How do you safely taper off Ozempic?
Whether gradual tapering is better than stopping abruptly is not yet known, but stopping abruptly leads to weight regain and worsening of blood pressure and other values in most people. Always discuss a stopping plan with your doctor, especially if you are also using the medication for your heart or for diabetes.
Semaglutide (Ozempic/Wegovy) works by suppressing hunger and reducing daily calorie intake by an average of 24%. As a result, long-term use leads to an average weight loss of well over 10% of body weight. Once you stop, those effects on appetite and food preference disappear, and most people regain the weight.
Stopping abruptly is the riskiest option. After sudden discontinuation, not only does the weight return, but improved blood pressure and other cardiometabolic values also revert to their previous levels. Side effects are, incidentally, also a common reason for stopping: with long-term use, the likelihood that side effects lead to discontinuation of treatment is approximately twice as high as in people who used a placebo.
Gradually tapering over 16 weeks is the promising theory. The assumption is that this leads to less weight regain than stopping abruptly. However, that comparison is currently only being investigated in an ongoing study (the REST trial). No results are yet available, so whether gradual tapering is truly better remains unknown.
What you can do: prepare for discontinuation together with your doctor. Make sure that eating habits and physical activity have already been adjusted before you stop, because without those behavioural changes the risk of relapse is high. Continuing the medication until you are ready to stop is better than stopping abruptly halfway through. Also discuss when stopping is medically responsible, especially if you are using it for cardiovascular protection or diabetes.
This answer is based on a combination of human studies on semaglutide and an ongoing research protocol. The effects on weight and appetite are well supported by multiple studies. Whether gradual tapering is better than stopping abruptly has not yet been answered: the ongoing REST trial has not yet published results; only the study protocol is available.
What is so-called 'Ozempic face' and how does it develop?
Rapid fat loss caused by semaglutide and related drugs can visibly hollow out the face, and the effect appears greater than weight loss alone explains. Whether and how best to correct this remains poorly studied.
How does nutrition strengthen your immune system?
Nutrition has a clear influence on the immune system: deficiencies weaken your defences, and correcting a demonstrable deficiency (especially of vitamin D, C and zinc) helps. In people without a deficiency, the case for extra supplementation is less convincingly proven.
Does poor sleep increase my risk of cancer?
Poor sleep, and sleep apnea and night-shift work in particular, is associated with an increased cancer risk. Whether you personally face a higher risk depends on which sleep problems you have; at the very least, have any apnea symptoms evaluated.