Sublingual Semaglutide for Weight Loss

What’s for dinner tonight? Great question. 

Whether you’re a busy college student, hard-working parent, or just an overtired adult, planning weeknight dinners can be tough. It’s so easy to order out — it eliminates cooking time and purchasing ingredients. 

But when you’re trying to lose weight, eating out can spoil your diet plan. Depending upon your meal of choice — or your children’s food preferences — one bad dinner can spoil your weight loss for the week. 

Losing weight doesn’t have to be difficult. While diet and exercise can certainly help, they may not necessarily give you the results you want. That’s where Semaglutide medication comes in. 

Semaglutide is the active ingredient in this Type 2 Diabetes medication with an interesting off-label use: weight loss. For those who are considered overweight or obese, this medication  can help weight management patients reach their weight loss goals. 

In this article, we’ll discuss important details of taking Semaglutide medication, including sublingual Semaglutide, and how it can transform your weight management routine. 

What is Semaglutide? 

Semaglutide is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist that triggers the body to release insulin. GLP-1 agonist medications are typically used to manage Type 2 Diabetes, as the release of insulin naturally lowers blood sugar.¹

However, Semaglutide medication also reduces an individual’s appetite and delays food absorption — leaving people feeling full for longer and less hungry throughout the day.¹ Due to this off-label use, healthcare providers have started to prescribe Semaglutide for chronic weight management patients. 

What Does Sublingual Mean? 

The word “sublingual” describes the location or the placement of something under the tongue.² Sublingual drugs are dissolved under the tongue and absorbed quickly into the bloodstream.³ The sublingual administration method offers a lot of benefits to patients who may struggle with taking injectable or tablet medications. 

The Different Methods of Taking Semaglutide 

While injections, sublingual drops, and tablets all deliver therapeutic doses of Semaglutide to the body, each method has different administration guidelines. When you’re seeking Semaglutide treatment for chronic weight management,  it’s important to know these differences to determine which method is right for you. 

Tablet 

Semaglutide in tablet form is a once-a-day pill that’s swallowed whole. People who take tablet Semaglutide must consume the pill 30 minutes before eating, drinking, or taking additional medications. This form of medication cannot be crushed.⁴ 

Introducing a pill into your daily medication regimen can be challenging — especially considering that Semaglutide has strict administration guidelines. If you don’t follow these guidelines, Semaglutide in tablet form may interact with other medications, which will decrease its effectiveness. 

Unfortunately for some people, Semaglutide in tablets may not be an option. Drug-induced esophagitis is a throat injury that can develop after long-term administration of pills.⁵ While tabletSemaglutide has not been shown to cause drug-induced esophagitis, patients with this health issue may struggle to swallow Semaglutide pills. 

Injection

Injectable Semaglutide is a once-a-week medication that is administered through a needle. People using this form of Semaglutide inject themselves in the lower abdomen, upper arm, or thigh area.⁶

Subcutaneous injections of Semaglutide don’t have the same rigorous administration guidelines as the pill form. You can administer your injection at any time of day, with or without food — the only catch is that you must take it on the same day weekly. 

While the once-a-week administration is beneficial for those who struggle to remember taking pills daily, injectable Semaglutide isn’t a great option for people with needle phobia. 

Unlike heights, spiders, and small spaces, receiving needle injections is hard to avoid. Therefore, people with needle phobia often ignore or avoid visiting the doctor, completing blood work, or receiving vaccinations.⁷

Oral/Sublingual 

Oral sublingual medications work differently when compared to medicine in pill and injectable form. Sublingual drugs bypass the digestive system, and when dissolved under the tongue, medications are absorbed quickly into the body. 

Henry Meds offers under the tongue, oral Semaglutide to patients for $249 a month, which means no injections, no insurance needed, and no gimmicks. Click the link to discover more information about the newly available oral Semaglutide medication through Henry Meds! 

Just like the other methods of drug administration, sublingual medications aren’t for everyone. An individual’s flow of saliva and pH balance within the mouth can affect sublingual drugs and a medication’s absorption rate.⁸

Which Semaglutide Medicine Is Right For You? 

Before you decide which Semaglutide medication is right for you, you’ll need to discuss your opinions with your health care provider. 

While you may desire a certain Semaglutide administration method, your provider will review your medical history and highlight possible adverse effects that come with taking oral, injectable, or sublingual medications. Depending upon your other medications and current treatment plan, some forms of Semaglutide may not work well with your weight loss goals. 

But adverse events aren’t the only factor to consider while selecting Semaglutide medications — currently, there is a national shortage in Semaglutide injections, which can make acquiring this form of Semaglutide difficult.⁹ 

Unfortunately, sublingual and tablet Semaglutide are relatively new, so while there is no current information on the availability of these medications, these forms of Semaglutide may not be readily obtainable. 

Keeping all this information in mind, let’s review the highlights of each administration method of Semaglutide: 

• Sublingual: dissolves under the tongue

• Tablet: pill swallowed whole

• Injectable: needle injection into abdomen, thigh, upper arm

In light of the Semaglutide shortage, Henry Meds has partnered with compounding pharmacies that are licensed by the FDA and the state Boards of Pharmacy which can produce Compounded Semaglutide as weight loss medications. 

Book a telehealth appointment with a provider on the Henry Meds platform today and you can receive injectable Compounded Semaglutide delivered to your door for only $297 a month. In addition, Oral Compounded Semaglutide in sublingual form is also available through Henry Meds for $249 a month!

The Dangers of Unmanaged Obesity 

One of the biggest misconceptions about obesity is that people assume overweight and obese individuals eat in excess.¹⁰

In fact, obesity is the result of multiple different health factors: genetics, access to affordable food, metabolic issues, and more. 

Regardless of these factors, maintaining a high body mass will put individuals at risk for developing health issues. While correlation doesn’t equal causation (in other words, being obese doesn’t guarantee you’ll experience these health concerns) many overweight individuals are at risk for developing complications the longer they’re not maintaining a healthy weight. 

Cancer

People with obesity have a 17% chance of dying from cancer — that’s nearly a one-in-six possibility that individuals with excessive body weight might develop this deadly disease.¹¹

And, obesity doesn’t put people at risk for just one type of cancer: 4 to 8% of all cancers are associated with obesity, including post-menopausal breast, colorectal, endometrial, kidney, esophageal, pancreatic, liver, and gallbladder cancer.¹¹

Some obese patients consider bariatric surgery as a treatment to weight loss, but this procedure is invasive and more clinical trials are needed to examine its effectiveness for evading obesity-related types of cancers.¹²

GLP-1 drugs like Semaglutide can help increase weight loss without committing to invasive surgeries and related complications. 

Cardiovascular Disease

Day or night, awake or asleep, our hearts are consistently pumping. As people acquire more body mass without building muscle, the heart works harder to distribute blood throughout the body.¹³ 

Much like exercising, the body starts to get tired after a while. But our cardiovascular system can never stop working — without it, our hearts would stop beating. 

Unmanaged obesity and cardiovascular disease go hand in hand. Without proper treatment of both diseases, the worst-case adverse events include heart failure, cardiac death, and other detrimental cardiovascular problems.¹³

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)

Gastroesophageal reflux disease, otherwise known as GERD, is a condition where stomach acid is released back up into the esophagus, causing painful symptoms like heartburn.¹⁴

Smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, poor diet, and chronic obesity are considered risk factors for developing GERD.¹⁵ Unfortunately, when GERD symptoms go untreated, patients are at risk for developing other diseases, like Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal cancer.¹⁶

Type 2 Diabetes 

One of the biggest risks for patients with obesity is developing Type 2 Diabetes.¹⁷ Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes can be challenging for patients and providers alike — patients are strongly recommended to make important lifestyle changes, and physicians need to determine the right medication, dose, and administration method for their client. 

That’s why medications like Semaglutide are beneficial for the weight management and Type 2 Diabetes communities. With this two-in-one approach, Semaglutide medication helps individuals gain control of their blood sugar levels and stimulates feelings of fullness.

Without physician-guided diabetes treatment, Type 2 Diabetes will cause additional harm to the body. The risk of developing cardiovascular disease increases because maintaining high blood sugar levels can damage internal organs.¹⁸

Some Type 2 Diabetes patients experience neuropathy in their hands and feet, which results in a tingling and burning sensation. If this is not treated immediately, the individual risks infection, amputation, or death.¹⁹ 

Sleep Deprivation

A good night’s sleep is crucial for a healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, body weight can negatively affect your quality of sleep, leading to frequent wakings and abnormal sleep cycles.²⁰ However, recent clinical trials demonstrated that after 6 to 12 months of body weight loss, adults with obesity reported better sleep quality and higher sleep satisfaction.²⁰ 

Death

Many individuals who struggle with weight management experience multiple health concerns. If any of these concerns go unnoticed or untreated, it can result in an untimely death. 

When you consider that obesity is tied to genetics and environmental factors, not just a healthy diet, sometimes it can feel like achieving your health goals is near impossible. 

But when you make important lifestyle interventions, you can improve your health significantly and avoid all of the dangers of unmanaged obesity, including cancer, heart disease, Type 2 Diabetes, and death. 

Off-label weight loss treatments, like Semaglutide, can help people take control of their health and weight. While other lifestyle interventions involve intricate meal planning and exercise, this medication can provide healthy weight loss for weight management patients. 

How Semaglutide Can Help With Weight Loss 

When researchers and healthcare providers witnessed Semaglutide’s potential as a treatment for weight loss, they began conducting clinical trials to examine this off-label side effect. 

It’s important to note that Henry Meds offers Compounded Semaglutide, and the research studies below used name brand Semaglutide medications. While they do contain the active ingredient, Semaglutide, these studies did not use Compounded Semaglutide which is created specifically with each individual patient’s health needs in mind. Find out more information about the Compounded Semaglutide available through Henry Meds. 

Oral sublingual drops are a new administration of Semaglutide medication, therefore, there is no current research on its potential for weight loss. However, if you examine other forms of Semaglutide administration (like the popular name-brand Ozempic® or Wegovy® injectable medications) you can understand how the active ingredient, Semaglutide, helps assist people with their weight loss goals. 

One research study administered Semaglutide injections to 175 participants over the course of three months. The average weight loss among participants was 5.9% of their initial body weight.²¹ This result is significant, and shows that Semaglutide injections have the potential to be used as a weight loss drug. 

A longer Semaglutide study (spanning over 68 weeks) examined the effectiveness of the injectable medication and lifestyle intervention for patients without diabetes. The group who received Semaglutide injections lost 14.9% of their weight. The control group, which only received lifestyle counseling, lost around 2.4% of their body weight.²²

Even with a healthier lifestyle, the group without Semaglutide struggled to lose a significant amount of weight within 68 weeks. But when you pair weight management medication with a healthy diet and exercise, you can be proactive in avoiding dangerous health complications from obesity.

Start Your Weight Management Journey with Henry Meds 

Are you looking to jumpstart your weight management journey with Semaglutide medication? The providers on the Henry Meds platform assist patients with their health goals by using Compounded Semaglutide injections and oral Compounded Semaglutide. 

The Henry Meds process is simple — make an appointment with a provider on the Henry Meds platform, fill out a medical history form, and discuss your treatment goals with the physician. If you’re eligible for treatment, you’ll receive injectable Compounded Semaglutide delivered straight to your door for only $297 a month and oral Compounded Semaglutide for $249 a month!

Get started today and see the benefits of the GLP-1 weight management program for yourself! 

Please note: Henry Meds does not offer Ozempic® or Wegovy®, which are only available from the Novo Nordisk company. Compounded Semaglutide is a patient-specific medication created in a state Board of Pharmacy or FDA licensed compounding facility per a prescription from a licensed healthcare professional. Compounded drugs are required to exclusively use ingredients from FDA-licensed facilities, and test sterile compounds for potency, sterility, and purity. While compounded drugs are legal they do not undergo pre-market approval from the FDA as they are not made in large batches for the public, compounds are made based on specific orders from a medical professional. Because of that the dose, route of administration, safety, and efficacy may differ from commercially available, brand-name, drugs. Henry Meds exclusively works with licensed sterile compounding pharmacies in the United States.

To help you trust the information we provide, every article written by Henry relies on peer-reviewed studies and medically-reviewed facts. We ensure that data, ideas, and figures cited are reliable, current, and accurate. Our team of medical reviewers aim to help you cut through the noise with clear and authoritative primary and secondary sources.

Nothing in this article is intended to be prescriptive or medical advice. Talk to your doctor before starting a new diet and exercise plan. Information presented is about our medically supervised weight management programs and is not an advertisement for a specific drug.