What GLP-1 side effects are normal, and what is not?
Nausea, constipation, diarrhoea, reflux, burping and early fullness are common, usually worst in the first weeks after a dose increase, and usually settle. Severe or persistent abdominal pain, repeated vomiting, signs of dehydration, or pain in the upper right abdomen are reasons to contact your clinician promptly.
The expected pattern
Most gastrointestinal effects cluster in the days following a dose increase and ease as you stay at that dose. This is why escalation schedules are gradual: going up faster buys you symptoms rather than results.
Smaller meals, eating slowly, stopping at the first sign of fullness, keeping fluids up and reducing fat and fried food in the worst days all help materially. Constipation responds to fluid, fibre and movement, and is worth staying ahead of rather than treating late.
What warrants a call
Severe abdominal pain, particularly pain that bores through to the back and comes with vomiting — pancreatitis is uncommon but is the reason this class carries a warning. Pain in the upper right abdomen after fatty meals, which can indicate gallbladder disease; rapid weight loss raises gallstone risk independently of the drug.
Persistent vomiting or diarrhoea to the point of dehydration, especially if you take medication affected by fluid status. Visual changes in anyone with diabetic retinopathy. Any of these are a call, not a wait-and-see.
The one people miss
Eating too little, for too long, because food has stopped being appealing. This does not announce itself as a side effect, but under-eating protein while losing weight rapidly is how people end up with poor body composition and a tired, flat feeling they attribute to the drug.
If you cannot get protein in, that is a clinical conversation rather than something to push through.
General information, not medical advice, and not a substitute for seeing a clinician who can assess you. Cryohealthcare Marina del Rey is a wellness practice; our treatments are not medical treatments and do not treat medical disease. We do not sell peptides or prescription medication from this website.
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