- Ozempic does not list anxiety, depression or suicidal thoughts on its label, unlike Wegovy’s.
- The active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy is semaglutide, which is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist.
- If you feel that your mental health has changed while you are taking a GLP-1 like Ozempic or Wegovy, contact your doctor immediately.
While many people are aware regarding Ozempic and Wegovy, they may not know the difference regarding the possible mental health side effects of these medications.
Wegovy’s label lists harmful mental health side effects, but Ozempic’s does not. But both drugs contain semaglutide, which Wegovy’s warning label says could increase the risk of:
- anxiety
- depression
- suicide ideas and attempts
According to Dr. Sethu Reddy, president of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology, there is a valid reason. “It’s not that the FDA or (the drug company) are lying to the public or hiding things,” he told Healthline.
Reddy explained that when pharmaceutical companies conduct clinical trials to gain FDA approval, they must collect and report any adverse events that occur more in patients receiving the drug than in those in the placebo group.
Nonetheless, mental health side effects should not be overlooked or downplayed, noted Dr. Raafat Girgis, psychiatrist and clinical director of Moment of clarity. “The consumer must always retain the right to know the consequences as well as the benefits of using any drug or product,” Girgis told Healthline.
The active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy is semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist.
Semaglutide mimics the GLP-1 hormone that is released into the gastrointestinal tract in response to a meal. GLP-1 causes the body to produce more insulin, which reduces blood sugar. This is why Ozempic is given for diabetes.
Additionally, GLP-1 in higher amounts also interacts with parts of the brain that reduce appetite and signal a feeling of fullness. This is howthe active ingredient in Wegovy helps people lose weight.
Higher amounts of semaglutide in Wegovy compared to Ozempic could explain why more adverse mental health effects were reported in Wegovy’s clinical trials, Reddy said.
“When (drugs) try to suppress your appetite, a number of other things also happen in the brain, from depression to depression. anxiety,” he said. “You probably see fewer of these effects with GLP-1s like semaglutide, but nonetheless, with drugs that have an effect on the brain, you still need to watch out for side effects on the central nervous system .”
Reddy noted that the psychological and mental state of patients taking Wegovy for weight loss compared to patients taking Ozempic to manage diabetes may also impact mental health.
“Mental health is obviously very important for weight management, because when you think about all the mental health factors that drive people to eat: stress from bad or happy things tends to drive people to eat, anxiety is a big part of it, social attitudes towards weight. gain, coping mechanism for emotional and physical abuse,” Reddy said.
Girgis added that common side effects of Ozempic and Wegovy can trigger mental health side effects. These include:
“I think the worst side effect is the gastrointestinal effects of the injection,” Girgis said.
“When the body is not able to release waste in a normal way, it rejects the response and attempts to regulate itself, which causes confusion in your natural state of functioning. The mental aspect of worry and anxiety can worsen the way your body reacts to the procedure.
Dehydration Gastrointestinal effects can also affect mental health, Girgis noted.
If you feel that your mental health has changed while you are taking a GLP-1 like Ozempic or Wegovy, contact your doctor immediately.
“If they can’t be reached, head to the emergency room or urgent care,” Girgis said.
Rest assured that there are alternative medications and treatment options for diabetes and weight loss. Most often, doctors will initially reduce the dose to see if this helps lessen the mental health effects.
“Any medication has what we call a therapeutic window, so if you take too much aspirin, it’s going to cause a gastric ulcer or bleeding, etc. The doctor will try to find what is the dosage where it is effective, but does not cause side effects,” Reddy said.
After some trial and error, they may stop treatment for a few weeks to see if mental health improves, then you start treatment again.
“If the mood changes again, then you have your answer and we will usually try a lower dose or another medication,” Reddy said.
The type of hormone, the purpose for which it is used, and a person’s gender are all factors in determining whether hormones can have effects on mental health.
For example, Reddy said insulin is a hormone that, when taken in appropriate amounts, does not cause changes in mental health.
Other hormones like testosterone and estrogen are circumstantial.
For example, Girgis said testosterone can cause several mental health problems, such as rage, hustleand an aggressive response.
However, Reddy noted that when given to men with low testosterone levels, it can improve their life outlook, energy and exercise tolerance.
If a woman is postmenopausal and experiencing changes in her mental health, depression and anxiety sometimes improve when she takes oral estrogen, Reddy said.
Girgis said: “It is important to know and be aware that depression, mood swings, anxiety and sadness can occur at any time, regardless of gender, when injectable hormones are injected into the body. »
Once drugs are approved by the FDA and available to the public, doctors are required to continue reporting adverse reactions they witness in patients.
“You might experience some of these side effects when a product is used in a million patients. Even if 1 or 2 people in a million would experience a side effect, it would not show up in the initial FDA-approved studies, which were conducted on a much smaller number of patients,” Reddy said.
“This does not mean that the industry is hiding side effects from the public; it’s really the nature of how data is collected.
As adverse effects are documented once drugs are used more widely, research is often prompted and the effects are sometimes added to the label.
The fact that Ozempic’s label does not mention anxiety, depression, or suicide, while Wegovy’s does, may be because Wegovy has higher levels of semaglutide.
This disparity could prompt more research on the subject.
If you think you are experiencing mental health effects when taking Ozempic, Wegovy, or another GLP-1, contact your doctor immediately.
