Valley Medical Weight Loss and Med Spa is a medical spa, but we provide physician-supervised health and aesthetic solutions. This is a defining difference when speaking of your health and safety. Let’s dive into why you shouldn’t purchase your Semaglutide from a med spa that doesn’t provide you with direct access to a physician.
Semaglutide Isn’t Right For Everyone
Semaglutide has emerged as a promising weight loss and weight maintenance solution. Patients are losing as much as 15 to 20 percent of their body weight! That said, it isn’t right for everyone. Like all prescriptions, your current health must be properly assessed to ensure you’re an ideal candidate. If you’re a candidate, side effects and your ongoing health must be monitored closely.
For example, about 20% of patients experience nausea with this prescription. For most, symptoms are mild, and they fade as their body adjusts. However, fewer than 10% experience ongoing nausea and vomiting. If you’re one of these few, it may not be the right weight loss path for you.
If Semaglutide isn’t right for you, we can advise on a variety of safe and effective medically supervised alternatives.
What does medically supervised mean?
Our weight loss programs aren’t mere diets. In fact, diets don’t work! Valley Medical personalizes our programs based on scientifically proven weight loss techniques. We’re with you every step of the way.
Let’s explore the top 5 risks of getting your weekly injection from a spa that only specializes in aesthetics.
Risk #1 Unsupervised Administration and Hospitalization
Med spas that only offer aesthetic treatments often lack the necessary credentials and expertise for safe administration. This is evident in the 1,500% increase in calls to poison control for weight loss injections and increased emergency room visits!
The overwhelming majority of these calls and emergency room visits aren’t life-threatening and are related to the side effects of improper dosing—including overdose. Unlike most prescriptions, this GLP-1 receptor requires tiered dosing. Valley Medical begins with .25 milligrams per week, and we don’t increase the dose without physician approval. This is typically around 4 weeks. We gradually increase the does to 2.4 milligrams per week.
If you purchase your Semaglutide from a med spa that doesn’t have a physician, they may increase your dose too fast for your body.
At Valley Medical, patient safety comes first. We monitor your dosing and are here for you when questions and concerns arise.
Risk #2 It Might Not Be Semaglutide
While Semaglutide costs significantly less than Ozempic, you must be wary of prices that are too good to be true—as they may be knockoffs. You may have heard of Ozempic’s Novo Nordic suing medical spas and pharmacies in the news.
This is because some are creating:
Unregulated copycat products
Impure products
Custom formulations
This means that you don’t know what you’re getting. Knockoffs may not have the same active ingredients and may not be safe. Since you don’t know what’s in them, you could have a severely adverse reaction to the ingredients.
When you purchase from Valley Medical Weight Loss and Med Spa, you’re ensured:
- Regulatory Compliance: Our products are formulated in FDA-approved facilities with the stringent oversight necessary to guarantee medication authenticity.
- Provenance Verification: A transparent chain of custody from the manufacturer to us and on to you.
- Quality Assurance: Rigorous quality control that meets medical standards.
- Proper Storage Protocol: Storage that ensures the medication's effectiveness and safety.
Risk #3 Adverse Drug Interactions
Semaglutide currently has potential drug interactions with 250 other prescriptions and over-the-counter medications. This includes some asthma medications and non-prescription medications including aspirin and products for colds, coughs, and sinus problems. This GLP-1 receptor also has an adverse effect with alcohol, potentially increasing your risk for hypoglycemia.
In a misguided effort to accelerate weight loss, those who go it alone may continue with over-the-counter weight loss medications. This is an instance where more is not better. You could make yourself extremely sick taking multiple weight loss products at once without proper monitoring.
With physician guidance, drug interactions are monitored.
#4 Travel and Missed Dose Oversight
Another reason not to get Semaglutide from a med spa that doesn’t offer medical supervision is to ensure the proper management of missed doses. This weight loss injectable is designed to be taken once per week, on the same day every week. It has a half-life of around 5 days. For optimal results, it must be taken every 7 days.
Delayed dosing should be an exception, not a rule. If you can’t make it in on your regular day, you can take it up to 5 days later. More than 5 days, and you should wait until next week. If you can’t commit to your injection schedule, we may suggest medically supervised alternatives that have a bit more flexibility. Med spas without a physician may not stress the importance of consistency.
If you miss more than 2 weeks, a med spa may not know to consider decreasing your dose. If you miss a month or more, they may not consider starting you back at .25 milligrams.
Can I ever skip a week of Semaglutide?
Yes! An occasional missed dose, maybe while on a 1-week vacation, is ok. However, you may need to adjust the date of your dose before and/or after your vacation to ensure that you don’t go for more than 1 week.
Either way, your adjusted schedule needs to be carefully managed, which is why you should purchase your Semaglutide from a med spa with a physician.
#5 A Generic Approach to Weight Loss
While a generic approach to losing weight may not be dangerous, it’s not as effective as working with a physician who specializes in weight loss. Even most primary care physicians can only provide generic weight loss advice.
At Valley Medical, we tailor your weight loss program to your health, lifestyle, and weight loss objectives. This might include Semaglutide, might not include a GLP-1 receptor, and may include a personalized combination of evidence-based strategies.
Med spas that don’t have a physician and don’t specialize in evidence-based strategies don’t provide personalized solutions.
- If you plateau, they won’t know what to suggest next.
- If Semaglutide isn’t right from the beginning, they may not notice.
- If it’s right at first, but not ongoing—they may not know to suggest an evidence-based alternative.
- They may not be aware of or have access to other evidence-based alternatives.
Valley Medical Offers Evidence-Based Weight Loss and Aesthetic Services
We totally get it! You’re busy and heading in for a weekly injection isn’t always convenient. So, you might consider your current med spa to save time. But the time you save isn’t worth the risks above—or the others that come with a lack of physician supervision.
As a med spa and weight loss expert, we have nurse practitioners and physicians. This empowers you to achieve both your health and aesthetic objectives without compromising your health or safety. Often with faster and improved results than purchasing Semaglutide from a med spa without a physician!
At Valley Medical:
- If your initial consultation determines that Semaglutide is right for you, and it’s all you want—we aim to get you in and out of the office for your weekly injections in 20 minutes or less.
- If you want a comprehensive program to accelerate your weight loss and optimize your body from the inside out—we have both weekly and monthly weight loss programs.
- If you want to address the aesthetic side effects of weight loss or accelerate your weight loss with targeted fat reduction—we have a variety of fat-blasting and skin-tightening aesthetic solutions.
- If you want to discuss non-surgical cosmetic treatments to tighten, tone, smooth, plump, and address a range of rejuvenating skincare and beauty objectives—we’re always adding to our service range.
Purchase Your Semaglutide From a Med Spa With a Supervising Physician!
Valley Medical Weight Loss and Med Spa has 3 convenient locations in Phoenix, Glendale, and Tempe. We need a bit more time for your initial consultation, then we aim to get you in and out quickly for your weekly weight loss injections.
Reach out today to schedule your first appointment!
