Medications

Saxenda (Liraglutide)

  • Saxenda is in the class of GLP-1 receptor agonists.
    It is 97% similar to the naturally produced gut hormone GLP-1, a physiological regulator of appetite.

  • GLP-1 is released in your body after eating.
    Like the natural hormone, it helps to control your appetite, making you feel fuller and less hungry.

  • It is a once daily injection underneath your skin.

  • You start from a dose of 0.6mg and increase by 0.6mg every week to 3.0mg.

Saxenda can be for you, if you:

  • Feel hungry soon after you have a meal

  • Have type 2 diabetes

You may consider other options if you:

  • Have history of pancreatitis

Common side effects may include:

  • Nausea, vomiting, reflux, change in bowel habit, abdominal pain, injection site reaction, headaches, fatigue, dizziness

Contrave (Naltrexone/Bupropion)

  • Contrave combines 2 medications (naltrexone/bupropion) together. Both medications have been used in the past for many years to treat depression, smoking cessation, and addictions. When combined, it helps you reduce your hunger and control cravings, helping you to lose weight.

  •  It comes in a tablet form with a slow dose increase from 1 tablet daily to 4 tablets daily divided into morning and evening doses.

Contrave can be for you, if you:

  • Have a particularly sweet tooth, or suffer from emotional/stress-related eating behaviours including binge-eating

  • Would like to give up smoking at the same time

  • Want to try a pill rather than an injection

You may consider other options if you:

  • Have uncontrolled high blood pressure

  • Have a history of seizures

  • Have a personal/family history of glaucoma, a condition in the eye where you have high eye pressures

  • Have bipolar disorder

  • Alcohol/drug withdrawal

  • If you take opioid pain-killers

Please Note:

FAQs

  • The average amount of weight lost for the current medications available in NZ is around 8% of your current weight. However, it is important to note that some patients can lose 5%, while others can lose up to 15%. This effect is not entirely predictable. What is known is that medications should be viewed as a tool. A tool to assist lifestyle changes. If you incorporate lifestyle changes, you will be able to lose more weight. Continued medical therapy will help you to maintain that weight loss for sustainable treatment. When combined with VLCD (very low calorie diet), 10-15% of weight loss is definitely achievable for most patients.

  • This is a difficult question that is difficult to answer. There is still work to be done in this field, but it seems that certain obesity profiles suit certain medications better than others. We will consider potential cost of treatment, presence of other medical problems, side effects, and personal preference.

  • If your initial choice of treatment is not helpful, you should try a different medication. We still do not understand why some patients lose more weight than average (super-responders) and why some people do not lose much weight.

  • Most side effects with anti-obesity medications will eventually fade away as your body adjusts to the effects of medications. It is important to discuss with us if you have any side effects of treatment. We can talk about ways to improve side effects and discuss continuing treatment or not. If you find the side effects persist 2-3 months after treatment, you may consider alternative treatment.

  • Once you stop medical treatment, you will gain weight again. Currently, medications that are used to treat obesity are non-funded and we understand that they can be a significant financial burden. We can discuss strategies to minimise weight re-gain after stopping/reducing treatment.

  • Unfortunately, under current New Zealand guidelines, we are unable to provide medications if your BMI is less than 25. Patients between the BMI range 25 – 27.5 may be considered for treatment depending on their medical problems and clinical picture. Weight loss medications should not be used if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or currently breastfeeding.

Off-label usage of anti-obesity medications

  • Metformin

  • Topiramate

  • Others

  • These will be further discussed with you in the consultation

Future exciting anti-obesity medications

  • There are promising new medications on the horizon for patients suffering from obesity. We hope that soon, these medications will be available and hopefully funded in NZ. These upcoming medications have 15-20% of weight loss potential

  • We are looking forward to sharing exciting news with you once these medications are available in New Zealand.

Our treatment options