Editor’s note: This article was updated on October 1, 2026 to reflect our current prescribing policies.
Peptide medications are behind some of the most significant advances in medicine in the past decade. Here’s what they are, which ones we prescribe at Eura Health, and how to know whether one might fit.
They now play a role in weight and metabolic health, body composition, sexual health, and a handful of conditions that used to have very few good options.
The useful question was never “should I try peptides.” It’s which one, for what, and whether you’re a good candidate. Here’s how we think about that.
What a Peptide Actually Is
A peptide is a short chain of amino acids — the same building blocks your body uses to make every protein in your body. Your body makes thousands of them, and they work as messengers: telling your pancreas to release insulin, telling your brain you’re full, telling tissue to repair itself.
Worth knowing: “peptide” describes a molecule’s shape, not its quality. Insulin is a peptide. So is a medication for chronic constipation, and one for osteoporosis, and the weight loss injections everyone is talking about.
So “peptide therapy” isn’t one treatment. It’s a large and ordinary part of modern pharmacology, which is why the question that actually matters is whether this specific medication fits this specific thing you want to change.
What We Prescribe
For Weight and Metabolic Health
Semaglutide and tirzepatide — the medications you may know as Wegovy, Ozempic, Zepbound, and Mounjaro — are the most effective tools we’ve ever had for weight and metabolic health, including type 2 diabetes. Both are peptides.
They work by mimicking hormones your gut already produces after a meal, which slows digestion and reduces appetite. In the trial that led to semaglutide’s approval, participants lost about 15% of their body weight over 68 weeks; the equivalent tirzepatide trial found 15% to 21% over 72 weeks, depending on dose. Both were alongside changes in eating and activity.
Many patients also describe something the trials weren’t designed to measure — a quieting of the constant mental background noise about food. Researchers have started calling it “food noise,” but the term is new and the tools to measure it are newer, so take it as a consistent patient report rather than a proven effect.
Who they help: adults with obesity, or with excess weight plus a related condition like high blood pressure, prediabetes, or high cholesterol. Also adults with type 2 diabetes. These medications are now approved for a widening range of what excess weight does downstream — tirzepatide for obstructive sleep apnea in people with obesity, semaglutide for reducing cardiovascular risk, for kidney protection in type 2 diabetes, and for a form of fatty liver disease. That cardiovascular approval came from a trial of more than 17,000 people, which found a 20% reduction in heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths.
What to expect: the dose starts low and increases gradually over months — that’s deliberate, and it’s how side effects stay manageable. Nausea and digestive symptoms are common early and usually settle. Results vary considerably between people, and the medication works alongside changes in eating and activity, not instead of them.
For Growth Hormone — A Note
We receive questions about sermorelin regularly. Sermorelin was FDA-approved as Geref and discontinued in 2008 — a business decision, not a safety finding. Today it is only available as a compounded medication, which means it falls outside what we prescribe. Eura Health prescribes FDA-approved medications only. If you’re interested in what we do offer for body composition and metabolic health, the GLP-1 medications above are the evidence-based options we work with.
For HIV-Associated Body Changes — and Select Other Cases
Tesamorelin is FDA-approved to reduce the excess abdominal fat that some people develop while living with HIV. Across the two trials behind that approval, visceral fat fell by about 15% over 26 weeks. It’s a specific problem that gets very little attention and is genuinely frustrating for the people who have it.
Providers at Eura are HIV specialists, so this is a medication we’re particularly equipped to prescribe and monitor well — including the lab work that goes with it.
Eura Health prescribes tesamorelin (Egrifta) for its FDA-approved indication only: HIV-associated lipodystrophy in adults on antiretroviral therapy.
For Sexual Health
Bremelanotide is FDA-approved for low sexual desire in premenopausal women, where that lack of desire is distressing and isn’t explained by a medical condition, a medication, or relationship factors. It’s used as needed rather than daily. Two randomized trials in more than 1,200 women found improvements in both desire and the distress that comes with it.
It’s a specific approval and it isn’t right for everyone. But for the women it fits, it’s a real option — and it’s worth knowing it exists, because it rarely comes up on its own.
And Elsewhere
Peptide medications also treat osteoporosis, IBS with constipation, and chronic constipation — conditions we manage routinely. If you’re already a patient, these may be part of your care without anyone having called them “peptide therapy.”
What Treatment Actually Looks Like
Peptide medications work when they’re prescribed carefully and followed properly. Here’s the process:
A real consultation. We start with your history, your goals, and what you’ve already tried. Some people who come in asking about a peptide leave with something else entirely — a thyroid workup, an iron panel, a medication review — because that turned out to be the actual answer.
Baseline labs. Before starting, we establish where you are. For metabolic medications that means weight, blood pressure, A1c, kidney and liver function, and a lipid panel. For growth hormone peptides it includes IGF-1 and related hormones. This is how we tell later whether something is working.
A prescription, if it fits. If a medication is appropriate, we prescribe it and it ships to you. If it isn’t, we’ll say so and explain why.
Close follow-up while the dose is changing. The early months matter most. We check in as the dose increases, adjust the pace to your tolerance, and hold or step back when needed rather than pushing through.
Ongoing monitoring. Periodic labs and visits once you’re settled — including an honest conversation about how long to continue and what happens when you stop, which is a discussion that too often gets skipped.
Talk to Us
If you’re curious whether a peptide medication fits what you’re trying to change, that’s exactly the conversation we’re here for. Bring whatever you’ve read — including the things you’re not sure about. Sorting that out with you is part of the job.
This article is general health information, not medical advice, and it doesn’t create a patient relationship. The medications discussed have risks and aren’t right for everyone. Talk to a licensed clinician about your own situation.