Quick overview of what we’ll cover in this blog post:
- What titration means
- Why Wegovy prescriptions are titrated
- What to expect with your Wegovy titration schedule
- What to do if you’d like to adjust your schedule
Starting with Wegovy can be intimidating at first. For many, this will be their first experience with a self-administered injection. But for most, the difficulty seems to stem from balancing their dosing schedule. When is it right to start titrating up? How do I begin ramping up my dosage? Why is titration even necessary? And what if I just want to stick with the dose I’m comfortable with?
These may be difficult to answer without dedicated assistance from an expert, something you may not receive from your primary care physician.
But at AgelessRx, we strive to make your Wegovy experience as simple and manageable as possible, which means giving you clear answers to important questions like these, regardless of whether you’ve purchased from us.
So, here’s everything you need to know about Wegovy titration, in no particular order.
What’s titration and why do we need it?
In medicine, titration is the process of slowly adjusting the dosage for a medication until the ideal balance is achieved – the maximum possible benefits with minimum side effects.
This can involve reducing a dose, but more often than not, titration involves starting a patient on a smaller dose, then slowly increasing the dose over the coming weeks or months until they reach the target dose. The idea is to give the body enough time and exposure so it can adjust to the medication on its own.
Such is the case for Wegovy. The recommended titration schedule for Wegovy, set by none other than Novo Nordisk (the manufacturers of Wegovy), is to start with an initial dose of 0.25mg for the first month, then slowly work your way up to a target dose of 2.4mg after 5 months.
When should I start titrating up?
Specifically, the Wegovy dosing schedule is as follows:
- Start with a single dose of 0.25mg once a week for the first month.
- Increase to 0.5mg once a week for the second month.
- Then 1mg each week for the third month.
- Then 1.7mg each week for the fourth month.
- Finally, you can settle on the full dose of 2.4mg each week for the fifth month onwards.
As mentioned above, this is set by the manufacturers of Wegovy themselves after years of careful research, so this will most likely be the schedule you follow as well, no matter where you got your prescription.
How do I start titrating?
Novo Nordisk really thought ahead when it comes to tracking your dosages. They went the extra mile by providing color-coded injection pens that coordinate to which month’s dosing you should be receiving.
Checking where you’re at with your dosing schedule is as simple as matching the color on your pen to the chart above. Because each pen is single use, the doses are already set, so you won’t have to manually dial in the dose yourself. You also won’t ever have to take an extra shot to reach your target dose.
Realistically, all you have to do to follow your Wegovy titration schedule is open the package and take as prescribed – AgelessRx or your pharmacy will always provide the correct dosage for that month (they made it easy for us too!).
What if I want a different titration schedule?
The fact is that everyone tolerates medication differently, and Wegovy is no different.
Despite the careful expectations set by Novo Nordisk, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to dosing. You may find that the target dose of 2.4mg per week is just too much for you to tolerate. On the other hand, it could be that you’re tolerating Wegovy well and want to move up your titration schedule. Or maybe you’ve even taken Wegovy before and know what dose you tolerate best.
While we encourage all new users to stick to this titration schedule as best as they can, we’re also ready to work with you to find your goldilocks dose, or the dose that’s just right for you.
If you find that, for example, you feel best and experience the least amount of side effects on the 1.7mg dose, we can adjust your prescription so that you begin receiving only this dose onwards.
We can’t, however, provide dosages outside of those set by Novo Nordisk, as these doses are already prebuilt into the pen. We also can’t give you any dose larger than the 2.4mg provided in the black pen, because this is the highest dosage that has been found to be safely tolerable.
If you find that you cannot tolerate your current Wegovy dose, or if you want to better understand your Wegovy titration, just talk to us! Our experts are happy to answer your questions, so you have the safest and most rewarding outcomes.
Learn more about Wegovy™ and find out if it’s right for you.
Note: The above statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Unless otherwise noted, all information as presented here is sourced from Wegovy.com.