Have you been considering medicated weight loss? Ask the MedExpress experts your questions!

[CeriMumsnet]

The demand for online pharmacies is growing, offering great convenience for busy mums and those looking for a safe, clinically supervised treatment journey. However, the volume of information around this topic can seem overwhelming and many are unsure where to start or who to trust.

So if you’ve been considering starting your weight loss journey with the support of medication, we’re working with MedExpress to give you the opportunity to have your questions answered by behavioural neuroscientist Dr Sophie Dix, and GP Dr Kavir Matharu.

Just pop your questions in the thread below and the MedExpress experts will be online next month to respond. Everyone who shares their questions by 2nd July will be in with a chance to win a £200 voucher (T&Cs).

About Sophie:
Dr Sophie Dix is a behavioural neuroscientist. Working within the pharmaceutical industry, the charity sector and health technology, she has spent the last 25 years dedicated to understanding how to manage and treat conditions affecting the mind and body. Sophie is passionate about evidence and ensuring that those affected by illness have access to the right treatment at the right time.

About Kavir
Dr Kavir Matharu is a GP working in the NHS and Health Tech. She has had a varied career so far, working in Healthcare Consulting, Health Education Reform and Policy work, and has had experience in various different medical specialties throughout her training. Kavir enjoys providing holistic and proactive care, and is particularly passionate about empowering patients through patient education.

How easy it it to wean your body off this medication when/if you have hit your goal weight - is this not the most difficult part - what is the strategy for this ?

I'd love to take the plunge and begin a weight loss journey and have the body confidence I can wish for.
I would find it affordable for the lower doses, but if only 7.5 was to work for me, I know I could not justify the monthly expense, as 2.5 is a starter dose, I would want to know what are is the possibility of having a good consistent weight loss at this dose ?

I've watched threads good and bad, around losses, side effects, but the benefits wholly outweigh these - preventing obesity and diabetes seems to me to be worth the side effects, I am on 5 mls and have lost 18 pounds over 6 months.
I think the mindset needs as much work as the healthy eating and portion control - how would you recommend we keep a healthy mindset after the weightloss please ?

What makes a person addicted to food, to the extreme when they cannot be satisfied by just one packet of crisps, one bar of chocolate, one scoop of ice cream. I can diet really successfully, but can also binge eat, then feel really sad for hours afterwards - need a technique for when I have completed my weightloss journey so it stays off forever - not to be put on within a year.

I’ve been on the injections since April (via MedExpress) and have nearly lost 2stone. I started at BMI 30.5 and I’m BMI 26.5 now. I’m starting to think of my goal weight more and long term maintenance.

With this in mind, I’d like to know what the long term outlook for use of this medication is likley to be? Despite all the awful press around ‘fat jabs’ and studies showing that Mounjaro users regain, there is truth in that a high percentage of people do regain after a diet (not just jabs, but any diet). Given how revolutionary these drugs are, do you have any thoughts on how they can be used in the future to stop the yo-yo diet effect? I have heard of a pill being developed which could be amazing long term.

Also - Do you think the general negativity in the press etc is driven by the food producers who still want society to buy their processed foods?

For me it’s been incredible, I just don’t want to go back to my weight before (even with a much improved diet).

Thank you.

What are the moral common side effects of the medication?

Hi. I'm 4'11" and am 11 st 9lb and have Type 2 Diabetes would I be eligible for these weight loss jabs

When will weight loss drugs be approved for use by people with type 1 diabetes?

I have, for many years, suffered from clinical depression and find that my current medication (fluoxetine) helps enormously. Since being on this medication, I have added approximately 2st to my weight. Once, some years ago, I came off the medication and within 6 months had lost the weight, but then the depression crept back, I went back on the medication, the weight returned, and here we are! I'm also a T2 diabetic, brought on, I believe, by my increased weight and am post menopausal.
I am currently doing a calorie deficit diet and for 2 or 3 weeks it will work well, then I get an horrendous few days where I am just very hungry.
Would weight-loss jabs be an effective aid in my weight loss? My BMI is overweight but not obese, so, as far as I'm aware, my GP couldn't prescribe it for me anyway.
Happy to be stable mentally, but unhappy to be a fat frump...
Any advice, most welcome, thank you.

I am 163cm, with a weight of 76Kg. My BMI is 27.9 and is classed as obese according to the NHS BMI calculator.
I have gained 12 kg in 14 months.

Other BMI calculators say overweight.

Strong family history of type 2 Diabetes in parent and one sibling - both medicated (just in case it is relevant)

Would I qualify for medicated weight loss? Which would be best?

I have exact same situation! Same question for me please!

The name of my profile says it all really!
Back in June last year, I started my Moujaro journey. Only my husband and a few select people know because there is still a 'shame' and a 'stigma' attached to using injections for some help but, honestly, it tried another year at Slimming World and it was just.not.shifting! (When, previously, I have had very good results with SW).
I asked my consultant, 'Is it because I am menopausal?' She said, no but I am not sure if it because she was looking for sales? I just.could.not.shift my 'meno belly' and it was properly making me feel down.
I decided to take matters into my own hands and I started Mounjaro.
I am 5'9" and I am ashamed to say i was 15st 4lb.
I stayed on the started dose of 2.5mg for 2 months and saw great results straight away!
But... I'm not sure if have been eating properly as the drug took away my desire to eat at all and I was really struggling to get anything past my lips.
I also had some side effects e.g. nausea and a bit of stomach pain, especially the night of my very first injection which actually woke me up.
Since then, I have had the 'Mounjaro burps' but, bizarrely, only for 1 month when I was on 5mg.
I steadily worked my way up the doses, staying on the same dose for a few months at a time and did get up to 10mg but I found this was too much for me, I.e. side effects returned, so I dropped back down to 7.5 which I have been on for about 4/5 months now.
I am now about 11st 4lb which is a great weight for my height and build.
I, like many others, am worried about maintenance.
Do I have to stay on Mounjaro forever? Is this even safe?
I definitely know my appetite will come back and, worse for me, the 'food noise' that I find so hard to shake and even harder to resist the urge to reach for junk/ processed food when I am tired or bored.
The food noise has come back to some extent even now; I find, when I am half way through the week, I am seeking out sugary snacks (chocolate is my biggest downfall) and it takes all my willpower to resist because I know, if I have a little bit, it won't stop there!
What can I do to resist these urges 3 days before my next jab is due and how on earth am I going to keep them under control when i come off it?
I will not allow myself to get to the size I was again. I look at photos now and I realise just how overweight and unhealthy I was.
I have definitely seen some health benefits since losing weight - my knees don't ache so much (they still ache, as I am 55 but at least not as much!) My back doesn't ache as much. I don't get out of breath now going up the stairs. I can wrap a towel around me fully and cover all my modesty. I can fit my engagement and wedding rings on again.
Sorry for rambling but I hope my experience helps some people and I would love to hear your answers to my questions.
Thanks so much for giving us this opportunity! x

A friend of mine's husband has been prescribed Mounjaro by his diabetes nurse. However, he is a BIG guy, 6'5" and I reckon he must weight at least 20st.
Maybe have a chat with your diabetes nurse, it may be that your criteria don't fit e.g. BMI height/ weight ratio.
I'm not sure if this is significant also but they are in Southampton and the clinic has said they are only allowed to prescibe 2.5mg (I'm not sure how true that is on the clinic's part because, as we know, 2.5mg is a starting dose and I think 5mg is the first maintenance dose?)
Hope that helps x

I had papillary thyroid cancer, a total thyroidectomy and radio iodine over 5 years ago. I understand there is a possible association between mounjaro and follicular thyroid cancer. Would that rule me out? I certainly qualify on BMI grounds.

My friend is reluctant to take these because she has a gall stone, would it be ok for her to take them?

I am classed as overweight but have a fatty liver, I'm late 40s and perimenopausal. Would I be eligible? Also, with demand being so high do you foresee the cost coming down as it's not particularly affordable at the mo with cost of living but I'm desperate to loose my weight?! Thanks

I have a BMI of 30, and have had my gallbladder removed more than ten years ago. I’m peri menopausal and despite being relatively good with exercising regularly, I cannot stop snacking and I drink too much. Is there any treatment you could recommend for me?

I had treatment for breast cancer that ended 2.5 years ago…would I be able to take this medication?

A couple of my friends are a bit stuck now as the jab worked effectively but they seem to have gone past the looking great stage but now can’t seem to stop losing weight and they have really loose skin and are both talking about skin removal surgery and boob jobs. They feel stuck and are concerned they have to stay on the medication forever which is costly. Can they stop taking it and still stay slim?

I suffer from lipoedema and have noticed that these meds have significantly improved the pain and inflammation in my limbs.

Other than having a BMI over 40, I have no other health conditions so unlikely to be able to get an NHS prescription. Is there any proper data on the effects of these meds on fat disorders? Is there a possibility of these being rolled out to us?

I'm a Med Express user.

Ideally, I would like to reach my goal weight to suit NHS guidelines and then I'd like to begin reducing my dosage until a point where I no longer use it. I have a few months to go yet but I can't see anyone who has a 'plan' that I can look at to see how this would work in practice.

We are all aware that the food noise (the biggest plus for using the drug) is no longer diminished when the drug is not used and my worry is that I will then have to rely solely on my willpower. Are there research/findings to see how others have come off the injection and what would be the best way to do that? I really don't want to hear that I'm on the drug for life as finances won't allow it.
Many thanks

Be aware that Med Express are a difficult company to deal with with many customers leaving them.
There are better and cheaper suppliers out there.
don't be fooled into using Med Express because Mumsnet has chosen to advertise them.
Read the boards for better suppliers who don't mess you about.

Why do you offer price match but only against companies which are more expensive?
Bit misleading.

I have put on 5 stone in 8 years due to having steroids everyday. I have Addison’s disease and my endocrinologist advised against Jabs. Do you have any information on Addisons and weight loss jabs please?
I know others that have Addison’s and are on them but I’m just not sure but also desperate.

Are MedExpress members of the ABPI? The ABPI (Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry) Code of Practice regulates the promotion of prescription-only medicines (POMs) in the UK, including how information is provided to the public and patients. Prescription Only Medicines cannot be advertised to the general public. The ABPI Code sets standards for the promotion of prescription-only medicines to healthcare professionals and others involved in prescribing decisions. Critically, the code prohibits the direct advertising of prescription-only medicines to the general public.