So…I’ve started to take the pill-form of OZEMPIC (Which helps control blood sugar spikes and reduces hunger pangs.) …AND “certain people” have leaped on the bandwagon DEMANDING to be able to use the WONDER-WORKING MIRACLE WEIGHT LOSS DRUG THEY CAN INJECT AND EAT ANYTHING THEY WANT AND *POOF!!!* THEY WILL LOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT MAKING A SINGLE CHANGE IN THEIR LIVES!!! AND WHY SHOULD DIABETIC PEOPLE GET TO HAVE ALL THE FUN????)
Anyway, I’ve started taking Rybelsus® because my A1c climbed to 7.7 this last time after holding at 7.1 from 9/22-4/23; jumping to 7.6 in 1/23; dropping to 7.0 on 10/26; and re-leaping to 7.7 on 7/25…
So, besides having to start taking Rybelsus (I DID NOT FEEL LIKE GIVING MYSELF SHOTS!!!), what does all this MEAN?
Let’s start at the beginning.
Both Rybelsus and Ozempic are from a family of drugs called “semaglutides” What precisely does that MEAN in relation to Type 2 diabetes?
So, there seems to be no simple explanation of what a semaglutide is, so I get to do my Translating the Science schtick again! It’s been a while. Hope I’m not too rusty.
Before delving into WHERE it came from, I thought I’d share some startling information with you. So often, I hear about how “AMERICANS” are big, old fat food pigs and that the epidemic of Type 2 Diabetes is caused by our extravagant food-eating and exercise-o-phobic society.
The semaglutide and tirzepatide, which was being developed for the control of Type 2 diabetes SEEMED TO ME to be subsumed by the absolutely INSANE demand for the drugs known as the semaglutides Ozempic, Wegovy, HERS, HIMS, Mounjarno, IVY RX, or the oral, tablet version of semaglutides called tirzepatide Rybelsus, Zealthy, Effecty, and others.
But what do they DO?
From the Mayo Clinic (main HW is here in my home state of Minnesota, in the place my sister and her husband live); “Semaglutide injection is used to treat type 2 diabetes. It is used together with diet and exercise to help control your blood sugar. This medicine is also used to lower the risk of heart attack, stroke, or death in patients with type 2 diabetes, obesity, and heart or blood vessel disease.”
OK, still a bit vague. Let me dig a bit more. First an image:
Then an explanation...
First, the semiglutide is a molecule that MIMICS the effect of a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist. Glucagon is “a hormone formed in the pancreas which promotes the breakdown of glycogen to glucose in the liver”.
Glycogen is “a substance deposited in bodily tissues and is a form of “stored” carbohydrates in the liver and your muscles. It’s an ABSOLUTELY INSANELY complicated molecule formed of zillions of glucose molecules. Glucose is the SIMPLEST sugar and THE energy packet that powers EVERYTHING in your body. It is broken down by “hydrolysis”, which happens when enzymes chop up a glucose molecule and release energy and something called pyruvic acid (don’t worry about it here!)
Ozempic, Rybelsus and all the rest are a molecule that MIMICS the effect of a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist…
The #&$%@*!!! Does THAT mean????
I thought you’d never ask, because it’s really simple: “GLP-1 agonists are medications that help lower blood sugar levels and promote weight loss.”
YOU probably don’t really want to know what that means, but me being me (a former science teacher and a biology major in college), I DO want to know…
More specifically, an agonist is a chemical that turns on some kind of reaction in a cell when it hooks up with a receptor. The receptor is a molecule on the outside of a cell’s skin that reacts to a particular kind of molecule. When the two hook up, in the case of active ingredient of Ozempic or Rybelsus or Monjarno, or any one of the others, it does a WHOLE BUNCH OF STUFF:
First, it makes your pancreas dump insulin into your blood, scooping up the extra sugar that gives you high blood sugars.
Second, it blocks glucagon – which is out of whack in anyone that has Type 2 diabetes – from telling your liver, “MORE SUGAR! MORE SUGAR!”
Third, it slows how much food gets digested (turned into glucose) and gets dumped into the blood stream, leading to (duh) high blood sugar!
Fourth, it makes your stomach feel full, so you don’t eat so much. If you don’t EAT so much, there won’t be so much food being digested, and there won’t be as much glucose released into your blood.
So– now that I UNDERSTAND what Rybelsus does to my insides; what Ozempic used to do to my wife’s insides…I can take the (stupid…but LESS stupid now that I know what my meds do…) meds to keep me from getting all the other crap I can get if I don’t try and get my diabetes under control…
The drugs are to HELP ME do something I can’t do anymore. Get it? Got it? Good! (
Glycogen is “a substance deposited in bodily tissues and is a form of “stored” carbohydrates in the liver and your muscles. It’s an ABSOLUTELY INSANELY complicated molecule formed of zillions of glucose molecules. Glucose is the SIMPLEST sugar and THE energy packet that powers EVERYTHING in your body. It is broken down by “hydrolysis”, which happens when enzymes chop up a glucose molecule and release energy and something called pyruvic acid (don’t worry about it here!)
Ozempic, Rybelsus and all the rest are a molecule that MIMICS the effect of a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist…
The #&$%@*!!! Does THAT mean????
I thought you’d never ask, because it’s really simple: “GLP-1 agonists are medications that help lower blood sugar levels and promote weight loss.”
YOU probably don’t really want to know what that means, but me being me (a former science teacher and a biology major in college), I DO want to know…
More specifically, an agonist is a chemical that turns on some kind of reaction in a cell when it hooks up with a receptor. The receptor is a molecule on the outside of a cell’s skin that reacts to a particular kind of molecule. When the two hook up, in the case of active ingredient of Ozempic or Rybelsus or Monjarno, or any one of the others, it does a WHOLE BUNCH OF STUFF:
First, it makes your pancreas dump insulin into your blood, scooping up the extra sugar that gives you high blood sugars.
Second, it blocks glucagon – which is out of whack in anyone that has Type 2 diabetes – from telling your liver, “MORE SUGAR! MORE SUGAR!”
Third, it slows how much food gets digested (turned into glucose) and gets dumped into the blood stream, leading to (duh) high blood sugar!
Fourth, it makes your stomach feel full, so you don’t eat so much. If you don’t EAT so much, there won’t be so much food being digested, and there won’t be as much glucose released into your blood.
So– now that I UNDERSTAND what Rybelsus does to my insides; what Ozempic used to do to my wife’s insides…I can take the (stupid…but LESS stupid now that I know what my meds do…) meds to keep me from getting all the other crap I can get if I don’t try and get my diabetes under control…
The drugs are to HELP ME do something I can’t do anymore. Get it? Got it? Good! (
Me, too!
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaglutide, https://www.worksheetsplanet.com/what-is-glycogen/
The Actual Real Science Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK603723/#:~:text=Mechanism%20of%20Action&text=The%20mechanisms%20through%20which%20semaglutide,tract%2C%20pancreas%2C%20and%20brain.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaglutide, https://www.worksheetsplanet.com/what-is-glycogen/
The Actual Real Science Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK603723/#:~:text=Mechanism%20of%20Action&text=The%20mechanisms%20through%20which%20semaglutide,tract%2C%20pancreas%2C%20and%20brain.
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