Wegovy is a once-weekly injectable treatment that may assist folks drop some pounds.
It has additionally been proven to assist folks handle their blood sugar ranges and reduce their HbA1c.
There are 5 completely different dosages of Wegovy obtainable. The dose you’re taking is determined by your well being historical past and well being targets, in addition to your eating regimen and way of life.
Determining how a lot Wegovy to take can take time. It ought to at all times be a call made together with your physician or medical care staff.
This text will describe all the things you’ll want to find out about Wegovy dosing.
What’s Wegovy?
Wegs is the model title for Novo Nordisk’s model of the drug semaglutide for weight reduction, but it surely has the identical lively ingredient as different medicine you’ll have heard of like Ozempic.
Wegovy is available in an auto-injector pen which is designed to be straightforward to make use of, even for individuals who have by no means used an insulin pen or different injectable drug prior to now.
Wegovy is an artificial model of a naturally occurring hormone that works within the physique in a number of methods without delay.
It helps folks scale back the quantity of meals they eat by lowering their urge for food and by slowing down the digestive course of.
By delaying the emptying of meals out of your abdomen into your small gut, it lets you maintain feeling full for longer after every meal.
Wegovy additionally stimulates the pancreas to launch insulin and slows down your liver’s manufacturing of glucagon.
These modifications are likely to lower insulin resistancedecrease total blood sugar ranges, and help people to lose weight.
What Wegovy dose do you usually begin with?
Your physician will wish to begin you off on a low dose in the event you’re new to Wegovy.
Beginning with a low dose is an efficient method to reduce the unwanted effects that Wegovy—and different semaglutide medicines—could trigger.
In response to the producer, a typical beginning dose is 0.25 milligrams (mg) as soon as per week for the primary 4 weeks.
Should you tolerate that dose effectively with out unwanted effects, your physician is prone to enhance your dose over time.
What are the completely different Wegovy pen doses?
Regardless that the pens could look related, there are 5 completely different dose-sized Wegovy pens:
- A pen that incorporates a 0.25 mg dose is for the start of remedy. These pens normally have a teal label.
- A pen that incorporates a 0.50 mg dose. These pens normally have a pink label.
- A pen that incorporates a 1 mg dose. These pens normally have a brown or orange label.
- A pen that incorporates a 1.7 mg dose. These pens normally have a blue label.
- A pen that incorporates a 2.4 mg dose. These pens normally have a darkish grey label.
Every pen operates the identical because the others. The one distinction between them is the completely different pre-measured dosing sizes. Every pen is designed to offer solely a single weekly dose.
It’s a good suggestion to guarantee that the packaging and the pen are each clearly labeled with the dose possibility in mg that you simply had been prescribed.
Pen colours or labels could change over time, so it’s vital to confirm that the dose is appropriately listed.
By no means take extra Wegovy than you’re prescribed by your physician. Should you overdose on Wegovy, chances are you’ll expertise opposed unwanted effects.
What’s a traditional Wegovy dose?
It’s robust to say what a “normal” dose is.
Completely different folks will tolerate a unique most dose of Wegovy with out unwanted effects.
The FDA’s approval is for sufferers to begin with a low dose of 0.25 mg per week and progressively escalate over time as much as the utmost dose of two.4 mg per week.
The two.4 mg pen is the dose particularly designed for long-term upkeep. It’s the dose that many individuals will arrive at throughout Wegovy remedy.
How and when are you able to enhance your dose?
Your physician or medical care staff will assist information you thru the gradual will increase in your dose of Wegovy till you attain a upkeep degree that works for you long-term.
Should you’ve by no means taken a semaglutide treatment prior to now, it is vitally doubtless that your physician will begin you off at a dose of 0.25 mg as soon as weekly for the primary 4 weeks.
Then, in 4-week intervals, your dose will likely be slowly elevated till a dose of two.4 mg is reached.
A typical schedule seems like this:
- Weeks 1-4: a beginning dose of 0.25 mg
- Weeks 5-8: a dose of 0.5 mg
- Weeks 9-12: a dose of 1.0 mg
- Weeks 13-16: a dose of 1.7 mg
- Week 17+: a upkeep dose of two.4 mg
Nevertheless, this typical schedule for rising doses could must be adjusted by your physician.
If you’re having unwanted effects like persistent nausea after rising your dose, you would possibly must proceed taking your earlier (decrease) dose for a number of extra weeks earlier than attempting to extend to the subsequent dose.
The FDA’s approval is for all sufferers to ultimately arrive on the 2.4 mg dose.
Nevertheless, some individuals who expertise unwanted effects at that dose are saved at a decrease quantity by their docs, even past the four-week timeline that the approval requires.
It’s vital to maintain your physician knowledgeable of any signs you’re experiencing in order that they may help replace your prescription and dose accordingly.
You need to by no means take extra Wegovy than your physician prescribes you or attempt to enhance your dose by yourself with out course out of your medical care staff.
What do I do if I neglect to take my dose of Wegovy?
Should you miss a dose of Wegovy, take it as quickly as attainable inside 5 days of your missed dose.
Nevertheless, if the dose you missed ought to have been taken 5 days or extra in the past, then you’ll want to skip that dose.
If that occurs—which means you’d usually take your subsequent dose inside two days—then don’t attempt to make up for the dose you missed.
Simply take the treatment in your subsequent frequently scheduled day.
What’s the largest dose of Wegovy?
The biggest weekly dose of Wegovy comes within the 2.4-milligram dose pen. This pen normally has a darkish grey label.
Whereas a physician would possibly prescribe an “off-label” dose in some restricted circumstances, the most important dose that’s at present obtainable is 2.4 milligrams per week.
Above this weekly dose, many individuals expertise extra noticeable unwanted effects.
What are the unwanted effects of Wegovy?
Many people who take Wegovy will experience some mild side effects. The most typical unwanted effects are:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Abdomen ache
- Constipation
- Heartburn
- Fuel or bloat
- Tiredness
Some folks will even expertise hypoglycemia (low blood sugar ranges), particularly in the event that they take insulin on the identical time.
It’s vital to concentrate on the signs of low blood sugar and know the best way to act to appropriate it.
Low blood sugar will be harmful if untreated, so be looking out for the next:
- Dizziness or light-headedness
- Confusion
- Sudden modifications in your temper or notion
- Shakiness
- A quick heartbeat
- Symptoms of hypoglycemia
There are additionally uncommon, however extra critical, unwanted effects and problems that you have to be conscious of:
- Thyroid tumors, together with most cancers
- Pancreatitis
- Modifications in imaginative and prescient
- Kidney issues
- Psychological modifications or melancholy
- Severe allergic reactions
The priority concerning thyroid tumors relies on the outcomes of trials of semaglutide medicines in rats and mice the place a number of the rodents developed thyroid tumors.
It isn’t but identified if this threat is important in people.
Your physician ought to focus on all of the potential unwanted effects, from frequent to critical, and may reply the questions you will have concerning the treatment and its potential dangers and advantages.
How a lot Wegovy do you’ll want to take for weight reduction?
Clinical trials of people who find themselves obese or overweight and start taking the lively ingredient in Wegovy confirmed appreciable weight reduction, notably at greater doses of the treatment.
Individuals who took the utmost 2.4 mg dose per week noticed their common physique weight drop by almost 15%.
This was compared to simply 2.4% with the placebo, regardless of each teams being given the identical steering to train and eat a restricted eating regimen.
