GLP-1 Long-Term Effects: What Multi-Year Studies Show About Staying on These Medicines

A reader wrote to us last month with a question she said she was almost embarrassed to ask her own doctor: “I’ve been on this for two years and I feel fine. So why does everyone keep asking me when I’m going to stop?” She is not alone. As of January 2026, searches for glp-1 long term effects have climbed steadily since the four-year weight data from the SELECT cardiovascular trial were published, and again each time a new indication was added to the labels of semaglutide and tirzepatide.

The trending question has quietly shifted. A few years ago people wanted to know whether these injections worked. Now the first wave of users is reaching the three- and four-year mark, and the questions have become: what does staying on actually do to a body, and what happens if you step off?

This piece sorts the multi-year evidence from the viral noise, grades how strong each finding really is, and says plainly where the data run out.

What changed recently in glp-1 long term effects research

Three developments explain why this topic moved from diabetes clinics to dinner tables.

In November 2023, the SELECT trial reported results in the New England Journal of Medicine. It followed 17,604 adults with overweight or obesity and existing heart disease, but without diabetes, for an average of about 40 months. Weekly semaglutide reduced the combined risk of heart attack, stroke or cardiovascular death by 20 percent compared with placebo. That was the first time a weight-management GLP-1 medicine had shown a hard outcome benefit in people without diabetes, and it led the FDA to add cardiovascular risk reduction to the Wegovy label in March 2024.

In May 2024, the same trial’s four-year weight analysis appeared in Nature Medicine. Average weight loss settled at around 10 percent and held for the full four years, the longest randomized weight data yet published for this class.

Later in 2024 the FLOW trial, which followed people with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease for a median of 3.4 years, found a 24 percent reduction in major kidney outcomes with semaglutide. Tirzepatide (Zepbound) was approved in December 2024 for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea in adults with obesity, and in 2025 semaglutide gained an indication for a form of fatty liver disease known as MASH.

Each approval widened the group of people for whom long-term use is a reasonable medical goal rather than a short course. The Cleveland Clinic overview of GLP-1 agonists, and the Mayo Clinic guide to prescription weight-loss medicines, both now describe these as chronic-disease treatments, in the same category as blood pressure medicines. That framing is the real story behind the trend.

How GLP-1 medicines work, in plain language

GLP-1 stands for glucagon-like peptide-1, a hormone your gut releases after a meal. It nudges the pancreas to release insulin when sugar is rising, slows how fast the stomach empties, and signals the brain that you are full. The natural hormone lasts only minutes in the bloodstream.

GLP-1 receptor agonists are medicines built to mimic that hormone but survive for days. A receptor agonist is simply a substance that switches on the same cellular “lock” the natural hormone uses. Semaglutide (sold as Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for weight management) and liraglutide (Victoza, Saxenda) act on the GLP-1 receptor alone. Tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound) acts on the GLP-1 receptor plus a second gut-hormone receptor called GIP, which appears to add to its weight effect.

Understanding the mechanism makes the side-effect profile predictable. Slower stomach emptying explains nausea, fullness and reflux. Reduced appetite explains why people eat less without feeling deprived, and also why some lose interest in food in ways they did not expect. The receptors sit in the brain, gut, pancreas, heart and kidney, which is why the long-term story involves organs well beyond the bathroom scale.

One more concept matters for everything that follows. These medicines do not reset the body’s weight set-point permanently. They hold it down while present, roughly the way a statin holds cholesterol down while taken. The NHS semaglutide guidance makes this explicit: the medicine works for as long as it is being used. That single fact drives most of the debate about duration.

What the evidence actually says, graded by strength

Not all findings about glp-1 long term effects carry equal weight. Here is how to read them.

Strongest evidence: large randomized controlled trials lasting two to four years. A randomized trial assigns people to medicine or placebo by chance, so differences can be attributed to the drug. SELECT (semaglutide, about 3.3 years average), LEADER (liraglutide, 9,340 people with diabetes, median 3.8 years) and FLOW (semaglutide, 3.4 years) sit here. They show cardiovascular and kidney benefit, sustained weight reduction, and a consistent pattern of digestive side effects. They did not detect an increase in cancer, pancreatitis or psychiatric harm, though they were not designed to rule out rare events.

Moderate evidence: pooled analyses of trials and large observational cohorts. Observational data follow people who chose a treatment, so other differences can muddy the picture. Pooled trial data show a modest relative increase in gallbladder disease. Registry studies from Scandinavia examining thyroid cancer have been largely reassuring, but cannot settle a question about a rare tumor with a long latency.

Weakest evidence: case reports, pharmacovigilance signals and social media. Reports of stomach paralysis, bowel obstruction, hair thinning or mood changes are real experiences that regulators log, but a report cannot show cause. Several have prompted label updates as precautions.

What no study can yet answer: effects beyond roughly five years of continuous use, effects in adolescents who may take these for decades, and what repeated cycles of starting and stopping do over a lifetime. Honest clinicians say “we do not know” here, and so should magazines.

How many years of data do we really have?

It helps to separate three clocks.

The first is the class clock. Exenatide, the earliest GLP-1 agonist, was approved in 2005. Liraglutide followed in 2010. That gives about twenty years of real-world use in people with type 2 diabetes, with no late-emerging safety problem that forced withdrawal. Pharmacologists find this reassuring because many drug problems surface within the first decade of wide use.

The second is the molecule clock. Semaglutide for diabetes arrived in 2017, for weight management in 2021. Tirzepatide was approved in 2022 for diabetes and 2023 for weight. Their highest-dose weight-management use is therefore only a few years old outside trials, and those higher doses produce greater weight loss than the older diabetes doses ever did.

The third is the trial clock, which is the only one that comes with a placebo comparison. The longest randomized weight-management data run four years (SELECT). The longest cardiovascular outcome follow-up for the class is just under four years (LEADER). A planned extension and several ongoing dementia and heart-failure trials will push this toward five to seven years by the end of the decade.

So when someone says “we have no long-term data,” that is not accurate. When someone says “we have decades of data at the doses people now take for weight,” that is not accurate either. The truthful sentence is this: we have roughly four years of rigorous data and about two decades of less controlled experience, and the picture so far is consistent across both.

Is long-term use of GLP-1 bad for you? What the trials found

Put bluntly, the multi-year trials have found more benefit than harm for the people they enrolled. That sentence needs three qualifiers.

First, the benefit was measured in high-risk groups. SELECT enrolled people with established cardiovascular disease. LEADER and FLOW enrolled people with diabetes. A 32-year-old with a body mass index just over the weight-management threshold and no other conditions is a different patient, and no outcome trial has studied that person for four years. Weight and blood-pressure improvements in such a person are well documented; a reduction in heart attacks is extrapolated, not proven.

Second, “not bad for you” does not mean “free of cost to the body.” In SELECT, 16.6 percent of people on semaglutide stopped because of side effects, compared with 8.2 percent on placebo, and most of that gap was digestive. Over years, some people also report persistent fatigue or a flattened interest in food that affects social life. These are not dangerous in the medical sense, but they matter.

Third, the trials excluded people with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer or multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (a rare inherited tumor syndrome), and those conditions remain contraindications on every label.

Within those limits, the longest studies show stable kidney function, improved blood pressure and cholesterol, lower inflammation markers and fewer major cardiac events. Mayo Clinic’s guidance summarizes the trade-off as one that favors continued use when weight-related disease is present, with the proviso that the decision is revisited regularly with a prescriber.

GLP-1 side effects long term: what persists and what fades

Most side effects follow a predictable arc. Nausea, loose stools, constipation and bloating peak in the first weeks and after each dose step, then settle. In the trials, roughly one in ten to one in five people experienced each of these in year one, and the numbers were far lower by year two among those who stayed on. Slower stomach emptying also explains reflux and a feeling of fullness after small meals, which for some people never fully disappears.

Gallbladder disease is the clearest signal that persists. Rapid weight loss by any method raises the risk of gallstones, and pooled trial data show a relative increase of roughly a third with GLP-1 medicines compared with placebo. The absolute numbers are low, but the risk does not vanish after the first year.

Pancreatitis, inflammation of the pancreas, appears rarely in trials and at similar rates to placebo in most analyses. Labels still advise stopping and seeking care if severe abdominal pain develops, because the condition is serious when it does occur.

Postmarketing reports of gastroparesis (a stomach that empties very slowly) and bowel obstruction led to label updates in 2023. The frequency is unknown and believed to be low.

The thyroid boxed warning stems from tumors in rodents at high doses. Whether this applies to humans is unresolved; large cohort studies have not shown a clear increase, but follow-up is still short for a cancer that grows slowly.

Harvard Health’s review of GLP-1 side effects adds the cosmetic realities: facial volume loss and temporary hair shedding, both consequences of fast weight loss rather than the drug itself.

Muscle, bone and body composition over years

The viral claim that these medicines “melt muscle” deserves a precise answer, because the truth sits between alarm and dismissal.

When a body loses weight, it loses fat and lean tissue together. In the STEP 1 trial substudy using DXA scans (a low-dose X-ray that measures fat and lean mass), about 40 percent of the weight lost on semaglutide was lean mass. That proportion is similar to what happens with diet-based weight loss and after bariatric surgery. Lean mass includes muscle, but also water, organ tissue and the connective tissue that shrinks as fat is lost, so the figure overstates true muscle loss.

Two points temper the concern. First, people who carry excess weight generally have more muscle to begin with, so the ratio of muscle to body weight often improves even as absolute muscle declines. Second, the loss front-loads into the first year and then plateaus with weight.

What the evidence supports is unglamorous: resistance training two or more times a week and adequate protein across the day preserve muscle during any weight loss. Small trials pairing GLP-1 medicines with structured exercise found better muscle preservation and, notably, less weight regain after stopping.

Bone is a quieter question. Rapid weight loss reduces bone density modestly through reduced loading, and older adults, particularly postmenopausal women, are the group most worth watching. Trials have not shown an increase in fractures, but they were not powered to detect one over four years. A prescriber may reasonably consider bone health when planning long-term treatment for someone over 65.

Will I regain weight after stopping GLP-1? The honest numbers

Yes, most people regain much of it, and the best data say how much and how fast.

The STEP 1 extension study is the cleanest evidence. Participants took semaglutide for 68 weeks, lost about 17 percent of their body weight, then stopped the medicine and the lifestyle support. One year later they had regained roughly two-thirds of what they lost, settling at about 5.6 percent below their starting weight. Blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar improvements drifted back toward baseline alongside the weight.

SURMOUNT-4 tested tirzepatide. After 36 weeks everyone had lost about 21 percent. Half were then switched to placebo without knowing it. Over the following year that group regained about 14 percentage points, while the group that continued lost a further five. Nearly 90 percent of those who stopped had regained at least a quarter of their loss within the year.

These are averages, and the spread is wide. Some people in both trials held most of their loss; others returned fully to baseline. Predictors of better maintenance included continued physical activity and, in smaller studies, having done structured exercise during treatment.

Why does regain happen? The medicine suppresses appetite signals that the body has been generating all along. Remove it and those signals resume, often with the added pull of a body that defends its previous weight through hunger hormones. This is biology, not a failure of will.

None of this means stopping is wrong. It means stopping is a medical decision with predictable consequences, best planned with the clinician who prescribed the medicine rather than improvised.

Continuing versus stopping: a side-by-side summary of trial findings

The table below gathers the longest-running randomized comparisons into one view. Figures are trial averages, not predictions for any individual.

Trial (medicine)	How long	Continued treatment	Stopped or placebo
SELECT (semaglutide), adults with heart disease, no diabetes	About 4 years	Average 10% weight loss maintained; 20% fewer major cardiac events	Average 1.5% weight loss; higher event rate
STEP 1 extension (semaglutide)	68 weeks on, 52 weeks off	About 17% loss at end of treatment	Regained about two-thirds; net loss near 5.6%
SURMOUNT-4 (tirzepatide)	36 weeks on, then 52 weeks randomized	Further 5.5% loss; total near 25%	Regained about 14 percentage points
LEADER (liraglutide), adults with type 2 diabetes	Median 3.8 years	13% fewer major cardiac events; stable kidney function	Standard care only
FLOW (semaglutide), diabetes with kidney disease	Median 3.4 years	24% fewer major kidney outcomes	Standard care only

Reading across the rows, two patterns emerge. Benefits track with ongoing exposure, and they are largest in people who had the most to gain medically. The withdrawal studies also show that improvements in blood pressure and blood sugar erode with the weight, which is why clinicians increasingly describe interruption as a decision with cardiometabolic consequences rather than a cosmetic one.

What the table cannot show is quality of life. Some people in the continuation arms reported ongoing nausea or diminished enjoyment of food; some in the withdrawal arms reported relief. Both experiences are legitimate and belong in the conversation with a prescriber.

Heart, kidney, liver and brain: organ-level findings beyond weight

A medicine taken for years should earn its place by protecting organs, not just shrinking a number. Here the evidence is unusually strong for a weight treatment.

For the heart, SELECT and LEADER provide randomized proof of fewer heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular deaths over three to four years in high-risk adults. Intriguingly, the SELECT benefit appeared within months, before most of the weight had come off, which suggests effects on inflammation and blood vessels beyond weight itself. The American Heart Association now references GLP-1 therapy in its discussions of cardiometabolic risk.

For the kidney, FLOW showed slower decline in kidney function and fewer progressions to dialysis in people with diabetes and chronic kidney disease. Earlier trials had hinted at this through reduced protein in the urine.

For the liver, trials in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH, an inflamed fatty liver) showed resolution of inflammation in a meaningful proportion of people over 72 weeks, leading to the 2025 indication for semaglutide.

For the brain, the picture is early. Observational studies associate GLP-1 use with lower rates of dementia diagnosis, and two large randomized trials in early Alzheimer’s disease reported in 2025 without meeting their main goals. That is a clear example of a promising observational signal that did not survive a controlled test, at least in that population.

One ocular note belongs here. Observational data in 2024 linked semaglutide with a rare optic nerve condition called NAION, and European regulators in 2025 listed it as a very rare possible side effect. Sudden vision change on any of these medicines warrants urgent assessment.

How long can you stay on Ozempic? Is 2 years too long?

Two years is not too long by any evidence-based measure. It is, in fact, the point at which the clearest data begin.

Ozempic is approved for type 2 diabetes with no fixed treatment length, as is Wegovy for weight management and cardiovascular risk reduction. The labels, the NHS guidance and the Mayo Clinic patient guide all describe these as long-term medicines, reviewed periodically for benefit and tolerability. Nothing in the pharmacology suggests the body “wears out” its response; four-year trial participants kept their weight off without rising doses.

What does change over time is the risk-benefit calculation for each person, and that is where the question becomes individual. A clinician reviewing someone at the two-year mark will typically look at whether weight-related conditions have improved, whether side effects remain acceptable, whether muscle and bone are being protected, and whether the person’s goals have shifted. In the United Kingdom, specialist weight-management services have sometimes limited funded courses to two years, a decision driven by resource allocation rather than by safety data, and guidance there has been evolving.

The more useful framing is to ask what the medicine is treating. If it is managing obesity as a chronic disease that will otherwise return, duration follows the same logic as any chronic-disease medicine. If it was started for a defined goal that has been reached, a supervised reduction plan may be discussed, with the regain data from the previous sections in view.

Either way, the answer to “how long” is not a number from a magazine. It is a scheduled conversation with the person who holds the prescription pad.

Common myths about GLP-1 long term effects, corrected

Myth: “These medicines paralyze your stomach permanently.” Slowed stomach emptying is the intended mechanism and reverses when the medicine clears, usually within weeks. True gastroparesis has been reported but is rare, and most reports describe improvement after stopping under medical supervision.

Myth: “You lose muscle instead of fat.” Roughly 60 percent of lost weight is fat and 40 percent is lean tissue, a ratio similar to diet-based loss. Resistance training shifts that balance further toward fat.

Myth: “They cause thyroid cancer.” The warning comes from rodent studies. Human cohort data over more than a decade have not shown a clear increase, though the question remains open for very rare tumors. People with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer should not take them, and that is clearly stated on labels.

Myth: “Once you stop, you regain more than you lost.” The trials show regain toward, not beyond, the starting weight. Average participants were still below baseline a year after stopping.

Myth: “They cause suicidal thoughts.” Regulatory reviews by the FDA in January 2024 and the European Medicines Agency in April 2024 found no evidence of a causal link, and the large trials showed no increase in psychiatric events. Monitoring continues, and any new low mood is worth raising with a clinician regardless of cause.

Myth: “You can take them for a few months, then stop and keep the results.” This is the most expensive myth in human terms. The withdrawal trials are unambiguous that short courses followed by stopping produce most of the side effects and little of the lasting benefit.

Each correction above rests on randomized or large cohort data; none rests on anecdote.

What I wish I knew before starting a GLP-1: lessons from the data

The phrase people type into search engines, “what I wish I knew before starting GLP-1,” usually hides a few predictable regrets. The evidence anticipates most of them.

The first is that this is a decision about years, not months. People who start thinking of it as a short reset are the ones most surprised by the regain data. Going in with the understanding that obesity is treated like other chronic conditions reshapes every later choice.

The second is that the first three months are the hardest and the least representative. Side effects peak early, weight loss is just beginning, and eating patterns are in flux. Those who stayed in the trials past month four generally reported tolerable side effects thereafter.

The third is that food becomes quieter. Many people describe relief from constant food thoughts, which researchers call “food noise.” A minority describe the opposite: cooking and sharing meals losing their pleasure. Neither reaction is wrong, but knowing both are possible helps.

The fourth is that the medicine does not do the strength work. Everyone who preserved muscle in the exercise substudies lifted something regularly. Protein-rich meals, hydration and fiber also reduce the digestive complaints that drive people to quit.

The fifth is that alcohol often loses its appeal, a finding now being tested in formal trials for alcohol use disorder.

And the sixth is procedural: find out in advance how the prescriber plans to review you, how often, and what would prompt a change. Long-term medicines go better with a long-term plan, and that plan belongs on paper, not in a hallway conversation.

Compounded and online versions: what the evidence does not cover

Every finding in this article comes from trials of FDA-approved products made by the original manufacturers. That matters when people ask whether the long-term data apply to the versions circulating online.

Compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide are preparations mixed by pharmacies rather than manufactured under the approval that applies to Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro or Zepbound. The FDA permitted compounding of these molecules only while the approved products were in shortage. The FDA declared the tirzepatide shortage resolved in December 2024 and the semaglutide shortage resolved in February 2025, after which routine compounding of these products was no longer permitted outside narrow patient-specific exceptions. Compounded products are not FDA-approved, have not been tested in any of the multi-year trials described here, and the FDA has issued warnings about dosing errors and unverified ingredients linked to them.

Products marketed as “research peptides” or “not for human use” occupy a different category entirely. They are unapproved, unregulated for human consumption, and not for sale for self-treatment. No safety or long-term data exist for them in people.

Why does this belong in a piece about long-term effects? Because the reassurance offered by four years of trial data depends on the medicine being the medicine studied. Variability in strength, purity or contamination removes that reassurance completely.

Anyone currently using a non-approved version and wondering what the trial evidence means for them should raise it with a clinician rather than assume equivalence. That conversation is also the right place to discuss transitioning, since abrupt changes between products carry their own risks.

When to see a doctor: red flags and routine check-ins

Most people on these medicines need nothing more than scheduled reviews. A few symptoms need the same-day attention of a clinician or emergency services, and they are worth memorizing.

• Severe, persistent abdominal pain, especially radiating to the back, with or without vomiting. This can signal pancreatitis.
• Pain in the upper right abdomen, fever, yellowing of the skin or eyes, or pale stools. These suggest gallbladder or bile duct problems.
• Vomiting that will not stop, inability to keep fluids down, or signs of dehydration such as dizziness and very dark urine.
• A lump or swelling in the neck, hoarseness that does not settle, or trouble swallowing.
• Sudden loss of vision or a dark patch in one eye.
• Shaking, sweating, confusion or faintness in someone who also takes insulin or a sulfonylurea, which can indicate low blood sugar.
• New or worsening low mood, or any thoughts of self-harm.
• Swelling of the face, lips or throat, or difficulty breathing, which may indicate an allergic reaction.

Beyond emergencies, the NHS and MedlinePlus guidance both recommend routine review. Reasonable points to raise at a scheduled visit include digestive symptoms lasting more than a few weeks, unintended rapid weight loss, loss of strength or balance in older adults, planned pregnancy (these medicines are stopped well in advance of conception under medical direction), upcoming surgery requiring anesthesia, and any decision about pausing or ending treatment.

None of the evidence in this article replaces that review. The trials tell us what happens on average to thousands of people. Only a clinician who knows your history, your other medicines and your goals can say what it means for you, and every decision about starting, continuing or stopping belongs with that person.

Frequently asked questions

Is long-term use of GLP-1 bad for you?

The multi-year trials have not found new serious harms from continued use, and in high-risk adults they show fewer heart attacks, strokes and kidney complications. Known risks persist: digestive side effects, gallbladder disease and rare pancreatitis. Data run to about four years, so effects beyond that are unknown. Whether long-term use suits you depends on your health conditions and tolerance, and that judgment belongs with your prescribing clinician.

Will I regain weight after stopping GLP-1?

Most people regain much of it. In the STEP 1 extension, participants regained about two-thirds of their lost weight within a year of stopping semaglutide, and in SURMOUNT-4 those switched from tirzepatide to placebo regained about 14 percentage points in a year. Individuals varied widely, and continued exercise predicted better maintenance. Any plan to stop should be made with the prescriber, not improvised.

Is 2 years too long to be on Ozempic?

No evidence suggests two years is too long. Ozempic and Wegovy are approved without a fixed treatment length, and trial participants have taken semaglutide for four years with stable results. The two-year mark is a sensible point for a structured review of benefit, side effects, muscle and bone health, and goals. How long to continue is a decision for you and your prescribing clinician together.

What are the glp-1 side effects long term that actually persist?

Digestive effects such as nausea and reflux usually fade after the first months, though a feeling of early fullness can linger. Gallbladder disease risk remains modestly elevated as long as weight is being lost. Rare reports of very slow stomach emptying and bowel obstruction exist but their frequency is unknown. Cosmetic changes like facial volume loss reflect weight loss itself. Report persistent symptoms to your clinician.

What do people wish they knew before starting a GLP-1?

The most common lessons are that this is a long-term treatment rather than a short course, that the first three months are the hardest and least representative, that resistance training is needed to protect muscle, and that interest in food and alcohol often changes. Many also wish they had agreed a review schedule with their prescriber at the outset, including what would prompt any change.

How long can you stay on a GLP-1 medicine safely?

There is no evidence-based upper limit. Randomized trials have followed people for up to about four years on semaglutide and nearly four on liraglutide without a late-emerging safety problem, and the class has been in use for diabetes since 2005. Beyond those timeframes the honest answer is that data do not yet exist. Duration is decided through periodic review with the prescribing clinician.

Do GLP-1 medicines cause muscle loss?

They cause the same kind of lean-tissue loss that accompanies any substantial weight loss. In the STEP 1 scan substudy about 40 percent of weight lost was lean mass, a figure that includes water and connective tissue as well as muscle. Regular resistance training and adequate protein shift the balance toward fat loss, and small trials show better muscle preservation and less regain when exercise is combined with treatment.

Does stopping a GLP-1 reverse the heart and kidney benefits?

The withdrawal studies show that blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar improvements drift back toward baseline as weight returns, which suggests the protective effects depend on ongoing treatment. No trial has directly measured heart attack rates after stopping. Because the SELECT benefit appeared early and before most weight loss, some effect may be independent of weight, but this remains under study. Discuss any pause with your clinician.

Is there a thyroid cancer risk with long-term GLP-1 use?

The boxed warning comes from thyroid tumors in rodents at high doses. Human cohort studies spanning more than a decade have not shown a clear increase in medullary thyroid cancer, but the condition is rare and slow-growing, so the question is not fully closed. These medicines are not prescribed to people with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer or multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2.

Do the long-term safety data apply to compounded GLP-1 products?

No. All multi-year trial evidence comes from FDA-approved products made by the original manufacturers. Compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide are not FDA-approved, were not studied in these trials, and routine compounding was no longer permitted after the FDA declared the shortages resolved in late 2024 and early 2025. Products sold as research peptides are unapproved and not for human use. Raise any such use with a clinician.

References

• NHS: Semaglutide
• Cleveland Clinic: GLP-1 Agonists

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.