I’ve lost 7 stone on Mounjaro and plan to be on it for life. AMA

[LifeOfAShowGirl]

:)

How much money is it costing you per month?

I do find the faux concern about side effects hilarious. As if I’m not aware? But I think being 24, nearly 25 stone at age 25 was awful!!!

About £170 average at the moment but Oushk regularly have discount codes x

About 20 years - and for diabetes. So there’s no research further back than that so the long long term affects aren’t known.

the way the work is that they fool the body into producing more insulin by fooling the brain by making the gut produce signals that you’ve eaten - so they’re actually making your pancreas work harder - they’ve been known to cause pancreatitis. There is also a box warning about the increased risk of certain tumours too.

Theres also an increased risk of gall stones plus risk with anaesthesia as with a GLP1 agonist the stomach empties much more slowly therefore increasing the risk of aspiration

Can also cause kidney inflammation and low blood pressure

so they’re actually making are definitely not risk free

I had an anaesthetic two weeks ago and was reassured by everyone (from the nurse booking me in to the consultant anaesthesiologist running the entire department at my hospital) that they were not concerned by me being on it at all. What they’ve been in use for is immaterial. Gallstones are a risk with any significant weight loss.

why is your dads cardiologist discussing you? You’re not his patient - it’s incredibly bad practice for a HCP to give advice to a patients relative when they’re not involved in their care

Have you actually changed what foods you eat? Or do you now rely on lower appetite to be able to eat your go-to foods “guilt free”?

Not advice - just a general chat. My dad has been seeing him for over a decade at this point and, as his condition can be triggered by stress, he liked to get a read on his patients’ entire history. Including their families.

I'm going to be a lifer too. I'm about half a stone off my target weight so moving into maintenance soon. My body used to scream for food and it was just getting worse. My weight gain was accelerating and every time I tried to lose weight I'd put it back on and more. I hated my body and would wake up telling myself I was fat. I wasn't eating to fill some emotional void, I was eating because my body would tell me it was starving and fill my head until I gave in. I'm only on 7.5 after 9 months and still get pretty hungry but it's different. I can eat a small snack and feel satisfied if I'm hungry before meals, I can decline a biscuit and not obsess about them, I can enjoy a couple of crisps rather than a full pack. It's transformed my life. I think they're probably the most impactful health intervention I'll see developed in my lifetime. Incredible!

Honestly this is nonsense. On every level.

The active ingredients were developed in the early 1970s
they were 15 years in trials for every thing they are used for. Diabetes was 20 odd years ago.
weight gain or rapid weight loss creates gallstones or pancreatitis. It is not they are making your pancreas work harder causing it.
there is a risk of thyroid cancer on the box, it was found in early trials but the drug tweaked, never seen since, over 50 million on them globally. No tumours.not even one death directly caused by correct use of legit drugs. Inc the nurse in Scotland. Not one.

you are correct on one point only, you do need to have it on your nhs records so any operation they know and can manage accordingly. It is on mine. And new rules mean gp;s need to be informed and it listed.

but that’s all you’re right on.

It’s a mix of both. I generally eat a lot better than I used to. Lots of things like fat free Greek yoghurt, berries, chia seeds, veggies etc. but I also like being able to get a takeaway and it not triggering a spiral of guilt and poor eating. I’ve had probably four takeaways in the last year and every time, I’ve been right back “on it” the next morning.

Congratulations!! Yes it’s the lack of obsession that I like. Being able to say no, or being able to say yes and not let it ruin everything!

Why on earth do so many people who don't use this medication always come on threads to tell us about the side effects? Why do they think we aren't aware? I'm 5 stone down, no side effects. Plan to stay on them indefinitely as I've yo-yo dieted my entire life, without this drug, I spend 80%of my life thinking about food.

For balance the synopsis also says:

"Compared to usual care, GLP-1RA use was associated with a reduced risk of substance use and psychotic disorders, seizures, neurocognitive disorders (including Alzheimer’s disease and dementia), coagulation disorders, cardiometabolic disorders, infectious illnesses and several respiratory conditions."

We cannot see the detail/extent of the advantages and disadvantages as the study is paid content and only the synopsis is free.

God knows. I was kind of expecting to be accused of “cheating”

No doubt someone will pipe up with that shortly. Followed closely by "just eat less and move more".

There is not a general risk of thyroid cancer when using Mounjaro. There is a possible risk of specific types of thyroid cancer if you have a family or personal history of those particular cancers. When prescribing, you are asked about those, and that would usually mean you wouldn't be prescribed it. But, if you were severely morbidly obese with several weight related health conditions, you might still be able to be prescribed it as the tiny theoretical risk of thyroid cancer would be outweighed by the benefits of losing weight.

@LifeOfAShowGirl I don't have a question for you, but congratulations on your weight loss to date!

Thank you!

Omg - the incessant posts to the OP about coming off WLI. Obesity is a disease. These drugs combat obesity! If you go off them, the appetite comes back + food noise? Not sure why that's hard to understand?

I, like you OP, will be on it for life. For the first time I am free of bingeing. The risks are manageable with v high fibre, weight training and lots of protein. Not worried about pancreatitis as I have no history of pancreas issues. In fact I'm at the stage where I'm incredibly healthy according to all my many blood tests. So the risks to me are almost wholly mitigated. Worth me staying on it for life too.

Well done on your loss!

Congratulations!! I’m starting proper weight training now because I’m able to get back to the gym, and I didn’t realise how important it was before I just admit!

I adopted what I call a whole person approach to being on Mounjaro and it includes my head, my heart and my body - in other words my mental health, my emotional health and my physical health. It’s my belief that this 3 pronged attack to losing weight and keeping it off in the future is a necessity and I’ve no qualms at all about coming off the medication when I reach my target.

Genuine interest in finding out.

You say you are eating much more healthily, exercising regularly including the gym, making good choices about food…all great.

Is this why you are losing weight rather than the medication? These are all the right things to do.
Would this result in good habits formed over time which continue without medication?

Do you think the cost is an incentive to the good habits ( I'm paying out loads id better exercise) and why do you not make these good choices without the medication?

I suppose I'm thinking is there a placebo effect or motivator in just being on this medication?

I've lost a couple of stone with Mounjaro with one or two more to go depending on how much I want to lose which I don't know yet.

I'm not quite down to a healthy BMI yet. I'm not fussed about being a size 8 but being a reliable size 16 would be nice - a size 14 even better. Beyond that scares me a little as unknown to be honest.

I hope that in the future that the drugs will be available for maintenance in lower doses and that they will become cheaper in general allowing anyone to take e.g. 1mg if that's what suits them and to dip in and out of taking them when they need that support.

I'm happy to stay on the meds but also happy to experiment with low doses or week on/week off etc - definitely don't want to be "cut off".

I hope that one day anybody will be allowed them as long as they are not underweight. I cant see the point in making people get 2 or 3 stone overweight before they can get help. A lot of people are a healthy weight at some point on the road to obesity - whether that's contributed to by advancing age, difficulty losing weight after kids, some meds, mental health, disability or menopause. Why not let people have help with 5lbs rather than 5 stone?

This wouldn’t have happened without the medication. I was stuck in a cycle, I couldn’t lose weight no matter what.

My fasting glucose dropped from 5.7-6.1mmol/l (which was where it had been hovering for the last few years) to 5.1mmol/l in 3 days of taking the first injection, by 2.5 weeks it was 4.3mmol/l and 5.5 weeks 4.0mmol/l.

It is clearly the drug not just the dietary changes causing metabolic changes and weightloss.