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Wegovy side effects
Nausea is the side effect Wegovy’s label reports most often: 44 in every 100 adults on the 2.4 mg weekly shot, against 16 in every 100 on placebo.
Source for this answer
Source: Read from the Wegovy label, revision 06/2026
Source: Read from the Wegovy label, revision 06/2026
Medically reviewed by Jennifer Montecillo, MD · non-practicing medical reviewerReviewed 2026-08-12every number here is sourced
The 2.4 mg weekly shot, in the weight trials
Read the placebo column first. Nearly everything below also happened to some people on placebo. The gap between columns is the part linked to the drug in these trials.
Trial armsPlacebo: n = 1,261Wegovy 2.4 mg: n = 2,116
| Side effect | Placebo | Wegovy 2.4 mg |
|---|---|---|
| Nausea | 16% | 44% |
| Diarrhea | 16% | 30% |
| Vomiting | 6% | 24% |
| Constipation | 11% | 24% |
| Belly painGroups upper, lower and general belly pain, tenderness and discomfort | 10% | 20% |
| Headache | 10% | 14% |
| TirednessGroups fatigue and weakness | 5% | 11% |
| Indigestion | 3% | 9% |
| Dizziness | 4% | 8% |
| Bloating | 5% | 7% |
| BurpingThe label prints the placebo figure as less than 1% | <1% | 7% |
| Low blood sugar, in type 2 diabetesBlood sugar under 54 mg/dL, in people not on insulin | 2% | 6% |
| Wind | 4% | 6% |
| Stomach bug | 4% | 6% |
| Acid reflux | 3% | 5% |
| Stomach lining irritation | 1% | 4% |
| Viral stomach bug | 3% | 4% |
| Hair loss | 1% | 3% |
| Odd skin sensationsGroups tingling, burning, oversensitive skin and skin pain | 1% | 2% |
The 7.2 mg weekly shot, against 2.4 mg and against placebo
Trial armsPlacebo: n = 303Wegovy 2.4 mg: n = 304Wegovy 7.2 mg: n = 1,311
| Side effect | Placebo | Wegovy 2.4 mg | Wegovy 7.2 mg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nausea | 13% | 35% | 39% |
| Vomiting | 6% | 16% | 22% |
| Odd skin sensationsGroups tingling, burning, oversensitive skin and skin pain | 0% | 6% | 22% |
| Constipation | 8% | 19% | 20% |
| Belly pain | 7% | 9% | 12% |
| Tiredness | 5% | 9% | 11% |
| Headache | 7% | 8% | 9% |
| Dizziness | 1% | 5% | 6% |
| Hair loss | 1% | 3% | 6% |
| Wind | 2% | 2% | 4% |
The boxed warning: thyroid tumors in rodents
Wegovy carries the strongest warning the FDA uses. Rodents given semaglutide grew thyroid C-cell tumors. Whether the same happens in people is unknown. The label rules the drug out for anyone with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, and for anyone with the inherited condition MEN 2.
What does the label tell prescribers to watch for?
These warnings sit above the table in the label. They cover uncommon problems that matter most.
| Warning | What this label says about it |
|---|---|
| Pancreatitis | The label tells prescribers to stop the drug where it is suspected. |
| Gallbladder disease | Gallstones were reported by 1.6 in 100 on the shot and 0.7 on placebo. |
| Low blood sugar | Mainly in people also taking insulin or a sulfonylurea. |
| Kidney injury | Usually after fluid loss from being sick or having diarrhea. |
| Severe stomach and gut problems | Reported by 4.1 in 100 on the shot against 0.9 on placebo, and 2 in 100 on the tablet against none. The label says Wegovy is not recommended where gastroparesis is severe. |
| Serious allergic reactions | Including swelling of the face and throat. |
| Diabetic eye disease | Fast improvement in blood sugar can make existing eye damage worse. |
| A faster resting heart rate | This warning is Wegovy’s own. Resting heart rate rose 1 to 4 beats a minute on average, and 26 in 100 adults had a jump of 20 beats or more at some visit, against 16 on placebo. |
| Breathing in stomach contents under anesthetic | The label says food can stay in the stomach longer than expected. |
| Sharing a pen | The label says a FlexTouch pen must never be shared, even with a fresh needle. |
What matters first
- Highest listed reaction
- Nausea: 44% in Wegovy 2.4 mg
- Distinct reactions listed
- 19
- Warnings to watch
- 10
- Boxed warning
- The boxed warning: thyroid tumors in rodents
What have people actually reported about Wegovy?
21,044 reports naming Wegovy have reached the FDA’s public database. A report is not proof the drug caused anything, and there is no way to know how many people took it.
| Most reported | Reports | Share of Wegovy reports |
|---|---|---|
| Nausea | 2,861 reports | 14% of Wegovy reports |
| Vomiting | 1,839 reports | 8.7% of Wegovy reports |
| Diarrhea | 1,156 reports | 5.5% of Wegovy reports |
| Off label use | 1,119 reports | 5.3% of Wegovy reports |
| Weight increased | 1,015 reports | 4.8% of Wegovy reports |
| Constipation | 1,011 reports | 4.8% of Wegovy reports |
| Weight loss poor | 921 reports | 4.4% of Wegovy reports |
| Fatigue | 892 reports | 4.2% of Wegovy reports |
| Device malfunction | 822 reports | 3.9% of Wegovy reports |
| Device leakage | 795 reports | 3.8% of Wegovy reports |
The FDA reports include symptoms, product complaints and reports that treatment did not work as expected. These are different kinds of entries, even when shown in one table.
A report does not establish that Wegovy caused the event. The counts also lack the total number of people using the drug, so they cannot give a risk rate.
4Interpret the page
Skin symptoms were more common at 7.2 mg
Odd skin sensations affected 6 in 100 people on 2.4 mg and 22 in 100 on 7.2 mg. The placebo rate rounded to zero.
The label groups tingling, burning, oversensitive skin and skin pain together. It reports that these symptoms became more common with higher doses and drug levels.
Among the 288 people affected on 7.2 mg, 2 in 100 stopped treatment, 8 paused and 23 reduced the dose. About 18 in 100 had not reported recovery when the trial ended.
Of 38 people who increased to 7.2 mg again after recovering, 17 reported the symptoms again. These figures describe that group, not every person taking Wegovy.
The pill has its own trial and its own numbers
204 adults took the 25 mg Wegovy tablet for up to 64 weeks. 6.9 in every 100 stopped for good because of a side effect, against 5.9 on placebo.
The label says the kinds of side effects and how often they came up were much like the shot. The one figure it prints separately for the tablet is odd skin sensations, at 5 in 100 people against none on placebo. It also reports gallstones in 2.5 in 100 on the tablet against 1 on placebo.
Why do Wegovy and Ozempic report different numbers for the same drug?
Both are semaglutide. The percentages differ because the trials behind them differ, not because one product is gentler than the other.
Each label opens its table with the same warning: rates from one drug’s trials cannot be set against another’s. That holds here even though the drug substance is identical. The two sets of trials enrolled different people. They ran to different doses. And they used different cut-offs for what got printed at all.
Where to read next
Two pages carry the parts this one leaves out.
- The Wegovy dose schedule has the step pattern these percentages are attached to.
- Side effects of semaglutide itself covers the drug across every product built on it.
Questions readers ask
What are long-term side effects of Wegovy?
What are long-term side effects of Wegovy?
Wegovy’s label includes a heart trial with follow-up lasting more than three years. Safety tracking there focused on serious events, events that led people to stop treatment, and certain other concerns.
The main common-side-effect table comes from shorter weight trials. It is not a yearly risk estimate, and the longer trial did not collect every symptom in the same way.
How much weight can you lose in 3 months with Wegovy?
How much weight can you lose in 3 months with Wegovy?
The headline trial averages do not predict one person’s weight change after three months. A result measured later cannot be divided into equal monthly losses.
The first three months also include dose increases in the standard injection schedule. The results guide shows the study groups, time points and doses behind the reported averages.
What medications should be avoided with Wegovy?
What medications should be avoided with Wegovy?
The label does not recommend using Wegovy with other semaglutide products or other GLP-1 medicines. Insulin and sulfonylureas can increase the risk of low blood sugar.
Wegovy slows stomach emptying, which can affect some medicines taken by mouth. The label calls for review of the full medication list and disclosure before anesthesia or deep sedation.
What's the worst day on Wegovy?
What's the worst day on Wegovy?
The label’s main table does not identify a worst day after an injection. It counts how many people reported each effect over the trial.
The figures themselves are the useful part. Nausea reached 44 of every 100 people on 2.4 mg, against 16 on placebo. Diarrhea followed at 30, then vomiting and constipation at 24.
- WEGOVY (semaglutide) injection and tablets — DailyMed SPL, sections 5 and 6.1retrieved 2026-09-13FDA label