Extremely hacked off by GP. Won’t prescribe Mounjaro

[Hakunatomato]

I have been self funding Mounjaro for the past year, and have a debt on credit card because of it. As a result, my HBa1c has gone from 19 to 5.5. I have lost almost 5 stones, now down to 16 .stones so effectively I have put my diabetes into remission as a result. I can no longer afford it because of the price rises and have asked my GP to start prescribing it. Their response is that because my blood sugar is now nearly normal they won’t do it, despite me having a bmi of 46. When I finish the course I have I now have to watch my good work go in to reverse and watch my health decline. All for the sake of the £30 a week is would cost my GP at wholesale NHS cost. If I put the weight back on again and wait while my blood sugar levels rise and I will have to apply again. I am so pissed off.. The relatively small cost as opposed to what the bills will be when my Diabetes returns doesn’t make sense.

Sorry girl, yanbu 🥺 x

Many people can ….. and many people can’t. Why do you think so many people are finally able to lose weight now that they have WLI, after a lifetime of doing the right things without WLI?

So sorry OP.
That sounds rubbish.
You have done so well - although its a good drug you still had to put in work. Our society is primed for weight gain and some people are genetically and psychologically susceptible. I've just been on a healthy diet for medical reasons and the amount of food that is unhealthy is amazing - hardly anything I can eat in a tea shop, for example.

In your shoes I'd try to get all the help I could get to maintain what I'd lost and try to get every help going that the NHS can provide. I was talking to someone in a similar position the other day and they were saying that there were some other similar drugs that had not put their prices up.

It must feel like a kick in the teeth and I hope it doesn't make you feel that people don't care - the NHS is creaking at the seams and everything seems to be rationed now. You can do it OP!!!!!!!

On a societal level, we can plainly see that "willpower" has not worked. The drugs do work. It doesn't matter whether you morally approve. It makes more sense to fund the drugs because the health problems and negative impact on quality of life caused by increased obesity will outweigh the costs and risks of the drugs. You can't force people to diet, exercise, etc., regardless of how effective you personally believe these methods are. Where does realism come into telling people off, calling them entitled and exhorting them to change their behaviour?

The NHS is not condoning it.

Just eat half what you used to. Don't abdicate responsibility for your food intake onto other people.

If it was easy to do without the help.of the drugs do you seriously not think that she would have done that in the and not got into debt.
People aren't spending a fortune on this for the hell of it.

I specialise in pituitary conditions!

if you ever need a hand then let me know!

have you ever rung the pituitary foundation endo nurse helpline? She can easily help you with stuff like this!

Do you not think if it was that so e she would have done it that way and not spent a fortune.

It's not about willpower or being a failure.
It's literally about being hungry every minute of the day because you aren't one of the lucky ones whose metabolism works differently.
So sick of this narrative

I agree it's ridiculous and short sighted.
I am also sorry that you are getting the same old judgemental shite from smug fuckers on here telling you to use will power, eat less etc.
Because of course it's that simple. Not.

UPF

ultra processed foods. Literally in the last 40-50 years companies have buggered around with food creating things that taste like food but aren’t. As a result our bodies fail to process them, grow addicted to the hits they deliver, the calorie information is wildly inaccurate so that while there is a calorific value, because the body can’t process the Franken-food, the calories we absorb are way more

insulin resistance is created so too that our bodies can’t digest the food, and stores it as fat without burning it

the odds are being stacked against us

loads of books on the subject

Since I became menopausal, the weight has started to gradually go up. So I have to restrict my calories severely. I try and resist calorific food in the early half of the week so I can relax a bit at the weekend. But goodness it’s miserable. I fantasise all week about what I’m going to have at the weekend.

My only incentive is that I do not want to be overweight, for both health and aesthetic reasons.

Sometimes I read these threads and I feel like I am the only person that puts on weight when I lack willpower, and lose it when I have willpower. It’s all down to me. i am not going to use phrases like food noise. It’s my responsibility and that’s it. And goodness it’s hard at times.

Whilst I think these drugs will be good for the population in the short to medium term in terms of costs of heart disease etc, I feel like it is the nail in the coffin for people taking responsibility for their own health and weight.

I am on Mirtazapine, it is known to increase appetite, but you know what? I resist the urge to eat the whole pack of biscuits, etc, because that would be greedy, I just have 1 or 2

Seems to me that people are so scared of feeling hunger but it is natural that you feel hungry, just wait till the next meal time, you will not die being hungry, I eat 3 meals a day and no snacks.

Diabetes can be reversed and controlled drug free though. My gestational diabetes was controlled by a low carb diet for 9 months and i never took metformin or insulin once. It's possible

My husband reversed his diabetes in 12 months by changing his diet and therefore losing weight. He could have avoided getting diabetes in the first place if he'd had that little spark of determination that he finally found. (They're his words, not mine) A year of eating in a different way has now made it second nature, with obviously the occasional splurge for birthdays, xmas etc.

@GreenDiaryRibbon I feel like it is the nail in the coffin for people taking responsibility for their own health and weight.

why? Why would someone else’s issue with their weight affect you in any way?

some of us get to menopause and the usual techniques that have always worked with weight control stopped working, and in spite of everything we tried, we actually gained weight. Eating less didn’t work as it used to. Moving
/exercise didn’t work either

I’m talking as someone who trained as competitive swimmer, never eat takeaways etc etc

WLM is much more than food noise. It acts on blood sugar, digestion and hormones

let’s not attack others eh? It’s unwarranted

Exactly this. And I have said in my previous posts (that were rudely dismissed by another poster) that I thought it would take willpower (along with sensible eating and exercise) to overcome the addiction that causes obesity.

My birth mum was a heroin addict and stopped, through sheer willpower after years. I know it was definitely from a traumatic childhood so I understand how difficult it must be for those whose addictions stem from the past and trauma.

I do see your point and you’re right that it’s not a rational decision financially. But it’s not your GP who makes the funding decisions so it’s not fair to blame them.

I'm also concerned that you’re in danger of making putting weight back on a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s as if you've already decided you can’t and won’t lose any more without the injections. Of course it will be hard, but I would have thought that having got into better eating habits for months must make it a bit easier. Good luck.

I don’t think over-eating is about hunger.

I havent got a GP.
Mainly due to the ones in my area are absolutely appalling .
3 practises I have been told not to go back to.
I complained and they didn't like it .
So far, at all different ones …given wring medication as not read my notes, given wrong blood test results , been misdiagnosed on a number of things.
The final straw when i went to another in January ..i was told i had..impetigo …..i had shingles ‼️
I have had hospital appointments cancelled by receptionists …MRI scans …not had one for years now .
I have loads of health issues , i deal with them myself and over the counter as i cannot see a doctor ..because i am the one complaining !
Would anyone in their right mind, not complain about what i have said on here ?

My health and given so many wrong things and they refuse to acknowledge any of it.
One was also inappropriate with me as well.
Nothing got done and i took the complaint as far as i could

Doesn't work for everyone.

Some people can't reverse their diabetes no matter how disciplined. That may be because they have other complicating factors, a genetic disposition or have been misdiagnosed as T2 but actually have one of the other rare types of diabetes.

I've just come out of hospital and I have to stay in bed for six months due to an orthopaedic complication. That's 181 days I am on bed rest trying to get my bones to fuse.

I know that I will be burning off 1/4 (maybe not even) of my previous calories so I am planning my diet and my online food shopping appropriately. Do I want to stuff my face with food all day? Yes of course but I have complications with my spine enough to make me want to fast, be ketogenic and try and save my own life. It is for me to make the choices over what I put in my own mouth and when and I'm already on a tonne of drugs so I'm not going to take anything like Mounjaro or bloody Ozempic in addition.

No, it's more akin to telling an alcoholic who privately funded their detox that you won't pay for them to stay in the Priory indefinitely. Drug addicts are expected to come off methadone, alcoholics are expected to live without constant supervision or medication, why do you think your addiction is more "special?"

This just isn't true. Science has moved on. These drugs make the difference for people who do eat reasonably and exercise who cannot lose weight. The media focused on the food noise and inability to over eat aspect. These drugs have more going on than that and lots of people do not have the usual side effects on them because they don't make poor food choices and they don't overeat anyway, but they still lose weight on them.

Lol @GelfBride do you feel the same way about the NHS funding abortions? Do you castigate women who have them for abdicating their contraceptive responsibilities? Have you or any member of your family visited A&E as a result of an accident that a little more care and attention would have avoided? Did you castigate yourself or them for making others take responsibility for the results of your accidents or carelessness? Know anyone with lung cancer from smoking? Are you giving them a good talking to for abdicating their responsibilities? Know any anorexics? I hope they are also on your list of irresponsible adults that need a condescending comment about their lack of responsibility.

The hypocrisy towards the treatment of obesity on this thread is astonishing.

@GreenDiaryRibbon how are they the nail in the coffin? I paid for my WLI, as have most people who take them. We have paid and we have eaten differently one way or another whilst on the WLI. I stopped taking WLI 6 months ago, and I am still the same weight as I was when I stopped. Many of the posters on the maintenance threads are the same, some weigh less, some the same and some have gained a little and then lost again or have settled at a few pounds over. Everyone posting is keen to maintain their weight loss. Tell me more about how you see it as an abdication of responsibility, as I'd like to understand the point you are making better.

@YouSirAreAnIdiot gosh, why on earth can't everyone just be like you? It is astonishing that all the fatties are just so greedy and scared of being hungry. If only they all knew that they shouldn't eat the whole packet of biscuits. Maybe we should add 'stupid' to the word bingo list for fatties too, because they really must be thick as mince not to understand that they shouldn't eat the whole packet of biscuits.

And now we have the heroin addict who successfully overcame a lifelong drug addiction by will power alone, meaning that her daughter understands what it is like to apply just will power alone to overcome all of life's awful abuse and trauma. Shame there is no helping of empathy to go along with that or an understanding that most addicts chances of long-term success is far greater when they have support from therapy, medication or group work.

I hate this country.

Other countries are also not prescribing these medications for weight loss at no cost to the patient.

I empathise with your frustrations and worries about not able to maintain good health without this medicine.

However, you are not the only patient. There are many other patients like you whose health benefit from the weight loss this medicine helps with. In an ideal world they should. But NHS is badly funded and they need to set a limit based on some criteria and at the moment you don’t fit that criteria.

As another poster suggested can you ask referral for weight management service and see how they help you.

If UK had better economy and less dependence on public services and benefits, maybe they could have offered medicine at the subsidised rates to people like you but at the moment that’s not the case.

The problem is this medicine is very expensive, prices set by pharmaceutical companies and the demand is so high that there is not enough in the stock.

You can write to your local MP and explaining them how much money people like you will be saving NHS by lowering cholesterol or other health markers. But not sure if they have limited stock they will prioritise you over another patient.

Can you reduce the dose / quality to half? That ways you can reduce cost to you but not completely lose its benefits.

Other option is you move to a higher income country if you can and try to self fund it with more disposable money but I know it is not really a practical solution for many.

Let’s hope they increase the production and lower the prices in near future.

This is exactly what the pharmaceutical companies planned. Get the product on the market. Get it proven and popular. Have the clientele rely on it because it is not a solution, it is a quick fix.

Wham, double the price.......