AIBU to seek a consensus on who is a socially acceptable recipitent of Mounjaro?

[Periperi2025]

So it seems that much of mumsnet and society judge users of WLI extremely harshly seeing them as fat and lazy people who should just eat less, move more and use more willpower. But apparently not all of us, some of us after divulging enough medical history as 'okay'..."not you just the other fatties!!"

So, are people with diagnosed endocrine and metabolic conditions, acceptable?

What about people with undiagnosed endocrine and metabolic disorders, it's taken me over a decade to get to the point i am now, which is under endcrinology with a confirmed 'problem' and a working diagnosis but nothing more, my story is sadly far from unusual. You don't know who they are, they don't know who they are (although they may have astrong inkling), quite the conundrum!!

What about people with diagnosed Type 2 diabetes, who once were also just fat people without type 2 diabetes (mostly)?

What about people who are just fat now but statistically likely to develop type 2 diabetes in the future, like the current Type 2 diabetes patients were 10 years ago?

What about the people with severely disordered eating? As a society and a health service we deem it justifible and, hopefully preferrable to treat Anorexia Nervosa, including as inpatients at great expense (£500+ per day in the NHS), compared to treating an obese eating disordered patient with Mounjaro at a cost of approx £9 per day to the NHS for the highest dose. Presuambly in a civilised society we think that both groups of patients deserve a chance at a better quality life and improved life expextancy, and we dont think that Anorexics should just eat more and move less?!

So my AIBU is?
Are all of the above groups socially acceptable recipitents of Mounjaro?

YABU - no there are not all acceptable the gluttunous, lazy, weak willed cheats.

YANBU - of course they are all socially acceptable recipitents given that they meet the prescribing criteria for Mounjaro which has been accessed for Risk vs Benefit via peer reviewed research.

I, like most people, don't care. I'm pretty bored of people moaning about not getting it on the NHS though.

Why?
What other drugs would you remove from the NHS funding list?

Surely the prescribing doctors already have guidance on this, or do you think that they’re just handing (or not handing) it out willy nilly?

Agreed.

And for me it's not really about what I want the NHS to stop funding but more about what they should start. There are things ahead of WLI on my wishlist.

I think they DO need to prescribe it on the NHS and lower the thresholds. BMI over 40 seems ridiculous. It’s not lazy and some of us have genuine, serious endocrine, hormone or insulin disorders. A population that is obese puts far greater strain on the healthcare and benefits system imo.

They do and the vast majority of people taking it will be accessing it legally and honestly by meeting the criteria of BMI >30 or >27 with a weight related condition or certain higher risk ethnicity

But this doesn't stop the vitriol.

I don't give a flying fuck what people think about those of us who use WLI! I'm not ashamed in the slightest, nor do I feel the need to tell people my medical history. I'm also honest about being it when people comment on my weight loss. I don't care what anyone thinks, I'm nearly 3 stone down and only have 2 to go! I've been battling with my weight since my first pregnancy 22 years ago. This is the slimmest and healthiest I've been since I was 23!

What vitriol have you experienced? I think if you have been prescribed it, then your friends and family should be supportive (they should be supportive anyway). You don’t need that negativity when you’re obviously going through a lot. I’d stop telling them things and think about getting new friends. If it’s just random people on the internet spewing rubbish, then just ignore it, those sort of people will argue with their own reflection. Just concentrate on you and being healthy.

Your body, your business - you don't need anyone else to "accept" it. (You don't need to tell them, either, if you'd rather not). I pay for my own MJ and it's nobody else's concern.

I personally think anyone who is overweight and wants to not be overweight should receive it. The NHS is pretty shit at cost / benefit analysis and it would surely save a fortune down the line in weight related conditions.

Who cares. If people can afford it, it’s no business of anyone else’s.

I think most people don't care either way. There's a very limited pool of people who get it on the NHS and I'm sure a careful cost-benefit analysis has been done. If people want to pay for themselves then it's good that they can.

I suspect a very few people see gaining weight as a moral failing which ought to be atoned for through the mortification of the flesh, and the idea that someone might lose weight relatively easily probably irritates them. Not really worth worrying about those people though. If you'd rather not hear their views, don't share your medical situation.

Given the financial restraints the NHS is under, I feel the socially acceptable group are those that fit the NHS criteria.

Your post is very black and white. Believe one thing or the polar opposite, but life isn’t like that.

I do firmly believe people need to make better choices. Weekly takeaways, chocolate on the sofa, cans of pop everyday - very common and people need to accept the consequences of consuming that. Being accountable for their actions and choices.

But once someone is largely obese there’s probably no hope of them losing enough weight to be healthy on their own. So WLI have a place.

The problem though, is the next generation are still eating shittily so the situation isn’t improving. We need to be making fundamental changes as a society to how we view food. Every other shop is now a coffee shop for crying out loud.

I couldn't care less who takes it. If it's to be funded by the nhs, then medical need should definitely be a criteria though.

Anyone who meets the nhs criteria should have it on the nhs.

It's better to prescribe something that will help people become healthier than to just leave people to struggle.

Anyone who is overweight or obese. Or has diabetes or other illnesses that WLI can help manage.
Ideally they should've tried losing weight with willpower alone and been unsuccessful.

But not people of healthy or underweight BMI just for quick fix vanity reasons. Obviously.

If they funded WLI there would be considerably less strain on the NHS and more could be funded.

You seem very bitter OP. My DH is on Mounjaro, he couldn't give a shit what society thinks of him. Why do you?

Surely the best way not to be judged for using Mounjaro is not to tell anyone that you’re using Mounjaro.

I don’t understand this desire people have to unburden themselves.

The way not to be judged is to use it to help change your habits and kick start a new relationship with food

Or pay for it yourself

expecting my taxes to pay for you to stay on it forever isn’t something I am happy about and will cause a nose wrinkle

“we dont think that Anorexics should just eat more and move less?!”

This is exactly what happens, people suffering with anorexia or bulimia can usually only access help when they are severely underweight and suffering other physical symptoms.

I would think your point about the NHS treating anorexia nervosa is a contentious one. BMI is often used as part of the diagnostic criteria, typically needing to hit 17.5 or lower before the diagnosis is given. This means the eating disorder can have grown into quite an embedded, monstrous beast compared to the tickle at the back of the brain that it was when it started. Anorexia nervosa is the most lethal mental illness there is and it's not entirely due to the nature of the illness itself - the NHS will not step in until certain metrics have been met. There is nothing proactive about the NHS, but their approach to mental illnesses, including anorexia, is sickening.

I would say that we see this approach mirrored with their approach to obesity. Instead of reviewing patients with an obese BMI and providing treatment, they need the patient to develop 4 additional conditions before they can provide treatment. In the US, insurance companies don't seem to do this (although I'm unsure on the details as I'm in the UK), but rather seem to make a pretty valid business decision (as cold as that is) - if patient x continues to gain weight, they'll develop type 2 diabetes and potentially other conditions and they will become more expensive, so Mounjaro or similar are covered by the insurance policy before that point.

Honestly as a slightly wizened adult, I think the US approach is valid and makes a lot of sense. For me, I can't go to my GP to get Mounjaro despite having a BMI of 34 because I'm otherwise in pretty good nick, as far as I can tell from the outside, with no medical degree. But internally, my skeleton, muscle groups, tendons and ligaments, and vital organs, will all be working ten to the dozen trying to keep me feeling like I'm in pretty good nick. My heart is probably knackered, because up until recently my BMI was 40, and my GP still wouldn't have prescribed it.

It's anorexia nervosa in a fun house mirror (as if it isn't in the first place!). The closer we are to death, the more the NHS is likely to treat us. Once the damage has been done, perhaps when some irreversible and life-altering damage has been done, then they'll help us, if we live long enough. I'm still on several waiting lists from about 20 years ago. The system is fucked.

No one wins.

I'm just amazed at the judgement on some other threads and comments decision in main stream media. It amazes me how much other people have an issue over it, especially considering the vast majority of people are currently self funding, this demonstrating a commitment to there own health and future.

Obviously i went all out with my opening post because it's AIBU, so why not! But honestly some of the opinions on here and elsewhere, and occasionally in person are shocking. I feel i need to justify myself (Endocrine condition) and then feel bad for doing so because that suggest that i think the same way as they do, and I'm setting myself apart from people with other reasons for needing it.

I have no issue telling people I'm on it, or arguing the case in favour of it. I've done a huge amount of reading of peer reviewed studies. I feel sorry for less confident people, of which there are many in Mumsnet.

Well maybe you should have opened with an honest post, then? Rather than that goady stuff.