Diabetes Drugs For My Weight...

Welcome to Ndlalane Health, I’m your host DocSakhie, and today we’re unpacking one of the buzziest drugs out there—Ozempic!

Ozempic is just the brand name for a drug called semaglutide. Ozempic is not the only brand name, there are others that contain semaglutide as well which include:
- Wegovy (approved specifically for weight loss)
- Rybelsus (an oral version—yep, comes in a pill!)
Same engine, different car logos. Their main use? Treating type 2 diabetes—but lately they’ve been making headlines for weight loss.

The big, buzzing question:
“Does it really work for weight loss? what’s the catch?”

We’ll get there. But first, you know me, I believe in teaching you what’s going on inside the body when you take this injection. That way, when you hear “GLP-1 receptor agonist” you don’t switch off, you actually know what it’s doing!

Let’s get it!

So, as I said, the active ingredient is semaglutide. Now you’re probably thinking:
“What the hell is a sema…what-what, Doc?”

Don’t stress—let me break it down.

Semaglutide is a synthetic peptide. Fancy name for a small protein, a string of amino acids, cooked up in a lab. But it’s designed to mimic a natural hormone in your body called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1).

What does GLP-1 do? Simple: It whispers to your pancreas:
“Hey buddy, release some insulin.”
(Side note: your pancreas is that hardworking organ tucked behind your stomach. Its job? Making insulin—the taxi that picks up sugar from your blood and drops it off at your body’s cells.)

The difference? The semaglutide in Ozempic is lab-made and gets pimped up with a modified fatty acid chain to help it to:
- Stay longer in the body (because enzymes don’t break it down easily)
- Ride on albumin (a protein in your blood) for a slow release

Of course, they mix it with other stabilizers like disodium phosphate dihydrate and sodium chloride, but honestly—you don’t need to memorize the extras for this chat.

Okay… but what’s really happening when you inject it?

Let’s paint the picture.

You don’t have diabetes, right? and your systems are firing on all cylinders normally, everything is functioning perfectly.. but you want to loose weight.. yes? you’ve heard that ozempic works.

So you inject Ozempic, and the semaglutide marches straight to the pancreas:
“Yo! Pancreas - I’m GLP-1. Gimme that insulin!”

Pancreas thinking it’s dealing with a sugar situation, goes:
“Okay sure, here’s some insulin.”

Insulin takes the baton and heads to the liver: (side note: every item you eat must first stop by the liver before being sent where it needs to go)
“Boss, I’ve got sugar here, we need to store it.”

The liver looks around:
“Hmm… there’s no excess sugar here though. Where did you get that from? Anyways fine, let’s slow things down just in case.”

The liver calls the stomach:
“Ey bro, too much traffic incoming—slow the food down!”

The stomach goes sure man, I’ll alert the brain, then goes ahead and calls it:
“Chief, tell this human to stop eating. Liver’s getting overwhelmed.”

The brain?
“Say less. I’ll kill their appetite.”

Boom. You feel full. You don’t want to eat.

BUT… here’s where it gets interesting:
The cells are still waiting for sugar, but there’s not enough coming in because you haven’t eaten! They send distress signals:
“Help! We’re starving!”

The liver, confused, gets their message:
“Wait… what? Where’s the sugar? I thought insulin sorted this!”

The liver panics. Calls the stomach again:
“Bro, we need food!”

But the stomach’s like:
“ Chief, I have a problem, I have food stuck here from earlier. I can’t seem to push it out into the intestines. I might need a plumber, I feel like my pipes are blocked and the food is stale.”

The liver sighs:
“Ok… Please try sort that out quickly and call me as soon as you are done, I have a crisis in my hands.. alright plan B”

The liver turns to insulin:
“Listen, go clean out whatever sugar’s left. We need backup energy.”

So insulin sweeps the last bits of sugar. Meanwhile, you inject another Ozempic shot tomorrow. 😅

Semaglutide shows up AGAIN at the pancreas:
“Hey! It’s me, GLP-1 from yesterday, do you remember me, I need more insulin please!”

Pancreas scratches its head:
“Boss… I can’t. No sugar left to process anything I’m starving, I haven’t had sugar is some hours.”

Semaglutide:
“What the hell, what do you mean you haven’t eaten? Fine!. I’m going to the brain to demand some answers for this nonsense I’ll be back.”

Semaglutide Kicks the brain’s office door : boof! Shouting,
“Hypothalamus! Why’s my pancreas hungry?!”

The hypothalamus, sweating:
“Sir… stomach said no more food should, should be coming in.”

Semaglutide:
“Enough!” Semaglutide cutting hypothalamus off, “Call adrenaline and his gang of lazy hormones. Tell him: if I get there and he hasn’t started burning fat, he’s finished. Are we clear”

Hypothalamus: “Yes sir, right away sir!”

Boom. Adrenaline and other hormones gets released.
They start lipolysis—breaking down the fats stored under your skin. The Fats get sent to the liver, which turns them into glucose through a process called gluconeogenesis.
Just like that… your body starts eating its own fat stores for fuel.

But here’s the million-dollar question: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU STOP TAKING OZEMPIC?

Ah. See—this is the twist.

When you stop taking it:
- The appetite control fades. The brain no longer gets that “stop eating” signal.
- The stomach starts emptying normally again.
- You may start feeling hungrier than before.
- And if you haven’t changed your eating habits? You might regain the weight you lost, sometimes faster than before.

It’s like the body’s gatekeepers open the floodgates again:
“Let the food in! We’re free!”

That’s why doctors recommend pairing Ozempic with lifestyle changes, so you’re not just leaning on the injection but rewiring your eating habits along the way.

That’s the breakdown, family!
From the injection pen to the brain’s boardroom, from pancreas messengers to liver managers, it’s a whole internal soap opera!

I’m DocSakhie, and you’ve been tuned into Ndlalane Health, where we make the body talk back!

#BeInTheKnow
#NdlalaneHealth

In our next installment, we shall look at the long-term side effects of prolonged use.