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.

If you continue with this attitude then sadly all your good work will be reversed. You can continue to do it on your own with a positive and determined mindset.

Ahh. Well yes. You’d need a GP to be able to prescribe the medicine on the NHS. It can’t be done without that so no wonder why you can’t get it prescribed

ring the endo nurse. She’s amazing

@BunnyVV YES they can it's called a maintenence dose.

Basically people on weight loss jabs clearly just want to eat the same crap but less of it whilst also on medication that is doing who knows what to their bodies. If you can eat food without crap in on weight loss jabs you can do it without and if you can’t it’s pointless being on them in the first place.

thing is - the NHS has set the qualification to prescribe, NOT your GP. I imagine these will change as time progresses to include more people. There is always a cut off and that is life unfortunately.
My son missed the HPV vaccine by 2 months so I have to pay for it if I want him to have it.
the amount of tax you pay makes no difference

just get used to it, no one is starving but feeling a bit hungry before a meal is normal. Just have a banana if you are desperate and hours away from diner.

When you are at work, or stuck in a traffic jam, or out and about, you can't have food even if you would eat at home, you just .. don't eat there and then?

Also learn to pick something more filling at lunch and diner.

Once you are used to eat reasonably, it actually hurts to over-eat. That horrible feeling at Christmas when people stuff themselves, and just slumb on the sofa? I'd rather feel hungry (again, Western World hungry, as in waiting 1 hour between snacks 😂)

Why does it matter if you feel hungry? Genuinely?

It's not though. It's a matter of changing your mindset. People ARE choosing to be obese. Yes people have extreme difficulty but it's difficult not impossible.

Even small changes can add up but people just don't even try to understand the basics of metabolism or what foods lay down fat.

The NHS is breaking as it is. The cost of obesity drugs has added to that. The issue is with the doubling the cost of these meds that needs to be addressed.

Go for a walk? Meditate? Read a book? Mumsnet?
And learn that you don't have to react to every single hunger pang. I am aware that I am a little peckish this very minute. I don't need to respond to that though because I will have dinner in a couple of hours and am not going to waste away in that time.

I am also a size 8, in my 50s. And have a morbidly obese mother that I mentioned up thread. Maybe that has helped me to maintain self discipline because I hate seeing how her choices have disabled and limited her life.

I doubt they will change qualifications when people are clearly abusing what restrictions are already in place.

Shows that you know fuck all about it as the NHS have published their plans to widen access.

Stop all bread, cake and carb
Meat, fruit, veg and diary. Beans, pulses and nuts

@HoskinsChoice You absolutely do not eat and drink what you like on these drugs, it doesn't melt the fat off are you dim? You have to be in a calorie deficit, exercise and prioritise protein etc. You won't lose the weight otherwise, it works as an agonist on the receptors in the brain that concern appetite regulation, thus aiding the user to eat and drink in moderation.

Oh please give the big bad pharma trope a rest! Pharma companies aren't charities, they need to make profit to survive and, you know, continue to develop lifesaving drugs. They spend in excess of $1 billion developing a drug and only have on average 10 years from when it goes to market to recoup the development costs and make a profit before it goes off-patent. So yes, drugs cost money. Shocker! 🙄

And Mountjaro isn't going to make anyone fit and healthy - it'll help with weight loss but it's up to the patient to improve their fitness and make the necessary lifestyle changes.

Bingo, anyone?

Now is the time to incorporate the 5:2 diet or go low carb - both show excellent results at reversing type 2 diabetes and without the £1560 a year cost to the taxpayer!
If you start now then you are already used to eating less so it will be easier.
Assuming you are going to pig out is setting yourself up to fail.

And they’ve said they’re going to take stock re how it is going.

Frankly I think it’s appalling and a massive burden on GPs who need to provide the wrap around care that goes with it,they’re already pulling back on shared care with some other drugs that transform lives so I fail to see how this is fair. Sucking up GP time by people who don’t want to put the effort in themselves and just want a drug to enable them to eat the same old crap but less of it with the same lifestyle .

If even more GP time and NHS money is eaten up by this in the cost v of drugs and wrap around ( potential side effects too)with cuts elsewhere and people just relying on it up keep them thin permanently as opposed to changing their lives and food habits there is going to be a very unhappy wider population.

I started MJ 2 weeks ago self funded. I'm obese was diagnosed type 2 but I reversed that on my own through diet & have been maintaining that for 2 years now. I'm don't have the illness's to be able to get MJ on prescription & frankly it's my last hope. The comments "don't eat shit, don't put it on your mouth" etc don't help. At 53 I've just found out the difference between hungry & thirsty thanks to MJ, the constant noise in my head about food the constant thinking/ planning about food, cooking food, shopping for food, food, food, food constantly. My heads clear I can think clearly. I didn't realise we weren't all the same thinking the same, ive felt a failure all my life thinking why am I constantly dieting, failing getting fatter & others aren't how do they manage. I'm my life I've lost in excess of 30 stone in weight. Obesity is so much more than willpower

Putting in bloody bluntly..you havent a fucking clue .
I dont eat crap , i eat vegetables , salad and fruit .
I stick to 1000 calories a day .
I dont drink alcohol, i dont smoke , i dont eat cake, chocolate, biscuits, crisps or any other as you call crap food !

I tried to diet like this …it didnt work .
I am not repeating again why as to be honest its not your business .

If you carry on eating crap …this drug doesnt bloody work ( maybe you should do research before putting your foot in your mouth 🤬‼️)
It suppresses the appetite , makes you stay full for longer and has health benefits.
Dear me the bullshit that comes from some people is astounding

As i said before , you will not get any sympathy, or empathy on this website/ forum.
People are sanctimonious , selfish and self centred nowadays

They are sad people that put others down .

I bet when they were at school they were the bullies that called fatter people names .

Yes been there too and been abused and actually beaten up for being overweight …and that was many, many years back .
I lost it in my teens and didnt start gaining again till my 50s .
All my health issues contributed .

I am done on here

Your achievements are great. Well done! and it's a pity that the decision to prescribe Mounjaro came too late for you to benefit - because the guidelines are pretty strict, and you now don't meet them.

But one thing you may not have considered in your gloom: your stomach will have shrunk during the time you've been eating less, and you've also no doubt developed what amount to more healthy eating habits alongside that. And if you can take a positive attitude to this, you could well stay within the guidelines for your blood sugar, as well as keeping your cholesterol levels down. If the latter rises, you could ask to go on atorvastin - but I think the constructive thing to do with your GP is request that they do blood tests 3 months (or so) after coming off Mounjaro so they, and you, can monitor the situation.

It's also possible that the criteria for prescribing Mounjaro, etc., will change as this government wants to proactively tackle obesity. If your weight is rising by then, you may have another route to the drugs.

OP, please write to your MP. The only way this can ever change is if the government gives the NHS more funding specifically for wider prescribing criteria.

Like the GP you meant?

Well the patient is already in the surgery seeing them so why does it cost extra?

In fact if health declines then they will need more appointments which costs more money

So you're saying that price and availability are what drives addiction, not actual medical/mental conditions? Given that drugs and alcohol are also easily available and cheap, why isn't a quarter of the population (including children and babies) constantly off their face?

I hate this country. There is no reward for working and doing the right thing. Take the piss, and everything is handed to you on a plate.

You're coming across as arrogant.

Doing the 'right' thing would be not getting to 22 stone in the first place and not relying on diabetes medication to lose weight.

You could of done it through diet and exercise, you chose to pay for manjauro.

I dip in and out of depression. Diet and exercise help me to manage it. SSRIs make me feel quite fabulous, so if I stop exercising and overeat I'll likely fall back in to depression, then I'll get some free happy pills - any different?

Please don't encourage the OP to waste a Member of Parliament's time on this.