Some symptoms skip this page — get care now
The prescribing information tells patients and clinicians to watch for a few serious conditions. Do not manage these at home:
- Severe or persistent stomach pain, sometimes spreading to the back, with or without vomiting — a possible sign of pancreatitis.
- Pain in the upper right belly, fever, or yellowing of the skin or eyes — possible gallbladder disease, which weight loss itself makes more likely.
- Swelling of the face or throat, trouble breathing or swallowing, severe rash — signs of a serious allergic reaction. This one is 911, not a phone call.
- Unable to keep any fluids down — dehydration on these medications has caused acute kidney injury.
- Vision changes, if you have diabetes — report them promptly.
This is education, not medical advice
The incidence numbers here come from the semaglutide (Wegovy) trials; tirzepatide and other GLP-1 medications have broadly similar digestive side effects, but your medication's own patient information is the authority for your prescription. Nothing on this page replaces your prescriber — it is meant to make the conversation with them easier.
Sources
- Wegovy (semaglutide) Prescribing Information: Adverse Reactions and Warnings and Precautions. Novo Nordisk. Current label at DailyMed. Source of every incidence percentage on this page (adult adverse-reactions table) and of the warnings on pancreatitis, gallbladder disease, allergic reactions, dehydration-related kidney injury, and diabetic retinopathy.
- Mozaffarian D, et al. Nutritional priorities to support GLP-1 therapy for obesity: a joint Advisory from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the American Society for Nutrition, the Obesity Medicine Association, and The Obesity Society. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2025;122:344–367. Full text. Source of the management guidance: small meals every 3–4 hours, limiting fatty and high-fiber foods early on, fluids between meals, prunes and high-water foods for constipation, fiber supplements and stool softeners, anti-diarrheal options, alcohol worsening nausea and reflux, and nutrient adequacy for hair and energy.
- Wilding JPH, Batterham RL, Calanna S, et al. Once-weekly semaglutide in adults with overweight or obesity (STEP 1). New England Journal of Medicine. 2021;384(11):989–1002. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2032183. The trial program behind the label's adverse-reaction table; gastrointestinal events were mostly mild-to-moderate and clustered around dose escalation.
- Jastreboff AM, Aronne LJ, Ahmad NN, et al. Tirzepatide once weekly for the treatment of obesity (SURMOUNT-1). New England Journal of Medicine. 2022;387(3):205–216. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2206038. Tirzepatide's side-effect profile: the same gastrointestinal events led, also mostly mild-to-moderate and during dose escalation.