Wegovy Dosage Guide: How Much Should You Take?

Wegovy is a once-weekly injectable medicine that may assist individuals drop some pounds. 

It has additionally been proven to assist individuals handle their blood sugar ranges and reduce their HbA1c.

There are 5 completely different dosages of Wegovy out there. The dose you’re taking will depend on your well being historical past and well being targets, in addition to your eating regimen and way of life.

Figuring out how a lot Wegovy to take can take time. It ought to all the time be a choice made along with your physician or medical care workforce. 

This article will describe the whole lot you might want to find out about Wegovy dosing. 

What is Wegovy?

Wegovy is the model identify for Novo Nordisk’s model of the drug semaglutide for weight reduction, but it surely has the identical lively ingredient as different medication you could have heard of like Ozempic. 

Wegovy is available in an auto-injector pen which is designed to be simple to make use of, even for individuals who have by no means used an insulin pen or different injectable drug previously.

Wegovy is an artificial model of a naturally occurring hormone that works within the physique in a number of methods without delay.

It helps individuals scale back the quantity of meals they eat by reducing 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 adjustments are likely to lower insulin resistance, decrease general blood sugar ranges, and assist individuals to drop some pounds. 

What Wegovy dose do you sometimes begin with?

Your physician will need to begin you off on a low dose should you’re new to Wegovy. 

Starting with a low dose is an efficient approach to decrease the unwanted effects that Wegovy—and different semaglutide medicines—could trigger. 

According to the producer, a typical beginning dose is zero.25 milligrams (mg) as soon as per week for the primary 4 weeks. 

If you tolerate that dose nicely with out unwanted effects, your physician is more likely to enhance your dose over time. 

What are the completely different Wegovy pen doses?

Even although the pens could look related, there are 5 completely different dose-sized Wegovy pens:

• A pen that incorporates a zero.25 mg dose is for the start of remedy. These pens normally have a teal label.
• A pen that incorporates a zero.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.Four mg dose. These pens normally have a darkish grey label.

Each pen operates the identical because the others. The solely distinction between them is the completely different pre-measured dosing sizes. Each pen is designed to provide solely a single weekly dose.

It’s a good suggestion to ensure that the packaging and the pen are each clearly labeled with the dose possibility in mg that you simply have been prescribed. 

Pen colours or labels could change over time, so it’s essential to confirm that the dose is accurately listed.

Never take extra Wegovy than you might be prescribed by your physician. If you overdose on Wegovy, chances are you’ll expertise antagonistic unwanted effects.

What is a traditional Wegovy dose?

It’s powerful to say what a “normal” dose is. 

Different individuals 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 zero.25 mg per week and step by step escalate over time as much as the utmost dose of two.Four mg per week.

The 2.Four mg pen is the dose particularly designed for long-term upkeep. It is 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 workforce will assist information you thru the gradual will increase in your dose of Wegovy till you attain a upkeep stage that works for you long-term.

If you’ve by no means taken a semaglutide medicine previously, it is extremely probably that your physician will begin you off at a dose of zero.25 mg as soon as weekly for the primary Four weeks. 

Then, in Four-week intervals, your dose will probably be slowly elevated till a dose of two.Four mg is reached. 

A typical schedule seems to be like this:

• Weeks 1-Four: a beginning dose of zero.25 mg
• Weeks 5-Eight: a dose of zero.5 mg
• Weeks 9-12: a dose of 1.zero mg
• Weeks 13-16: a dose of 1.7 mg
• Week 17+: a upkeep dose of two.Four mg

However, this typical schedule for rising doses could should be adjusted by your physician. 

If you might be having unwanted effects like persistent nausea after rising your dose, you may have to proceed taking your earlier (decrease) dose for a number of extra weeks earlier than making an attempt to extend to the subsequent dose.

The FDA’s approval is for all sufferers to ultimately arrive on the 2.Four mg dose. 

However, 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 essential to maintain your physician knowledgeable of any signs you’re experiencing in order that they can assist replace your prescription and dose accordingly. 

You ought to by no means take extra Wegovy than your physician prescribes you or attempt to enhance your dose by yourself with out route out of your medical care workforce.

What do I do if I overlook to take my dose of Wegovy?

If you miss a dose of Wegovy, take it as quickly as potential inside 5 days of your missed dose. 

However, if the dose you missed ought to have been taken 5 days or extra in the past, then you might 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. 

Just take the medicine in your subsequent recurrently scheduled day. 

What is the most important dose of Wegovy?

The largest weekly dose of Wegovy comes within the 2.Four-milligram dose pen. This pen normally has a darkish grey label.

While a physician may prescribe an “off-label” dose in some restricted circumstances, the most important dose that’s at the moment out there is 2.Four milligrams per week. 

Above this weekly dose, many individuals expertise extra noticeable unwanted effects.

What are the unwanted effects of Wegovy?

Many individuals who take Wegovy will expertise some delicate unwanted effects. The most typical unwanted effects are:

• Nausea
• Vomiting 
• Diarrhea 
• Stomach ache
• Constipation 
• Heartburn
• Gas or bloat
• Tiredness 

Some individuals will even expertise hypoglycemia (low blood sugar ranges), particularly in the event that they take insulin on the identical time. 

It’s essential to concentrate on the signs of low blood sugar and know how you can act to appropriate it.

Low blood sugar may be harmful if untreated, so be looking out for the next:

• Dizziness or light-headedness
• Confusion 
• Sudden adjustments in your temper or notion
• Shakiness 
• A quick heartbeat 
• Symptoms of hypoglycemia

There are additionally uncommon, however extra critical, unwanted effects and issues that try to be conscious of:

• Thyroid tumors, together with most cancers  
• Pancreatitis 
• Changes in imaginative and prescient 
• Kidney issues 
• Mental adjustments or melancholy
• Serious allergic reactions

The concern concerning thyroid tumors is predicated on the outcomes of trials of semaglutide medicines in rats and mice the place among the rodents developed thyroid tumors. 

It will not be but identified if this danger is important in people. 

Your physician ought to focus on all of the potential unwanted effects, from widespread to critical, and may reply the questions you will have concerning the medicine and its potential dangers and advantages. 

How a lot Wegovy do you might 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, significantly at greater doses of the medicine. 

People who took the utmost 2.Four mg dose per week noticed their common physique weight drop by practically 15%. 

This was compared to simply 2.Four% with the placebo, regardless of each teams being given the identical steerage to train and eat a restricted eating regimen.