy and 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
A quarter of participants also reported constipation when using Wegovy. Constipation is usually mild and does not persist for long periods of time. Helpful, simple remedies include:
Vomiting
Vomiting was also reported in a quarter of users 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. Usually mild, you can manage these symptoms by:
Indigestion and Heartburn
Indigestion and heartburn were also associated with taking the Wegovy injections, but only in 1 in 10 patients. To help manage acid reflux
Other Side Effects
This list is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all possible side effects that have ever been reported with treatment.
However, a useful guide compiled by the manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, can be found here
In clinical trials, the Wegovy pens caused side effects preventing normal activities in less than 4% of patients (compared with those taking a placebo dummy injection). However, there are some rare, but potentially more severe, Wegovy side effects you should be aware of.
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 that extends to your back, stop using the pens immediately and seek medical attention.
The 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.
Whilst 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, palpitations, sweating, turning pale, or fainting.
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 slows down.
You can 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 at least 4 days before your next payment is due, 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.
Medically Reviewed By: Professor David Kerrigan, MD, FRCS, FRCSEd, MBChB
Last Reviewed: 24/04/2024
