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If you are a patient on the hunt for a good type II diabetes medication, you’ve probably heard of Ozempic or Metformin. Metformin is the most common diabetes drug prescribed as of now and Ozempic is one that has been growing a lot in popularity in recent years. When it comes to type II diabetes, both drugs work great in their own ways, but the one that will work best for you might depend on additional factors.
These drugs each target type II diabetes, but there are other illnesses they can target at the same time. Aside from diabetes, Ozempic targets different illnesses from Metformin, so what you choose can depend on what additional ailments you have. For some issues Metformin would work best and for others Ozempic works best. You could probably also take both if you need to! Just figure out what your needs are with a physician for the best results, but in the meantime, keep reading to figure out what might work best for you.
What Is Ozempic?
Ozempic is a diabetes and weight loss drug that regulates blood sugar levels in the body. Through regulating blood sugar, it also manages the appetite, causing users to want to eat less, leading to significant weight loss over time. And the weight loss that comes from Ozempic also comes a lot more quickly than it does with other weight loss drugs. The only thing is that it often takes more to get your hands on it than the average weight loss drug. You have to be diagnosed with Diabetes or a high BMI to be prescribed Ozempic, and it is meant to be taken at home as a once-weekly injection.
Ozempic is the brand name of a drug called semaglutide. Semaglutide is a substance that prompts the pancreas to produce insulin when it isn’t doing enough of that on its own. Insulin is what controls the blood sugar in the body, and when the body doesn't produce enough of it, Ozempic can help. It will make the pancreas function about as well as it did before diabetes. Though if you suffer from a high BMI or other weight related ailments, you can use Ozempic just for its weight loss effects and see great results without any impact to your blood sugar levels.
Ozempic has been growing majorly in popularity since it was approved by the FDA back in 2017. It is popular amongst celebrities and growing in use amongst the general population. It brings about weight loss extremely quickly from the comfort of people’s homes, and it comes in pen form. Ozempic users have to inject themselves once weekly after an initial demonstration from a doctor. The injection spot is also best when switched up each day to fend off any potential irritation that can come from frequent injections in the same spot. Anywhere from the thighs, the arms, and the abdomen work best, and the process is quick and easy once you get used to it.
How Ozempic Works
Ozempic works as a GLP-1 receptor, and those are known as glucagon-like peptides. Glucagon-like-peptides are added through Ozempic to replace the GLP-1 hormone that the body no longer produces in abundance. The injected GLP-1 agonist is what brings about the pancreas’s insulin production. So your blood sugar will remain steady, and your appetite will decrease. And with a lowered appetite and steady weight loss, Ozempic also wards off heart attacks, strokes, and high blood sugar, some of the major issues that can result from having a high BMI.
And how does Ozempic lower the appetite? It makes you feel full on a lot less food than you would normally need, and you will eventually get used to eating much smaller portions for every meal. To make you feel prematurely full, Ozempic raises the hormone levels in the body and sends fullness signals to the brain. The hormone release is what will bring about the fullness feeling rather than a large amount of food. Ozempic also slows down the digestion process, which is another way it brings on weight loss. The longer food takes to empty from your stomach, the longer you will feel full.
What Is Metformin?
Metformin is a drug that is used to treat diabetes and PCOS. It is especially prescribed to people with diabetes who are overweight. It can be taken alone or with other diabetes managing medications like insulin and even Ozempic. Metformin is actually often prescribed with Ozempic because of the positive effects both of these medications can have when used together. They each work in different ways to lower blood sugar.
Metformin helps to improve the glucose tolerance of patients. It does this by decreasing the body’s hepatic glucose production. That means it decreases the amount of glucose that the liver produces. It does not interfere with insulin levels, but instead makes sure that the bloodstream isn’t bombarded with insulin so that there aren’t major frequent blood sugar spikes.
Metformin is the most widely prescribed diabetes drug in the world. It is often the first thing prescribed when it comes to diabetes treatment, and it is about as good as insulin. Metformin is also used as a medication for illnesses that can come from diabetes, like PCOS, which often occurs because of a resistance to insulin. This drug can also impact certain cancers, and has been used in the past for breast cancer treatment.
With Metformin, like with Ozempic, you will need to get a prescription from your doctor. And while you can’t walk into any drugstore and buy it off the shelves, or you can purchase it online from stores like Amazon and have it delivered to your doctor. Your doctor can help you figure out if Metformin is right for you, but in some cases, you can get it without a prescription. But that will depend on what you need Metformin for.
How Does Metformin Work?
Metformin is an organic medication that helps the body use insulin better. It decreases the amount of glucose that your body can make, making it easier for insulin to do its job. It decreases the amount of insulin that your body makes, and the amount that it absorbs. And despite the fact that it lowers the amount of glucose your body metabolizes, it still gives a really low risk of low blood sugar. Metformin is taken orally as a tablet, either once or twice a day depending on your doctor’s directions.
Metformin also does the work of increasing glucose utilization in your body. It reduces the amount of glucose that the body produces and decreases the amount of glucose that the body absorbs through food. It will also make the body respond better to insulin, although it won’t add any insulin to your body. You can always use Metformin with another drug that impacts insulin, or you can use it on its own.
Side Effects
Ozempic and Metformin work in different ways, and they also come with a different set of side effects. So if you want to use both together, you will have to deal with the side effects of both as well as the benefits. You just have to decide if the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Check out the side effects for both below, and remember that they show up differently for each person. Both tend to cause gastric upset, but there are some side effects that are unique to one or the other.
Metformin
Metformin’s side effects often include upset stomach symptoms like nausea, diarrhea, and stomach pain. Another rare but more serious side effect can be lactic acidosis, and that is when your body doesn’t adequately clear the lactic acid from your body, leaving your blood overloaded with it. This can lead to more serious problems, but is an extremely rare side effect. There is also an extremely rare risk of skin rashes, but for the most part, metformin doesn’t come with very many side effects.
Ozempic
Ozempic comes with its own set of side effects that can be anywhere from mild to severe. Like with metformin, the most common side effects are gastrolienal ones like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and constipation. Though these stomach related side effects mostly come on during the first few weeks of treatment, or whenever you overeat. Other potential side effects of Ozempic include dizziness, fatigue, and low blood sugar, but you can mostly avoid these by maintaining a healthy diet. Pancreatitis is another rare side effect that is linked to Ozempic.
Another unlikely symptom of Ozempic can also be malnutrition, and that is because Ozempic decreases your appetite. The effects can also be more hardcore for some than for others. If you don’t feel like eating much when taking Ozempic, make sure to schedule some time to nourish your body. Have smaller meals more frequently throughout the day if you must. And one side effect with its own nickname is “Ozempic butt.” That is when you are left with stretched skin after losing a large amount of weight rapidly. But that symptom can depend on how much weight you have to lose and how quickly you lose it.
For a supplement that can provide 5 types of collagen to repair the gut, try Dr. Emil’s Multi Collagen Plus. From the gut lining to the gut microbiome, it can help the parts of your stomach affected by Ozempic or Metformin. It can help with the unfortunate stomach related symptoms that both drugs can cause, and it can make your gut healthier overall.
Ozempic and Metformin
The biggest difference between Ozempic and Metformin aside from how they work on the body is the other illnesses they treat. They have mostly been approved for diabetes treatment, but are sometimes used off label for other reasons. Ozempic is often used for weight loss while Metformin is often used to treat the symptoms of PCOS. And each drug impacts different parts of the body due to the way they target diabetes.
Metformin treats PCOS because of the way it targets insulin. Since it regulates the insulin levels in the body, it has an impact on general hormone levels, and hormone levels being off is the primary reason for PCOS. When Metformin regulates the hormone levels in the body, it can ward away PCOS symptoms like weight gain, acne, infertility, polycystic ovaries, and irregular periods. It is very effective at inducing ovulation for women who struggle with infertility.
Ozempic is most well known for its weight loss effects. Once Ozempic works to regulate insulin, it also has an effect on the appetite, leading to significant amounts of weight gain. It affects the hunger messages sent to the brain and makes you feel full a lot sooner than you normally would. So when people have a significantly lowered appetite, they end up dropping a lot of weight fast on Ozempic. So if you suffer from diabetes and obesity, it could be a good idea to use Ozempic to tackle both problems at once.
Though just because Ozempic and Metformin have different effects on the body, doesn’t mean that you have to choose one or the other. You can choose to take both Ozempic and Metformin, and you likely won’t have to deal with any adverse side effects from it. Both of them could work together to target different parts of your system to improve diabetes symptoms, and if you also struggle with obesity and PCOS, you can target it all at once.
Ozempic and Metformin are both drugs that target diabetes as well as other major issues, so the one you take can depend on the additional benefits it provides. But since you don’t have to take them separately, you can always combine them if you would benefit from using both!
