Know who answers after the visit.

Find out how to reach someone after the visit

Ask how to contact the health professional after they assess you, how replies work after the visit, and what happens when that person is unavailable.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) flags telehealth services that leave patients without a licensed doctor to answer questions after medicine arrives.

Ask which questions need a new visit and which can be answered by a message or call. Write down how to contact the clinician.

Ask for the product’s storage instructions

Storage rules differ by medicine: some peptide products need cold storage, while others are stored at room temperature.

For an approved medicine, storage requirements are in its official medicine instructions, also called the prescribing information. Ask the pharmacy where to find those instructions and how to store the exact product you receive.

As of September 2026, FDA advises you not to use injected weight medicine arriving warm or without enough refrigeration to keep its stated temperature.

That advice concerns the refrigerated products described by FDA. It is not a cold-storage rule for every peptide.

Bring unclear instructions back to the pharmacy

Semaglutide is an ingredient in approved diabetes and weight-management medicines.

FDA has received reports of mistakes in the amount given with semaglutide injections made to order, including cases needing hospital care.

A compounded medicine is made to order. Ask the pharmacist to explain an unclear label or instruction before acting on it.

Ask for an explanation matched to the product you received. Bring the label and care instructions into that conversation.

If you think a medicine error has happened, seek help promptly. Ask the care service beforehand how it directs patients to help for medicine errors.

Recognise when help cannot wait

MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine’s health resource, describes severe allergic reactions as emergencies.

For severe symptoms such as trouble breathing, difficulty swallowing, or a swollen face or tongue, it directs people to emergency help.

This is a reason to get help, not a way to diagnose the cause yourself.

FDA’s MedWatch service lets patients report suspected medicine problems. A report alone cannot establish that a medicine caused the problem.