General Side Effect Advice

This article only provides general information and not medical advice specific to your situation.
🚨🚨If you are reading this article after responding to a check in email from your practitioner or the Medical Support team, please do not click 'Yes' to “Does this article answer your question?”. This will prevent us from updating your medical records and indicate that you no longer need assistance.🚨🚨

Weight loss medication slows down gastric emptying, which can cause side effects such as reflux, constipation, vomiting, nausea and other side-effects, such as fatigue. These are commonly pronounced at the beginning of the treatment & are usually mild, but tend to gradually decrease as therapy continues.

Fortunately, a lot of these side effects can be reduced & managed by a few simple lifestyle changes, such as:

  • Increasing your fluids
    • Aim for at least 2-3L of fluid daily
  • Listen to your body & take note of foods that exacerbate certain side effects
    • Some people find they may need to minimise deep fried foods, spicy foods or alcohol
      This doesn’t mean you have to cut it out all together, but is may be best consumed in small portions
  • Eating 3 small meals & 1-2 snacks throughout the day
    • Our health coaches are here to assist in making this as simple as possible
  • Increasing your physical activity
    • Short bursts of exercise can increase your productivity and energy

Our medical support team put together some information on side effects specific to your medication in your patient profile. To access this, click on "view treatment plan","FAQs" & scroll down to "Dosing" & "Side Effects" or "View Dashboard" & "Read articles".

 

Additionally, you may like to submit a request here to get in touch with our medical support team of registered nurses and pharmacists, who can provide you with personalised advice on managing side effects.

 

To assist our medical support team in triaging your concerns, please include your current dose, the duration of time on that dose, what interventions you’ve tried to relieve the side effect thus far, if any & any additional information.

 

If you are experiencing any symptoms such as: severe abdominal pain, chest pain, breathing difficulties, swelling to a limb, circulation issues, severe mood changes or an allergic reaction, you should seek medical attention immediately by calling 000 or attending your nearest emergency department.