Jardiance
Does Jardiance Cause Weight Loss? Plus 5 More Jardiance FAQs
Jardiance (empagliflozin) isn’t approved for weight loss. But it may help you lose weight as a side effect. Most studies show an average weight loss of about 4 to 5 pounds after 6 months of taking it.
Jardiance starts working to lower blood sugar (blood glucose) right away. But you need to take it long term to get the full benefits, such as lowering the risk of cardiovascular death if you also have heart or kidney disease.
It’s best to take Jardiance once a day in the morning. Taking Jardiance at night can cause you to get up to pee while you’re asleep. You can take it with or without food. But it’s important to drink enough fluids during the day to stay hydrated.
There are ways to save on Jardiance. If you’re eligible, a manufacturer savings card can help you get Jardiance for as little as $10 per month. A patient assistance program is also available.
It’s natural to have questions about your medications. Whether it’s something brand new or one you’ve been taking for years, it’s important to feel confident about your treatment.
If you’ve been prescribed Jardiance (empagliflozin) for Type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, or heart failure, you might be looking for information beyond just the basics. For instance, will Jardiance cause weight loss? And how long does it take to start working for diabetes? Below, you’ll find answers to these and other common questions about taking Jardiance.
Yes, Jardiance may help you lose a little bit of weight. Studies show a weight loss of about 4 lbs to 6 lbs after 6 months.
But how does Jardiance cause weight loss? Well, it removes extra sugar (glucose) from your bloodstream. Your body loses these calories through urine, so less energy is available to be stored as fat. Over time, this can result in weight loss. Jardiance may also help your body burn some of your stored fat.
Factors like diet, exercise, and other medications can affect weight loss with Jardiance. For example, people taking both Jardiance and metformin may lose more weight than those taking Jardiance alone (more on this below).
Combining Jardiance with a diabetes-friendly diet seems to boost weight loss even more. In one study, people taking Jardiance were able to lose an average of more than 12 pounds within about 6 months when they combined it with dietary changes.
This is all good news if you’re worried about potential weight gain with diabetes medications. But keep in mind that Jardiance is not a weight-loss medication. There are also other diabetes medications, such as Ozempic (semaglutide), that typically cause more weight loss than Jardiance.
If your diabetes treatment goals include losing weight, talk to a healthcare professional about what an ideal weight looks like for you. They’ll likely suggest diet and exercise changes for you to try. But they may also suggest adding or switching to a weight-loss medication that can help you lose more weight.
Jardiance will start working to lower blood sugar right away. But it may take months to years to see all the benefits. Here’s what you can expect.
Jardiance is a type of medication called a sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitor. It works in your kidneys to help your body get rid of excess sugar. The extra sugar leaves your body through your urine.
Within the first day of taking Jardiance, your kidneys will begin removing sugar from your body. And you may see lower numbers when checking your blood sugar at home within the first few weeks.
But it will take about 3 months to see a change to your hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C or A1C) test. This is a blood test that represents your average blood sugar over the last 3 months. Jardiance may help lower your A1C by about 1%.
What’s it like to take Jardiance? Three people share their Jardiance (empagliflozin) stories.
Does Jardiance have a generic? Not yet, but there are still ways to save. Here are some pharmacist-backed tips to save on Jardiance.
What about side effects? It’s common to urinate more than usual while taking Jardiance. Read more about common and rare side effects.
Some people may continue to see additional drops in their blood sugar for up to a year after starting Jardiance.
You may start to notice some weight loss around 6 weeks after starting Jardiance. This initial weight loss is primarily because the kidneys are pulling extra water from the body in addition to sugar.
But as time goes on, the amount of body fat can also decrease, leading to further weight loss. This happens gradually over about 6 months.
In addition to lowering blood sugar, Jardiance can also lower blood pressure. Studies showed positive effects on blood pressure after about 3 months.
Jardiance can also lower the risk of cardiovascular death for people who have Type 2 diabetes and heart disease (or risks for heart disease). These heart benefits were seen in studies right after people started the medication and continued long term.
Jardiance also helps lower the risk of hospitalizations and death from heart failure. In fact, the medication is FDA-approved to treat heart failure, both for people who have Type 2 diabetes and those who don’t. Heart failure benefits were seen in studies as soon as people started taking Jardiance and continued long term.
Jardiance can also help protect the kidneys if you have chronic kidney disease. It’s approved to lower the risk of kidney failure, cardiovascular death, and hospitalization in this group. It can also slow the worsening of kidney function. But it takes much longer to see these benefits than those discussed above.
In studies, people taking Jardiance began seeing kidney benefits about 1 year after starting it. And the longer people took it, the greater the benefits became.
It’s best to take Jardiance once a day in the morning, around the same time each day. Taking Jardiance at night doesn’t change how well it works. But it could make a certain side effect more frustrating. One of its most common side effects is having to urinate more. Taking your doses in the morning can help prevent you from needing to get up to pee in the middle of the night.
If you forget your morning dose, take it as soon as you remember later in the day. However, if it’s evening or almost time for your next dose, skip your missed dose. You can resume your normal schedule for your next dose. Don’t take extra medication to make up for missed doses.
Most likely, yes. Jardiance is a long-term medication. It doesn’t cure diabetes, but it can help you manage the condition. Diabetes is a chronic (long-term) condition, and many people need to take medication for life.
Your prescriber can help you decide which diabetes medication(s) are best for you. These might include oral or injectable medications. And sometimes, people need more than one type of treatment.
Similarly, heart failure and kidney disease are chronic conditions. Typically, one or more lifelong medications are required to help lower the risk of complications and death. So if you’re taking Jardiance for heart failure or kidney disease, you’ll likely continue taking it long term. Discuss which treatments would be best for you with your healthcare team.
Yes, when taken as prescribed, Jardiance is a safe medication for most people. Serious side effects are rare.
But people with certain health conditions may need additional monitoring or need to avoid taking Jardiance. Talk to a healthcare professional before taking Jardiance if you:
Have Type 1 diabetes
Are allergic to any of the active or inactive ingredients in Jardiance
Are allergic to another SGLT2 inhibitor
Are prone to urinary tract infections (both men and women)
Are prone to yeast infections (both men and women)
Are pregnant or breastfeeding
Yes, it’s safe to take Jardiance with metformin. In fact, they come combined in one pill called Synjardy.
Jardiance and metformin work differently to help lower blood sugar. They don’t interact with each other. It’s common for people to add Jardiance if metformin isn’t working well enough on its own. You may also take both if you have both diabetes and heart failure or kidney disease.
There are ways to save on Jardiance, which is available as a brand-name medication. GoodRx can help you navigate between copay savings cards and patient assistance programs to save money on your prescription.
Save with a copay savings card. If you have commercial insurance, you may be eligible to pay as little as $10 a month for Jardiance using a savings card from the manufacturer.
Save with patient assistance programs. If you’re uninsured or underinsured, you may be eligible for Jardiance’s patient assistance program, which offers the medication free of cost.
Jardiance is an SGLT2 inhibitor. Ozempic (semaglutide) is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist. They work in different ways to help lower your blood sugar. They also come in different dosage forms. Jardiance is an oral tablet, and Ozempic is an injection. Both Jardiance and Ozempic have heart and kidney benefits for certain people. But Ozempic tends to cause more weight loss than Jardiance.
It takes your body about 12 hours to remove half of your Jardiance dose from your system. But there may be small amounts of medication present in your body for about 2 to 3 days after your last dose. That’s why it’s recommended to stop Jardiance at least 3 days before certain surgical procedures.
No, there’s no generic version for Jardiance yet. It’s possible that the first generic empagliflozin may launch later in 2025.
Jardiance is an SGLT2 inhibitor. Ozempic (semaglutide) is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist. They work in different ways to help lower your blood sugar. They also come in different dosage forms. Jardiance is an oral tablet, and Ozempic is an injection. Both Jardiance and Ozempic have heart and kidney benefits for certain people. But Ozempic tends to cause more weight loss than Jardiance.
It takes your body about 12 hours to remove half of your Jardiance dose from your system. But there may be small amounts of medication present in your body for about 2 to 3 days after your last dose. That’s why it’s recommended to stop Jardiance at least 3 days before certain surgical procedures.
No, there’s no generic version for Jardiance yet. It’s possible that the first generic empagliflozin may launch later in 2025.
Jardiance (empagliflozin) is an oral medication that can help treat Type 2 diabetes, heart failure, and kidney disease. It’s not a weight-loss medication, but many people lose about 4 to 6 pounds after taking Jardiance for 6 months. Although it starts working to lower blood sugar (blood glucose) right away, you need to take it long term to get the full benefits.
While Jardiance is safe for most people to take, there are certain people who may need to avoid it. Discuss whether Jardiance is right for you with your healthcare team.
Anker, S. D., et al. (2021). Empagliflozin in heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction. The New England Journal of Medicine.
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Kadowaki, T., et al. (2015). Efficacy and safety of empagliflozin monotherapy for 52 weeks in Japanese patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A randomized, double-blind, parallel-group study. Advances in Therapy.
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Ribola, F. A., et al. (2017). Effects of SGLT2 inhibitors on weight loss in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences.
Sergeant, J. A., et al. (2022). The effects of empagliflozin, dietary energy restriction, or both on appetite-regulatory gut peptides in individuals with type 2 diabetes and overweight or obesity: The SEESAW randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism.
The EMPA-KIDNEY Collaborative Group. (2022). Empagliflozin in patients with chronic kidney disease. The New England Journal of Medicine.
Tikkanen, I., et al. (2014). Empagliflozin reduces blood pressure in patients with Type 2 Diabetes and hypertension. Diabetes Care.
Zimmerman, J. (2016). Empagliflozin (Jardiance) for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. American Family Physician.
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