Finger Lakes Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Women say drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy helped them get pregnant. A doctor weighs in

In some cases, women who took semaglutide drugs like Ozempic say they  hadn’t been able to get pregnant even after infertility treatments. (Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images)
In some cases, women who took semaglutide drugs like Ozempic say they hadn’t been able to get pregnant even after infertility treatments. (Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images)

Social media has been buzzing recently with posts by women who say that after years of trying to get pregnant — some of them even going through infertility treatments — they conceived naturally in the months after taking popular diabetes and weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy.

Endocrinologists and obstetricians are starting to note the phenomenon as well. They say there may be two factors: Significant weight loss can reduce body inflammation and metabolic health, both important for pregnancy. There’s also some preliminary evidence that the semaglutide, or GLP-1 drugs, could reduce the effectiveness of birth control pills.

Host Robin Young checks in with Dr. Neha Lalani, an endocrinologist with Bluebonnet Diabetes and Endocrinology in West Lake, Texas.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.