What are Zepbound side effects? What's normal, what's not

These bars show Table 1 of the Zepbound prescribing label’s weight-loss trials. Each row compares placebo with the labeled trial groups. Dose names identify groups in a study; they are not advice about what to take. Every bar uses the same scale.

A trial percentage is not your personal chance of a symptom. Use the table to ask your prescriber what to expect and what to report. The label’s most common list means effects reported in 5% or more of patients, not a promise that everyone will get them.

The Zepbound label lists nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, stomach pain and indigestion. It also lists injection-site reactions, tiredness, allergic reactions, burping, hair loss and acid reflux. Those are label facts, not a diagnosis of a new symptom.

Common GI effects and warning signs need different conversations. Do not decide a symptom is harmless just because it appears in a list. Ask your prescriber what to do, how to contact them and when urgent help is needed. Serious allergic symptoms or immediate danger call for urgent medical help.

The label says nausea, diarrhea and vomiting happened more during dose increases and went down over time. It reports severe stomach or gut effects in 1.7%, 2.5% and 3.1% of the 5 mg, 10 mg and 15 mg groups, versus 1% with placebo.

That does not mean “just push through.” Tell your prescriber about symptoms and follow their plan. This page gives no dosing advice. A trial trend cannot tell you whether to start, stop or change a medicine.

The label’s boxed warning says tirzepatide caused thyroid C-cell tumors in rats. It is unknown whether Zepbound does this in humans. Do not use it with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) or MEN 2. Tell your prescriber about that history.

Other label warnings include pancreatitis, gallbladder disease, serious allergic reactions and kidney injury from dehydration caused by vomiting or diarrhea. The label warns about low blood sugar with insulin or certain diabetes pills, diabetic eye problems in people with type 2 diabetes, and watching for depression or suicidal thoughts.

Ask about severe stomach pain that will not go away, allergic symptoms, dehydration, or a neck lump or swelling, hoarseness or trouble swallowing. These are reasons for prompt medical contact, not a test you must pass before asking for help.

Zepbound slows stomach emptying, as MedlinePlus describes for tirzepatide. The prescribing label warns about breathing food or liquid into the lungs during anesthesia or deep sedation. Tell every provider about planned surgery or procedures and about Zepbound.

Do not make your own stop-or-restart schedule from this page. Your prescriber and procedure team need to give you a plan. Bring this question up while planning, not only when you arrive.

The label says people using birth control pills should switch to a non-pill method or add a barrier method for 4 weeks after starting and for 4 weeks after each dose increase. Non-oral hormonal birth control is not affected. Talk to your prescriber about this label instruction and your method.

The label reports 4.8%, 6.3% and 6.7% stopping because of side effects in the three trial groups, versus 3.4% with placebo. Most who stopped did so in the first few months because of stomach or gut effects.

Separately, KFF’s Oct–Nov 2025 poll found that 13% of people who ever used GLP-1 drugs stopped because of side effects. That covers GLP-1 ever-users, not only Zepbound. Different groups and methods mean these figures should not be treated as one result. Zepbound side effects are a conversation to keep open with your prescriber.