Dr. Ahmed
The FDA has approved Ozempic for Diabetes but people are using it for weight loss. Its higher dose formulation, Wegovy, has been approved for weight loss.
Because Ozempic use is associated with significant weight loss, it is commonly used by people who are overweight or obese.
Not all people on Ozempic lose weight. However, it does have a significant impact on your diabetes.
Recently, one of my patients came to me for a follow-up after 3 months. He was an obese patient with type 2 diabetes.
I gave him Synjardy 12.5/1000 mg once daily and Ozempic for diabetes management. Here is a summary of his experience using Synjardy and Ozempic together:
Synjardy and Ozempic for Diabetes:
Synjardy is a fixed-dose combination pill of Jardiance and Metformin. Ozempic is Semaglutide, a GLP-1 analog.
Jardiance is a potent SGLT2 inhibitor. It lowers blood glucose by blocking glucose re-uptake from the kidneys.
Thus, it lowers blood glucose (by its glucosuric effect) and is associated with weight loss (glucose = calories lost in urine).
Metformin is a time-tested drug that lowers blood glucose via multiple mechanisms. However, it is commonly utilized for its insulin-sensitizing properties.
Ozempic, Semaglutide, causes glucose-dependent insulin secretion and inhibits gastric motility by acting as an incretin mimetic.
Ozempic has been associated with an A1C reduction of up to 1.8%, Jardiance lowers the A1C by 0.9%, and metformin is associated with an A1C reduction of about 1.1%.
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A1C reduction after 3 months:
I started my Diabetes Journey with Synjardy and Ozempic 3 months back. My A1C was 9.2 and was not happy with it.
After 3 months, my A1C dropped to 6.2 (⇓ 3.0%) I felt like I was going back to my normal prediabetes stage.
The A1C result gave me more hope to cure or reverse my diabetes. I am planning to give a break to Ozempic and continue Synjardy.
I have to monitor my sugars and A1C. I hope my sugars won’t spike now, after stopping Ozempic. But anyway, I can restart it if I find my sugars are getting uncontrolled.
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Weight Loss After 3 Months: Using Ozempic and Synjardy
I was expecting a lot of weight loss with Ozempic. This could be my fault too as I was not very keen to go for a workout routinely.
I was 117 kgs (258 lbs) when I started Synjardy and Ozempic. After 3 months, I was expecting at least 10 to 15 kg weight loss.
However, I was 114 Kg (251 lbs). I lost 3 kgs (6.6 lbs) of weight only. Although weight was one of my goals, I was not disappointed because my A1C declined significantly by 3.0%.
Summarizing my Experience with Synjardy and Ozempic for Diabetes:
I know, Ozempic is a diabetes medicine. Both Ozempic and Synjardy are excellent diabetes medications, especially when combined.
People have lost significant weight using this combination. However, I have familial obesity and I was not very hopeful to lose much weight with Ozempic.
Genetic obesity is very difficult to treat. Plus, one can not use Ozempic for life only for weight.
In addition, I was more worried about Diabetes and related complications.
However, I was relieved of most of the symptoms of diabetes. Some of the symptoms for which I am thankful to Ozempic are:
- Fatigue
- Polyurea
- shortness of breath, and
- Hunger
Lastly, I would say Ozempic was not that easy to tolerate in the beginning. I had stomach upset, tummy pain, gases, nausea, and diarrhea initially which got better with time.
I also had burning urine but my urine reports were normal. My doctor said these signs were due to Synjardy.
When my sugars normalized, my urinary symptoms went away without taking antibiotics.
