Semaglutide , the active component in popular drug Ozempic and Wegovy , may also aid people ablactate themselves off cocain . A Modern case newspaper this week details a gentleman’s gentleman whose cravings for cocain importantly declined after he started read semaglutide .
Doctor Vincenzo Maria Romeo wrote about the cause , publishedMonday in theJournal of Medical Case Reports . Romeo ’s patient role , a 54 - twelvemonth - old gentleman’s gentleman living in Italy , suffered from cocaine use disorderliness and obesity , both of which were treated successfully once he begin taking semaglutide . The findings further bolster up the idea that this course of medication can also be used to reduce people ’s unhealthy dependence on drugs like cocain and alcoholic drink .
Semaglutide and other newer GLP-1 drugs are screw tobe far more effectiveat helping people misplace weight or treat their type 2 diabetes than diet and exercise alone . Since their comer , some doctors have begun to notice another potential but positive side upshot of GLP-1 therapy : some of their patients have report a decline urge to abuse recreational drugs or pamper in other potentially harmful driven behaviors like play or orgy drinking .
A person self-administering Ozempic.© Steve Christo/Corbis via Getty
Popular Weight - Loss Drug Semaglutide Might Help With Alcohol Dependence , Too
survey of this phenomenon have largely focused on intoxicant and opioids . But when Romeo ’s patient visited him with a story of cocain maltreatment and corpulency , he and his clinical team envision an ideal chance to see whether semaglutide could relieve both conditions at once . With his patient role ’s consent , Romeo get going him on a 12 - week course of the GLP-1 drug .
By the end of the 12 calendar week , the man had turn a loss around 12 % of his soundbox weight , in line with typical effect ( 10 % to 15 % middling weight red in trials ) . But he also experienced a 59 % reduction in his symptom of cocain craving , found on a commonly usedsurvey mensuration . All in all , the man describe improved forcible health , including feel more gumptious and have less joint hurting , with only mild adverse personal effects like GI symptoms early on in intervention ( a common occurrence with GLP-1 drug ) .
This is , of course of action , only a unmarried case study . Overall , the research look into GLP-1 therapy for substance use disorder is also very preliminary . Researchers are n’t exactly sure how GLP-1 drug reduce craving for substances and compulsive behavior , though it’ssuspectedthat GLP-1 receptors in the brain assistance regulate our reply to potentially addictive stimuli .
But the evidence for this unintended gist being real isbuilding . Just last week , researcherspublishedfindings from the first controlled clinical trial testing semaglutide for inebriant dependency ; it find that people with moderate alcohol use disorder demand low - dose semaglutide experienced a importantly great drop in cravings and drink consumed than those on a placebo .
It will take more fourth dimension and enquiry to confirm the value of GLP-1 therapy for drug dependence , including studies looking directly at cocain abuse . But for people like Romeo ’s affected role , experiencing obesity and a substance use disorder at the same metre , semaglutide could very well be set up as a strong handling for both conditions in the near future .
“ The finding indicate that semaglutide may be a promising therapeutic option for the direction of substance abuse in patients with comorbid obesity , ” Romeo wrote .
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