Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Can weight loss medication interfere with ADHD meds?

Jennifer Jonsson
Meds
May 20, 2024
Share
Tweet
Share

Why bother going to work? If I didn’t work, I wouldn’t get paid, so there was that. But it seemed like a pointless exercise. I would stare at my monitor until it was time to go home. On some level I knew I should be, well, working, but I couldn’t collect my scattered thoughts enough to do it. I was also manic. Not the fun kind of mania where everything’s a great adventure, and all ideas are brilliant, but the kind where I’m crawling with anxiety and can’t sit still.

How did I get here? Everything was fine until two weeks ago. I do have ADHD and bipolar disorder, but I’ve been medicated for years. I work, I take care of my household, I pay taxes. Now I thought I might have to go on FMLA for an indefinite period. Or maybe even disability.

I finally did what I should have done two weeks ago and called my psychiatrist. I hate calling my psychiatrist. He’s actually a great guy, but after all these years, I should be able to handle this myself. After all, I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes, too, and apart from the initial adjustment period, I was doing just fine. Decent blood sugar numbers, some spikes. We were on our third round of trying to find a medication combination that both worked and didn’t kill me with nausea, but I was optimistic.

At the same time, I got a text message from a friend who knew I was having issues: “Hey, have you heard that semaglutide can interfere with the absorption of ADHD meds? Some anecdotal evidence. You might check it out.”

That was exactly what was happening. Not just the ADHD meds but the mood stabilizer, the antidepressant, the antianxiety meds, and everything else, too. I was taking Rybelsus, a semaglutide variant available in pill form. And it had apparently stopped my body from absorbing a bunch of other medications that I really needed.

As my psychiatrist told me, one doesn’t stop taking psychiatric meds. One tapers down, often over weeks. And you would never stop taking more than one at a time. That would be crazy (if you’ll pardon the expression). Taking Rybelsus was like hitting the brakes at 90 mph with no seat belt. No wonder my brain was a scrambled egg.

The growing popularity of Ozempic and its variants for weight loss means a lot of people who are taking other medications may end up taking them. 11 percent of Americans, for example, take antidepressants. The target population for Ozempic, people with obesity, are more than twice as likely to be taking antidepressants as other Americans. (In a chicken and egg situation, antidepressants are also notorious for causing weight gain.) 16.5 percent of Americans took prescription medication for a mental health issue in 2020. Those numbers have probably not gone down since the pandemic. Plenty of older people also take statins, blood pressure medications, and heart medications.

I did not, in fact, get fired. I was able to take a week off to work part-time from home while I transitioned to another diabetes medication. The Rybelsus took five to six weeks to leave my system. During that time, things gradually got better. I am still cleaning up the mess and will be for months to come.

I’m amazed how few people seem to know about this potential problem. It doesn’t happen to everybody, but if you Google “Ozempic pregnancies,” about women whose birth control medication just–stopped working, you’ll see that it does happen. Yes, there is a warning in the prescriber’s instructions (one sentence: “Rybelsus causes a delay of gastric emptying, and thereby has the potential to impact the absorption of other oral medications.” I’m sure most doctors are much more worried about patients’ family history of thyroid and pancreatic cancers, though. In any case, I was not warned. Even if I were, I doubt I would have known what to look for until it was already happening.

So I’m trying to tell as many people as possible. I keep thinking about someone with schizophrenia, well-medicated and functional in day-to-day life, who suddenly starts hallucinating again. Or people medicated for depression getting worse and becoming suicidal without warning. Thanks for listening. And please tell people.

Jennifer Jonsson is a patient advocate.

Prev

Health care disparities: Navigating complex care [PODCAST]

May 19, 2024 Kevin 0
…
Next

Healthy hierarchy for patient safety, experience, and staff wellbeing

May 20, 2024 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: Diabetes, Medications, Psychiatry

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Health care disparities: Navigating complex care [PODCAST]
Next Post >
Healthy hierarchy for patient safety, experience, and staff wellbeing

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

  • The life cycle of medication consumption

    Fery Pashang, PharmD
  • Prescribing medication from a patient’s and physician’s perspective

    Michael Kirsch, MD
  • Unveiling the game-changing diabetic drugs: Revolutionizing weight loss and diabetes management

    Dinesh Arab, MD
  • Concerns about the generic formulations of ADHD medications

    Jolene Won
  • The ethics behind the world’s most expensive medication

    Robert Pearl, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    MKSAP: 45-year-old woman with type 2 diabetes mellitus

    mksap

More in Meds

  • A world without antidepressants: What could possibly go wrong?

    Tomi Mitchell, MD
  • The truth about GLP-1 medications for weight loss: What every patient should know

    Nisha Kuruvadi, DO
  • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

    Richard A. Lawhern, PhD
  • Biologics are not small molecules: the case for pre-allergy testing in an era of immune-based therapies

    Robert Trent
  • The anesthesia spectrum: Guiding patients through comfort options in oral surgery

    Dexter Mattox, MD, DMD
  • Functional precision oncology: a game changer in cancer therapy

    Chris Apfel, MD, PhD, MBA
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • The hidden cost of delaying back surgery

      Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD | Conditions
    • The dreaded question: Do you have boys or girls?

      Pamela Adelstein, MD | Physician
    • Rethinking patient payments: Why billing is the new frontline of patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • What happened to real care in health care?

      Christopher H. Foster, PhD, MPA | Policy
    • Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting

      American College of Physicians | Physician
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam

      Anonymous | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • An introduction to occupational and environmental medicine [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Does silence as a faculty retention strategy in academic medicine and health sciences work?

      Sylk Sotto, EdD, MPS, MBA | Conditions
    • Why personal responsibility is not enough in the fight against nicotine addiction

      Travis Douglass, MD | Conditions
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • Alzheimer’s and the family: Opening the conversation with children [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • AI in mental health: a new frontier for therapy and support

      Tim Rubin, PsyD | Conditions

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • The hidden cost of delaying back surgery

      Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD | Conditions
    • The dreaded question: Do you have boys or girls?

      Pamela Adelstein, MD | Physician
    • Rethinking patient payments: Why billing is the new frontline of patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • What happened to real care in health care?

      Christopher H. Foster, PhD, MPA | Policy
    • Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting

      American College of Physicians | Physician
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam

      Anonymous | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • An introduction to occupational and environmental medicine [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Does silence as a faculty retention strategy in academic medicine and health sciences work?

      Sylk Sotto, EdD, MPS, MBA | Conditions
    • Why personal responsibility is not enough in the fight against nicotine addiction

      Travis Douglass, MD | Conditions
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • Alzheimer’s and the family: Opening the conversation with children [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • AI in mental health: a new frontier for therapy and support

      Tim Rubin, PsyD | Conditions

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...