Wegovy side effects: what the 2026 label says, by dose
Forty-four percent of adults who took Wegovy 2.4 mg in its weight-loss trials felt nauseated at some point, against 16 percent on placebo. Both numbers come straight from the FDA prescribing information for Wegovy. Side effects on Wegovy are common, and most people who get them keep taking the drug anyway.
What most Wegovy side effect lists leave out is the detail that actually helps you plan. How long does the nausea last? Is the new 7.2 mg dose rougher than 2.4 mg? The same goes for whether the pill behaves like the shot and which symptoms mean you should call someone today. The label answers most of that in numbers, and a pooled analysis of the STEP trials fills in the timing. The figures below come from those two sources plus FDA and WHO safety notices and the Ozempic label, with the placebo rate shown next to each one so you can see how much is the drug and how much is background noise.
If you want the week-by-week arc across all semaglutide products, the GLP-1 side effects timeline covers it. This guide sticks to Wegovy. The tirzepatide counterpart is Zepbound side effects.
Quick reference: Wegovy side effects
- Most common at 2.4 mg: nausea 44%, diarrhea 30%, vomiting 24%, constipation 24%
- Median length of one episode: nausea 8 days, diarrhea 3, vomiting 2, constipation 47
- Worst stretch: the first 20 weeks, covering the dose climb and the first weeks at full dose
- 7.2 mg adds more skin tingling or burning: 22% vs 6% at 2.4 mg
- Stopped for side effects: 6.8% on Wegovy 2.4 mg vs 3.2% on placebo
Educational information, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber before changing how you take any medication.
The most common Wegovy side effects
The most common Wegovy side effects are digestive: nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, and stomach pain. In the three placebo-controlled trials that supported the 2.4 mg dose for weight loss, 2,116 adults took Wegovy for up to 68 weeks. The label's Table 3 lists every reaction that hit at least 2 percent of them and ran higher than placebo. The table below shows a selection from that list.
| Side effect | Wegovy 2.4 mg | Placebo |
|---|---|---|
| Nausea | 44% | 16% |
| Diarrhea | 30% | 16% |
| Vomiting | 24% | 6% |
| Constipation | 24% | 11% |
| Abdominal pain | 20% | 10% |
| Headache | 14% | 10% |
| Fatigue | 11% | 5% |
| Indigestion (dyspepsia) | 9% | 3% |
| Dizziness | 8% | 4% |
| Burping (eructation) | 7% | under 1% |
| Bloating (abdominal distension) | 7% | 5% |
| Low blood sugar, type 2 diabetes only | 6% | 2% |
| Gas (flatulence) | 6% | 4% |
| Reflux (GERD) | 5% | 3% |
| Hair loss | 3% | 1% |
Look at the placebo column before you react to the Wegovy column. Sixteen percent of people on a dummy injection also reported nausea, and one in ten got headaches. The real Wegovy effect is the gap between the columns, about 28 extra people out of 100 with nausea and 18 extra with vomiting. Headache moves only 4 points.
Across all digestive complaints combined, 73 percent of Wegovy users and 47 percent of placebo users reported at least one. Severe digestive reactions were far rarer, 4.1 percent vs 0.9 percent. A pooled analysis of STEP 1 to 3 found that 98.1 percent of these events were mild to moderate. The full medication profile, including how Wegovy performs on weight loss, lives on the Wegovy page.
How long Wegovy side effects last
How long do Wegovy side effects last? The stomach ones usually last days. In the pooled STEP analysis, the median single episode of nausea on 2.4 mg lasted 8 days. Diarrhea lasted 3 days and vomiting 2. Those durations were similar to placebo, which suggests the drug makes episodes more frequent more than it makes each one drag on.
Constipation is the exception. Its median episode ran 47 days on Wegovy, against 35 days on placebo, and its prevalence plateaued around week 10 rather than fading. If constipation shows up, expect it to be the side effect that sticks around.
Timing matters as much as length. The same analysis found that new digestive side effects cluster in the dose-escalation period. The share of people with nausea, diarrhea, or vomiting peaked at about week 20 and fell after that, with nausea dropping most. In STEP 4, everyone had finished a 20-week run-in and tolerated 2.4 mg by week 20. Only two of them stopped for digestive reasons after that point. In the trials, digestive side effects usually eased after the week 20 peak, shortly after the dose stopped climbing.
One finding surprises people. Nausea is not what makes Wegovy work. In STEP 1 to 3, mean weight loss was about the same whether or not someone had digestive side effects, and less than 1 percentage point of the extra weight loss traced back to them. Feeling sick is a cost of the drug. It does not do the work.
Side effects at the 7.2 mg dose
Wegovy 7.2 mg side effects look like 2.4 mg, with somewhat more vomiting and hair loss and one standout. Dysesthesia, an altered skin sensation, hit 22 percent on 7.2 mg against 6 percent on 2.4 mg. The label adds the 7.2 mg weekly maintenance option for adults who have tolerated 2.4 mg for at least 4 weeks and need more weight loss. Two 72-week trials compared 7.2 mg, 2.4 mg, and placebo head to head, which makes this the cleanest dose comparison on the label.
| Side effect | 7.2 mg | 2.4 mg | Placebo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nausea | 39% | 35% | 13% |
| Vomiting | 22% | 16% | 6% |
| Dysesthesia (altered skin sensation) | 22% | 6% | 0% |
| Constipation | 20% | 19% | 8% |
| Abdominal pain | 12% | 9% | 7% |
| Fatigue | 11% | 9% | 5% |
| Hair loss | 6% | 3% | 1% |
Nausea and constipation rise only a little at the higher dose. Vomiting rises 6 points and hair loss goes from 3 to 6 percent. Dysesthesia covers tingling, burning, prickling, or unusually sensitive skin, and the label says it tracks with drug levels in the blood.
Of the 288 people who developed dysesthesia on 7.2 mg, 23 percent had their dose reduced and 8 percent paused treatment. Two percent stopped for good. Most who had one of those changes recovered, and the label notes that events resolved faster when the dose was reduced, paused, or stopped. About 18 percent had not recovered by the end of the trial. Most of those had stayed on the full dose. Of 38 people who went back up to 7.2 mg after recovering, 17 had it come back. Overall, 5 percent on 7.2 mg stopped because of side effects, the same share as on 2.4 mg.
Wegovy pill side effects
Wegovy tablet side effects are close to the injection's. The tablets, a 25 mg once-daily oral semaglutide, share one label with the shot. In the 64-week trial of 204 adults on the pill, the label says the types and rates of common side effects were similar to the injection's Table 3. For how oral semaglutide gets absorbed and how it differs from other oral GLP-1 options, see our guide to oral and sublingual GLP-1 options.
The pill trial reported four numbers of its own. Severe digestive reactions hit 2 percent of pill users vs 0 percent on placebo. Gallstones showed up in 2.5 percent vs 1 percent. Dysesthesia appeared in 5 percent, with no cases on placebo. And 6.9 percent stopped the pill for side effects vs 5.9 percent on placebo, a narrower gap than the injection trials showed.
The pill also comes with rules the shot does not: an empty stomach, no more than 4 ounces of plain water, and a 30-minute wait before food, drinks, or other oral medicines. Those rules exist for absorption. The label explains them under clinical pharmacology, apart from the side effect data.
Serious side effects and warning signs
The serious side effects of Wegovy are uncommon, and the label's warnings section has 11 entries. These are the ones with a symptom you can act on, with the trial rate where the label gives one.
Pancreatitis. Adjudicators confirmed acute pancreatitis in 4 Wegovy patients in the weight-loss trials, about 0.2 cases per 100 patient-years, vs 1 on placebo. The warning sign is belly pain that is persistent or severe, sometimes spreading to the back, with or without vomiting. The label says to stop Wegovy if pancreatitis is suspected.
Gallbladder disease. Gallstones affected 1.6 percent on the injection vs 0.7 percent on placebo, and gallbladder inflammation 0.6 percent vs 0.2 percent. Substantial or rapid weight loss can raise gallstone risk on its own, but the label says the excess held up even after accounting for the amount lost. Upper stomach pain, fever, yellow skin or eyes, or clay-colored stools are reasons to call your prescriber.
Kidney injury from dehydration. Postmarketing reports include acute kidney injury, some cases needing dialysis, mostly in people who were losing fluids to vomiting or diarrhea. That is the reason to report a bad week of stomach side effects instead of waiting it out.
Low blood sugar. In adults with type 2 diabetes, 6.2 percent on Wegovy had blood sugar below 54 mg/dL vs 2.5 percent on placebo. The risk rises with insulin or sulfonylureas, which is why the label tells prescribers to consider lowering those doses when Wegovy starts.
Faster heart rate. Resting heart rate rose 1 to 4 beats per minute on average. At some point in the trials, 26 percent of Wegovy users had a jump of 20 or more from baseline vs 16 percent on placebo. Report a racing heartbeat at rest.
Thyroid tumors. Wegovy carries a boxed warning because semaglutide caused thyroid C-cell tumors in rats and mice. Whether it does so in humans is unknown. The label contraindicates Wegovy in people with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN 2. A lump in the neck, trouble swallowing, shortness of breath, or lasting hoarseness should be checked.
Serious allergic reactions, worsening diabetic eye disease in people with type 2 diabetes, and aspiration during anesthesia also appear in the warnings. Tell your surgical team you take Wegovy before any procedure, because it slows stomach emptying. Two rarer signals came from the label's cardiovascular outcomes trial, registered as SELECT, where 8,803 people took Wegovy for a median of 37.3 months. Hip and pelvic fractures were more common on Wegovy in women (1 percent vs 0.2 percent) and in people 75 and older (2.4 percent vs 0.6 percent).
What changed on the label in 2025 and 2026
Three US label changes from 2025 and 2026, plus one European safety finding, affect how you read side effect information online. Older articles will not reflect them. The label's own "Recent Major Changes" box on DailyMed dates each of the three US changes.
First, the suicidal thoughts warning is gone. In January 2026 the FDA asked makers to remove the suicidal behavior and ideation warning from Wegovy, Saxenda, and Zepbound after its review found no increased risk. The Wegovy label records the removal in February 2026. Any page still listing suicidal thoughts as a Wegovy warning is out of date.
Second, two warnings were added or sharpened in 2025: acute kidney injury from fluid loss in August, and severe gastrointestinal reactions in October. The label also now says Wegovy is not recommended for people with severe gastroparesis.
Third, June 2026 brought a warning never to share a Wegovy FlexTouch pen between people, even with a new needle, because of blood-borne infection risk.
The European finding concerns the eye condition NAION. In June 2025 the European Medicines Agency's safety committee concluded that non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy is a very rare side effect of semaglutide. The World Health Organization summarized the finding as potentially affecting up to 1 in 10,000 users. The US Wegovy label, as of its June 2026 version, does not list NAION. Sudden vision loss is an emergency either way.
Side effects in women and men
Wegovy side effects in women differ from men's most on hair loss, and the label also breaks out fractures for women. In the 2.4 mg trials, hair loss hit 4 percent of women and 0.9 percent of men. In the 7.2 mg trials, the rates were 8.4 percent of women on 7.2 mg vs 5.4 percent on 2.4 mg, and 0.2 percent of men on 7.2 mg vs none on 2.4 mg. The label says hair loss on Wegovy was associated with weight reduction. Our GLP-1 hair loss guide covers why it happens and how long it lasts.
In the cardiovascular outcomes trial, 1 percent of women on Wegovy had hip or pelvic fractures vs 0.2 percent on placebo. For sexual side effects in men, see Ozempic side effects in men. Much of it applies to Wegovy because both are semaglutide, though Wegovy doses run higher.
Why the dose climbs slowly
Wegovy starts at 0.25 mg and climbs every 4 weeks through 0.5, 1, and 1.7 mg before reaching the maintenance dose, usually 2.4 mg, at week 17. The full Wegovy dosage chart has each step. The label states the reason. The escalation schedule exists to reduce the risk of gastrointestinal side effects. In other words, the climb is about tolerance.
The label also gives prescribers room. If a dose is not tolerated, it lets them delay the next step by 4 weeks. After 2 or more missed weekly doses, the label tells prescribers to restart the climb at a lower dose "to reduce the risk of gastrointestinal adverse reactions." The Medication Guide tells patients to call their provider about how to restart. The pill escalates the same way over 30-day steps, from 1.5 mg to 4, 9, and then 25 mg. A missed pill is simply skipped, per the label.
None of that is a reason to adjust anything on your own. Changing the schedule is a prescriber decision, and a GLP-1 prescriber can tell you whether a slower climb makes sense for you. If you are still weighing Wegovy against the lower-dose version of the same molecule, Ozempic vs Wegovy lays the two side by side.
Frequently asked questions
How long does Wegovy sickness last?
One bout of Wegovy nausea lasted a median of 8 days on 2.4 mg in the pooled STEP 1 to 3 analysis. Diarrhea lasted a median of 3 days and vomiting 2 days, similar to placebo. The broader sick phase tends to track the dose climb, and the share of people with nausea peaked around week 20 and declined after that. Constipation is the slow one, with a median episode of 47 days. Vomiting or diarrhea that stops you keeping fluids down is worth a call, because the label links dehydration to kidney injury.
How do you not get sick on Wegovy?
The label's main tool against nausea is the dose schedule itself. It says the 16-week climb from 0.25 mg exists to reduce the risk of gastrointestinal side effects. If a dose is not tolerated, the label lets a prescriber delay the next step by 4 weeks. After 2 or more missed weekly doses, it tells prescribers to restart at a lower dose. In the trials, episodes were short, a median of 8 days for nausea, and clustered in the first 20 weeks. One symptom to report promptly is fluid loss from vomiting or diarrhea. Your prescriber decides any schedule change.
What is the worst day on Wegovy?
There is no single worst day, but the data point to a window. In the STEP trials, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting peaked at about week 20, right after people reached the 2.4 mg maintenance dose at week 17, and after that the share of people with nausea fell steadily. In STEP 4, only two people stopped for digestive reasons after week 20. For most people the hardest stretch is the first five months. Constipation behaves differently. It levels off around week 10 and lingers.
Is Wegovy safer than Ozempic?
Wegovy and Ozempic are the same molecule, semaglutide, and both carry the same boxed warning about thyroid C-cell tumors. Their labels list many of the same serious risks. The difference is dose. The recommended Wegovy maintenance dose is 2.4 mg weekly, with a 7.2 mg option above it and a 1.7 mg option below, while the Ozempic label sets a 2 mg weekly maximum for type 2 diabetes. Higher doses generally bring more digestive side effects, and the Wegovy label shows it. Nausea and vomiting both rose from 2.4 mg to 7.2 mg. The label also warns that side effect rates from different drugs' trials cannot be compared directly, so the question has no clean answer.
Does Wegovy cause hair loss?
Yes, in a small share of people. The label reports hair loss in 3.3 percent of adults on Wegovy 2.4 mg vs 1 percent on placebo, and 5.8 percent on the 7.2 mg dose. The label's tables round these to 3 and 6 percent. It is far more common in women: 4 percent of women vs 0.9 percent of men at 2.4 mg, and 8.4 percent of women at 7.2 mg. The label says hair loss on Wegovy was associated with weight reduction. Our GLP-1 hair loss guide covers how long it lasts and what helps regrowth.
Why do people stop taking Wegovy?
Side effects are the reason the label measures. Across STEP 1 to 3, 16 percent stopped for any reason, and side effects were the main reason for 6.8 percent. In the label's 68-week trials, 6.8 percent of adults on Wegovy 2.4 mg stopped because of adverse reactions, vs 3.2 percent on placebo. The top reasons were nausea (1.8 percent vs 0.2 percent), vomiting (1.2 percent vs 0 percent), and diarrhea (0.7 percent vs 0.1 percent). In the 72-week trials, 5 percent stopped on 7.2 mg, 5 percent on 2.4 mg, and 2 percent on placebo. On the pill it was 6.9 percent vs 5.9 percent, and in the cardiovascular outcomes trial 16 percent vs 8 percent over a median of 37.3 months. Cost and supply problems sit outside the label.
Does Wegovy cause depression or suicidal thoughts?
Current evidence says no. In January 2026 the FDA asked Novo Nordisk to remove the suicidal behavior and ideation warning from the Wegovy label. The agency had reviewed 91 placebo-controlled trials covering 107,910 people and found no increased risk. It also found no increased risk of anxiety, depression, irritability, or psychosis. The Wegovy label logged the removal in February 2026. That does not mean mood changes never happen to anyone on the drug. If you notice new or worsening depression, tell your prescriber, as you would with any medication.
Can Wegovy side effects start after months on the drug?
Some can. Most nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea start during the first 20 weeks, but a few risks build with time or with weight loss. Substantial or rapid weight loss can raise the risk of gallstones. Constipation can settle in and last for weeks. The label gives no time window for pancreatitis and tells prescribers to watch for it after Wegovy starts, so severe belly pain spreading to the back always deserves a same-day call. The fracture data come from a trial with a median of about three years on the drug. And a move from 2.4 mg to 7.2 mg can bring new tingling or burning skin.