Ozempic: How Does It Work?Endocrinologist Explains

foreign [Music] [Music] hi welcome to another episode of talking with docs I'm Dr bradwin and I'm Dr Paul zalzo well Chang endocrinologist awesome today we have Dr Chen has come as an endocrinologist to talk to us about the many many interesting things about endocrinology and today we are talking about a very hot topic particularly on social media mozambic so exciting to have a real doctor on the show today I don't know about that all right so so what is all the hype and why does ozymbic matter to people so just to put it in perspective

ozempic is a medication called semiglutite and semiglutids big word and it belongs to a class of medicines called glp-1 receptor agonists which again is sort of more alphabet soup like we like to do in medicine yep but bottom line what it is is it is mimicking a hormone that all of us make when we eat so whenever we eat you end up your gut starts to make a hormone called glp1 and its job naturally is to tell the body that you've eaten so it tells the pancreas the organ that makes insulin that hay food is

here so the insulin levels go up and there's another hormone called glucagon that then goes down and its job then is to put all of that nutrient and sugar and stuff into storage so out of your blood circulation the other thing it does though is it tells the stomach that hey food has arrived so it actually tells the stomach to slow down emptying now if you think about when you go to a buffet what kind of pants do you wear you don't wear your tight skinny jeans jeans you wear you know stretchy pants why because

you want to eat more so that you can actually so the if food is still in your stomach you're going to feel full faster which is what part of that hormone's job and it also tells the brain that hay food is here maybe I'm full maybe I should stop eating so that's a hormone we naturally make people living with type 2 diabetes specifically there's a problem in that system okay so one of the ways to fix that is to actually give that hormone back to the person so that it will increase those effects and then

we tend to give a lot of it which then accentuates those effects that's what ozempic or semiglutite is is essentially that hormone so they're originally designed to help treat type 2 diabetes and help diabetics have better sugar control essentially so if I can simplify it so I understand it it kind of tricks your body into thinking you're full and tricks your body into thinking you made this hormone that you've got food in there even when you might not have as much food as before right so when someone's taking the medication what they'll notice is they

eat less and they're happily eating less because they have less of let's say half of their typical plate but they're thinking I'm good wow that's a brilliant medication it is it is okay so it's been approved by the Canadian Regulators as well as the FDA for type 2 diabetes a lot of people talk about the beneficial weight gain of ozympic so this is obviously an issue it's very popular weight loss right weight loss yeah that would not be good a drug would not be a popular drug so negative attitude towards it already right so so

weight loss um but it's not a proof for this necessarily so the the medication semiglutide in the form of ozempic the name ozempic is actually a once weekly injectable approved to manage type 2 diabetes right shown to lower sugars and with that lower weight as well as some blood pressure effects but the same drug semiglutide has actually been studied for the treatment of obesity and has worked at higher doses than we typically use in diabetes and that drug is also approved in Canada under a different name under the name Will Go Govi and that is

for the treatment of obesity right and I think I read that the reason though zembic's got a lot of popularity is because people can't get what Govi it was difficult there's some supply chain issues so then off label doctors could with a justifiable reason prescribe azampic in the place of agopi and I thought it was empty was actually back ordered for a while too in the states so in in Canada we've been we've been fortunate in that that has not happened and wagovia though approved at least as of this time is not yet commercially available

right and I think it does have to do with if you want to be smart about it you're going to put it out when you've got drugs to give people right um so that's that's what it is now it but I think it is worth emphasizing ozempic is meant for the treatment of type 2 diabetes right and I guess next question is it effective is it good is it a good drug it is a very good drug for the reasons that we use it right so I definitely have lots of people in my practice who

are on it either ozenpic or medications like ozampic and what we see is great reductions in Sugar reductions in weight blood pressure therefore comes down but on top of that there actually is evidence for that class of medications and this is very important to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes right which is really the main reason that I usually suggest it to my patients is for organ protection and at this point they're not sure the mechanism right I think I read They're talking maybe reduced inflammation in the arterial walls maybe the beneficial effects

of the lower triglycerides and lipids but not necessarily in everybody but they're not sure right correct so are the studies so far just reduce those secondary incidents in people with diabetes or in the general population so at this point the the data for the glp-1 receptor agonists are around those living with diabetes those living with type 2 diabetes and they've found success in those who already have cardiovascular disease or those with multiple risk factors with diabetes with diabetes and they've shown reductions in as I said heart attacks strokes and cardiovascular death as well so pretty

important endpoints and you're absolutely right we don't fully understand why and you always know that's the case when you read journals and there's a bazillion review articles with lots of very intelligent hypotheses then you know still sorting it out okay now our viewers just love big Pharma and love new medications and being sarcastic is this uh are you like a lifer when you're on ozempic or is it the kind of thing you use for a while then okay I'm good now I don't need to use it anymore so type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease

and frankly obesity is a chronic disease and we recognize that now so like all chronic diseases this is not a cure this is a medication that helps to manage it so therefore when you stop it then the effects are taken off right it's kind of like if you're driving a car and you're pressing the brakes and then you release the brakes well then obviously the car is going to move again so sugars will come back up weight could come back up Etc there's other ways to manage diabetes of course right so it's not like you

absolutely cannot live without it you can stop it if needed but those effects are going to be gone right and then I was going to ask is ozempic the only show in town you alluded to some other medications that act in a similar fashion are there other options other than ozympics absolutely so the other glp-1 receptor agonists that are injectable so trulicity or Doula glutide is another one it's another once weekly injectable semiglutite is also available as an oral medication as well so it's available orally as a drug called ribosis and then there are other

glp ones that are daily use injections and frankly we don't use a lot of those because if you have a weekly option weekly injection versus daily we tend to go daily weekly so we're really talking ozempic trulicity rebelsus so the last question obviously the dangers of taking stuff off label but are there any side effects to these medications because safety obviously a big issue particularly if you're taking it just to try to lose weight and maybe not with direct supervision we want we want people to know this is not something that you should do on

your own no no absolutely this like all medications there are potential side effects and the big one for this whole class it's not specific to those that drug specifically but the whole class is uh nausea vomiting okay so nausea vomiting diarrhea constipation not all of the above in every person but it uh it absolutely can happen in about 20 percent of people they can get nausea vomiting the thing is it's usually transient okay so it tends to go away and it's a matter of sort of toughing it out as your body gets used to it

and also we can play with the doses to to try to minimize that as much as possible as we always say every treatment every medication anything we do always has some side effects right risks and there's always risk and benefit to any treatment nausea vomiting constipation diarrhea there you go it does sound like a commercial it does but I think that's Pepto-Bismol slogan sounds like my drive into work today there you go now you know we would encourage you that if this is something that you're interested in please talk to your doctor as there are

a lot of different choice and options and everybody's a little bit different so you need to find a plan that's individualized for you with your physician but now you know all about ozempic and if you like this video please like it subscribe to our Channel and remember and we always say lifestyle first and then if that's not working then you got to start looking at other interventions and you are in charge of your own health and thanks to Dr Jacob for joining us and providing us with our expertise no problem my pleasure we'll see you

next time