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Key takeaways
For most people, Wegovy will be eliminated from their system five to seven weeks after they stop taking it. Side effects should begin to improve after about one week.
Your BMI, gastrointestinal function, and overall health—including any kidney or liver disease—can play a role in how long it will take for your body to fully clear Wegovy from your system.
If you want or need to stop taking Wegovy, talk to your healthcare provider first to make a plan for continuing to manage your weight and reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease.
Wegovy (semaglutide) is an injectable medication that’s approved by the Food and Drug Administration for chronic weight management and to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in people with obesity or who are overweight. Although it contains the same active ingredient as Ozempic, Ozempic is intended for people with Type 2 diabetes. In other words, weight loss is an off-label (not FDA-approved) use of Ozempic, whereas it is an approved use of Wegovy.
Although Wegovy is generally well-tolerated, it isn’t for everyone, and some people discontinue it due to side effects. According to the manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, Wegovy can cause unpleasant gastrointestinal side effects, like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach pain, and may result in hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) when combined with other medications that lower blood sugar, like insulin. You also shouldn’t take Wegovy if you’re pregnant, breastfeeding, or planning to become pregnant soon.
If you’re thinking of stopping Wegovy, you should know that it takes weeks for it to completely leave your system. Here’s what else you need to know about how long Wegovy lasts and when you can expect its side effects or potential interactions to go away.
How long does Wegovy stay in your system?
The short answer, according to Katrina Mattingly, MD, obesity medicine specialist and chief medical officer of physician-supervised weight loss center Options Medical Weight Loss, is about five to seven weeks on average.
But the long answer is not quite so straightforward, as it has a lot to do with the drug’s half-life—the amount of time it takes for the concentration of a drug to decrease to half of its starting dose in the body. Wegovy has a half-life of seven days, according to the drug’s prescribing information, meaning that 50% of the original concentration will have been removed from the body one week after stopping it. However, Dr. Mattingly says it can take as long as 80 days for Wegovy to be 100% eliminated from the body.
“This is one of the reasons it’s important to speak with your healthcare provider if you have an upcoming medical procedure that requires temporarily stopping the medication for anesthesia or if you are trying to conceive, for example,” Dr. Mattingly says.
Factors that influence how long Wegovy stays in the body
Five to seven weeks is the average time that Wegovy stays in your body, but it can vary a bit based on certain factors. J. Omatseye Jr., MD, aesthetic and regenerative medicine provider at Signature Rejuvenation MD in Florida, says your sex, body weight, and age won’t change the timeline, but any medication or health condition (e.g., severe renal failure) that decreases Wegovy’s breakdown in the body will make it take longer.
Another thing that can affect how long Wegovy stays in the body is the excretory system.
“Wegovy is metabolized and voided through the urine and bowel movements,” Dr. Mattingly says. ”Constipation may allow the medication to sit in the body longer and be absorbed more, [while] vomiting and diarrhea may rid the body of the medication [more] quickly before it has time to reach its maximal effect.”
Finally, although your body weight won’t affect the metabolism of Wegovy, your overall body mass index (BMI) and muscle tissue can play a part. Dr. Mattingly says people with a lower BMI often have less fat mass and tissue to absorb the medication, so higher concentrations of the drug can enter the bloodstream (and ultimately take longer to be eliminated from the body). Alternatively, people with a higher BMI tend to have more fat mass and tissue to absorb the medication, so less enters the bloodstream.
How long does it take for side effects to go away after stopping Wegovy?
Wegovy starts working quickly, but there’s no official information on how long after stopping Wegovy you’ll get relief from side effects. Anecdotally, many patients report that their side effects improved within one week, and Dr. Omatseye supports this by saying you can expect Wegovy side effects to resolve within one to two weeks.
This is also consistent with Wegovy’s seven-day half-life. Most people begin to feel improvement in side effects once 50% of any medication is out of their system. Note that if you’re on a higher dose of Wegovy, it may take longer to notice the same improvements as someone who was on a lower dose. This is because you have more of the drug to clear from your system (but your side effects should still start decreasing after about one week).
Talk to your healthcare provider before stopping Wegovy
While it may be tempting to discontinue Wegovy as soon as you decide to stop taking it, you should always talk to your healthcare provider first about your reasons for stopping.
For example, if you’re experiencing side effects, Dr. Mattingly says lowering your dose or taking less frequent doses can help you feel better without stopping Wegovy entirely. She adds that most patients report their baseline appetite returning after discontinuing Wegovy, so it’s important to make a plan for managing your weight moving forward if you want to stop the drug.
“We want to ensure that, not only have you met your weight loss goals, but that your labs and vital signs have improved, and that functionally, you are feeling better,” Dr. Mattingly explains.
If you become pregnant and need to stop taking Wegovy immediately, Dr. Mattingly says there’s no evidence of significant side effects from stopping abruptly versus tapering off more slowly. However, you should still talk to your healthcare provider about it. They’ll want to know about your pregnancy and will need to update your medical information to reflect the change in your current prescriptions.
Sources
- FDA approves first treatment to reduce risk of serious heart problems specifically in adults with obesity or overweight, Food & Drug Administration (2024)
- Common side effects of Wegovy, Novo Nordisk
- Wegovy prescribing information, Novo Nordisk
- Half life, StatPearls Publishing (2023)
