How to minimize nausea on a GLP-1

When people talk about GLP-1s for weight loss, they tend to talk about results like the weight you can lose and the health risks you can minimize. Yet these medications — like all medications — have the potential for side effects. For GLP-1s, “The most commonly reported side effect is nausea, which feels like motion sickness or morning sickness,” says Dr. Sarah Fishman, M.D., a professor of medicine, endocrinology, diabetes, and bone disease at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. In clinical trials for GLP-1 agonists, nausea occurred in 15% to 30% of patients. That said, it shouldn’t last long — and there are ways to reduce it.

Fishman says nausea, and other G.I. side effects, are “often intermittent, mild, and short-lived.” They usually happen when you first begin taking the drug, a period when you are steadily increasing your dosage, or whenever you step up your dose. The nausea “usually resolves within a few days of the injection, and within a few weeks of longer-term use,” says Fishman.

If you’re not properly hydrated, you might experience more nausea, says Dr. Peter Vash, M.D., an endocrinologist and obesity medicine specialist based in Los Angeles.

Even though you may not feel like eating at all, try to have some bland, low-fat foods like crackers, toast, and rice.

Hydrate with the added anti-nausea powers of ginger by sipping ginger tea, a natural remedy.

Your doctor can prescribe ondansetron, which is often used to control nausea and vomiting, until your body adjusts.

While waves of nausea can be disconcerting or uncomfortable, know that it shouldn’t last more than a couple days. Fishman says, “Often enough, if the side effect is bad enough to call me, by the time I send in a prescription for the anti-nausea pill and the patient gets the medication from the pharmacy, the symptom has usually resolved.”

Learn about other GLP-1s side effects — and how to treat them