Ozempic, Wegovy, and Cat fur balls

Ozempic, Wegovy, and Cat fur balls. What do these drugs and cats have in common? I’ll explain later in the post. One of the biggest healthcare trends in the past few years has been the development and sales of weight loss injectable drugs that were previously used to treat type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes drugs Ozempic and Wegovy used to treat weight loss

During the use of these diabetes drugs by patients, doctors, and medical researchers noted that the patients developed significant weight loss. Then some bright spark at the big pharma company had a brain wave and thought they could pitch it to people who were overweight.

According to the CDC,  more than 37 million Americans have diabetes, and approximately 90-95% of them have type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, the medical data on both of these chronic conditions are inaccurately low because millions of people go undiagnosed annually.

Sensing a huge financial opportunity, big pharma jumped to the rescue.

Ozempic’s active drug is the chemical semaglutide, and is one of a new class of medications known as Glucagon Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists. As detailed in my previous blog post, this medication acts both on the insulin receptors in the pancreas and the brain to reduce appetite, and develop a sensation of fullness and satisfaction or satiety after eating a meal and not getting hungry.

Wegovy has the same active ingredient as Omzempic, namely semaglutide but at a much higher dose. That’s the only difference between Ozempic and Wegovy.

Ozemic and Wegovy, a Runaway Success

As they say in life there is no such thing as a “free lunch” every action has consequences and a cost to somebody. There has to be a catch, right? Can you lose weight by simply a once-a-week injection and have no side effects? If it was so easy, then everybody and their mother would be on these medications. And guess what, they were!

These medications once approved by the FDA, (Ozempic for treatment of diabetes and used off-label for weight loss and Wegovy officially approved for weight loss), exploded in popularity.

A runaway success, beyond the wildest dreams of the accountants at big pharma, and in terms of revenue, a billion-dollar industry was created practically overnight.

And in fact, the manufacturer of these drugs, Novo Nordisk, a pharmaceutical giant is now the most expensive company in Europe, based largely on the back of the profits of these two drugs. Novo has the largest capitalization of any European company. Outstripping well-known European brands like Mercedes Benz, BMW, Shell, BP Oil, LVMH, etc that we are familiar with.

These medications were the talk of the town, with celebrity endorsers, the Hollywood crowd, Tik Tockers, and YouTubers among others, pitching the ease of use (a once-a-week injection) and bingo hey presto weight loss! You didn’t have to watch what you ate since you didn’t have any appetite, the cravings were gone and you didn’t have to work out in order to lose weight, it just happened.

Then came the bad news.

Ozempic and Wegovy A Double-Edged Sword

News reports began to identify problems and social media posts began to report that the users of these so-called miracle weight loss drugs developed extreme side effects that have devastating long-lasting impacts.

In July 2023, in a CNN article, several women shared their experiences with Ozempic. It turns out that over 80% of weight loss injection users are women.

Joanie Knight from Louisiana recounted that she wished she’d never touched Ozempic because it compromised her time, money, and mental and physical health. According to Knight, “It’s not worth it. The price is too high.” Knight eventually had to undergo stomach bypass surgery in order to correct gastroparesis and vomiting side-effects .

Brenda Allen from Dallas claimed that though she’s been off Wegovy for a year, she still visits Urgent Care after vomiting to the point of dehydration.

Emily Wright from Toronto developed similar issues, noting that her vomiting became so frequent and violent that she took a leave of absence from her job. While on Ozempic, she noticed that she was throwing up food she had eaten even up to four days prior.

These women and others experiencing similar symptoms have been diagnosed with “slow stomach,” cyclic vomiting syndrome, and gastroparesis.

According to medical experts, these symptoms are a known side effect of semaglutides because these drugs slow down stomach emptying.

Ozempic, Wegovy and Cat fur balls

Now we turn to cat fur balls as mentioned earlier. Ozempic and Wegovy are known to cause significant delay in stomach emptying, leading to nausea and vomiting in many cases. Because of this delay in stomach emptying many patients have noticed the vomiting up of partially digested food that they may have eaten several days earlier.

In extreme cases, some patients have developed bezoars or balls of undigested food in their stomach very much like cats who have balls of hair in their stomach as a result of constant grooming, leading to the ingestion of fur.

As any cat owner will note, cats have a tendency to vomit up these hairballs, much like the users of Ozempic and Wegovy, although not fur but partially digested food!

In Summary

Ozempic, Wegovy, and similar GLP-1 agonists can lead to serious side effects on a patient’s health, especially when downplayed by big pharma or not warned about by medical prescribers.

Folks remember if you are taking a semaglutide for weight loss, you have to make lifestyle changes with the use of the medication. There is no silver bullet to weight loss and a once a week injection will not solve the problem since folks have a tendency to regain the lost weight or even more upon the stoppage of these drugs.

Injured or have questions about Ozemic, Wegovy, and other Semaglutides?

Did you or a loved one experience gastrointestinal or gastroparesis injuries after taking Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus, or Mounjaro? Dr. Shezad Malik law firm based in Dallas, Texas is now reviewing injuries after taking Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus, Mounjaro, or other GLP-1 agonists cases nationwide. Please call 214-390-3189 or email us for further information.