Continuing Mounjaro...part 9

[ObsidianTree]

Please note: Mounjaro can only be taken if your BMI is above 30.

Pointers for newbies:

1 - For taking your first dose you need to twist the pen a lot to get to 1! The instructions say prime each time you take a dose, but actually Eli Lilly have confirmed you only need to prime for the first ever use of a pen. (The video posted says every use, but this isn't true!)

2 - When injecting, hold down the button until the number goes back to 0. Once at 0, keep holding down the button and count to 5 with the needle still in so no medication is lost!

3 - Your first dose may not have an immediate effect. For some people the effects build slowly. It could take 3 or 4 days to notice anything, it could take a few weeks. Some people don't feel the meds working until they get to 5mg. See titration chart which shows how the medication builds up in your system. Also below you can plot the effect of your doses.
glp1plotter.com/

4 - 2.5mg isn't a therapeutic dose, meaning you aren’t meant to lose on 2.5mg. You need to start on 2.5mg to get your body used to the drug and gradually introduce it into your system and get used to any side effects.

5 - Not everyone loses a lot in the first few weeks. Don't feel discouraged if you don't lose a lot initially. Again, you might need a higher dose to start losing. Also, inches can be lost without anything showing on the scales. Start your journey by taking measurements and check them as you go along.

6 - If you do lose a lot in the first few weeks, please don't assume you will continue losing at this rate. The first few weeks it is usually water weight that is lost, after than a good weight loss is about 2lbs a week. Some weeks you might not lose anything, but this is ok too…again, taking measurements might show inches lost instead.

7 - Constipation, coldness, nausea, diarrhea, headaches, aches, are side effects. There may be be other side effects also. Read info here :

www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/15481/pil#about-medicine

8 - Once you take your first dose you can choose to keep your pen in the fridge or somewhere else. It's up to you.

9 - Don't reuse any needles as this could risk infection. If you damage a needle or one isn't working, you can buy a pack of about 100 spares. www.chemist-4-u.com/carepoint-pen-needles-31g-4mm-pack-of-100?gclid=Cj0KCQjwiYOxBhC5ARIsAIvdH51rLZBVFQxuvS7mDJooegtK8BMiyT0PwREMRHhH_1atfQIo8TEbsmkaAkA0EALw_wcB

Also there is a 5th dose in each pen. To extract it you can either try a hard twist or use an insulin needle.
medbasic.co.uk/bd-micro-fine-30g-1ml-syringes-needles

10 - Protein is important as eating less protein can cause muscle wastage and hair loss. Try to have at least 100g a day.

11 - Some natural sources of protein:
www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/best-sources-protein
www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321522#high-protein-foods

12 - You can use supplements, some that people use are magnesium(for sleep and constipation), protein(to reduce muscle wastage), collagen (skin elasticity), aloe vera(for constipation), electrolytes.

13 - Drink lota of water. Water helps with the weight loss. Drink at least 2ltrs a day. Preferably 3ltrs.

14 - Don't be afraid to feel hungry. It is entirely normal and healthy to feel hungry. Just eat something. Treat it as an opportunity to start good habits around hunger. Eat a nice balanced snack or a meal if it's a meal time. It's ok.

15 - Does it makes any difference where you inject? yes it does! Drugs get absorbed at different rates depending on injection site

In order of fastest absorption, it goes:
• Tummy
• Arms
• Thighs
furthet reading about injection sites and the effects: www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/316618

16 - Abdominal side-effects are much easier to control with smaller meals. For example, having 4 small meals in the day vs 2 big meals can have an improvement in nausea and burps.

17 - You can track your calories / protein on apps such as My fitnessPal, Carb Manager or Nutracheck. Nutracheck is quite useful and easy to find foods /build recipes.

18 - Some of the places you can order from are:

MedExpress 2.5mg and 5mg. £149.99. 7.5mg £169. Use code STARTNOW. Ask for other codes if that doesn't work.
The Family Chemist 2.5mg and 5mg -£149. 7.5mg £169.
Simple online pharmacy - £159 2.5mg £179 5mg
Bolt pharmacy 2.5mg £125, 5mg £179. 7.5mg £189
Asda 2.5mg and 5mg £184. 7.5mg £189
Boots £219 +
Chemist4U £179 +
Superdrugs

19 - If you want to switch suppliers, make sure you have pics of your Mounjaro box with your name and dose. This will come in useful when other suppliers ask for evidence.

1st thread:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/5007744-mourjano-starting-soon?page=1

2nd thread:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/5028495-continuing-murnjaropart-2?page=1

3rd thread:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/5037623-continuing-mounjaropart-3?page=1

4th thread:
www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/5044316-continuing-mounjaropart-4?page=1

5th thread:
www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/5048290-continuing-mounjaropart-5?page=1

6th thread:
www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/5057916-continuing-mounjaropart-6?page=1

7th thread:
www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/5062935-continuing-mounjaropart-7?page=1

8th thread:
www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/5068850-continuing-mounjaropart-8?page=1

Thread for newbies just starting out:

http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weight_loss_ch
at/5057475-mounjaro-and-wegovy-newbies-april-2024

Hello! Longtime Mumsnet lurker, wanting to join your discussion has finally made me sign up! After thinking about it for ages I just did an online consultation and got approved for Mounjaro today. Lost a stone a while back through healthy lifestyle changes but longtime plateau and still over 30 bmi. Really hoping this can help me get down to a healthier weight! It’s just been a slow gain since my first kid many years ago (I’ve had 3, oldest is a teen). Great to be able to be on here to have a place to discuss this!

Thanks @AgathaMystery That does make me feel slightly better about my next dose. Think I’m still going to be terrified when the time comes though. My husband has been supportive about me doing this but after last night he’s changed his mind and doesn’t think it’s worth getting in that kind of state. Will give it one more try and hopefully things can only get better!

Hi Scalessayeek
Are you planning on taking your injection away with you or giving yourself a break to enjoy the food?

Well done on your amazing loss by the way Scalessayeek x

@Ghilliedu

I had a bit of a rough time a couple of days after my first 3.75mg, not as bad as you but did spend a day in bed and had quite a bit of diarrhoea and nausea. Did same dose again this week, still some diarrhoea and nausea but a good deal better than last week. Maybe cut down the dose a bit for this week, like 3.25mg or something to ease into it?

@CoolRanch

Welcome, let us know how you get on and well done on the stone lost already.

Stall is over! Finally dropped below 91kg having hovered around 91.4kg for about 3 weeks.
Am away with work tomorrow and Thursday so am likely to gain it back but at least I know it's possible now! Had good appetite suppression yesterday but hunger is creeping in today.
Really looking forward to breaking the 90kg mark, maybe by the end of next week (stall has not left me feeling very confident...).
Still get the occasional runs but generally side effect free at present.

Thank you for the welcome, I will let you know how it goes once it arrives and I get started!

@CoolRanch

In case it's useful there's also a thread for people new to Mounjaro here:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/5057475-mounjaro-and-wegovy-newbies-april-2024

Those going on holiday to Spain, buy Trofolastin stretch mark cream. Can be also bought via online chemists or even Amazon (cheaper in Spain). Novartis product. Main use is during / after pregnancy but it is also used during weight loss treatments. Holy Grail.

Thanks. Off to Madrid next week, which is handy!

Yeah I might cut my dose a wee bit, this seems like a good idea.

managed to eat a couple of crackers at lunch and they’ve stayed down so far. I’m still in bed though and my legs are ACHING

Well done for all today's losses

Welcome to the new starters 😊

Seems the positives of wegovy has made it to tv. Excellent progress. If they are seeing benefits for heart health, it might well soon be more freely available on the NHS if it saves money long term.

Hi everyone I’m going to get my bonus dose from my 2.5 pen tomorrow using the insulin needles.
Someone posted a few threads back how much a dose each ml is, can anyone point me in the direction of it as I can’t for the life of me find it?

0.6 ml is a whole dose from any of the pens. So if you want an extra 2.5mg dose tomorrow then draw up 0.6ml of the solution from your 2.5 mg pen.

I’ve been reading these threads over the last few weeks and I finally thought “fuck it, what have I got to lose?” (Other than loads of weight!)

I have been overweight since childhood. I was sad and lonely and over-ate. Always hated exercise as an asthmatic and never found anything I liked other than swimming.. then didn’t want to swim and be “exposed.” I briefly lost weight in my mid-teens and was a size 10-12 and then slowly gained and gained. I’m tall so have always been able to carry my weight relatively well. My weight was stable from my late teens to early 20s. I was probably 17-18 stone. Which to some of you will probably sound huge but that was a relatively happy time in that I looked curvy and still felt attractive.

Cut to now. I’m in my mid 30s and have had two pregnancies in two and a half years and last year I had my gallbladder removed. Ticked all the at risk criteria: female, fair, fertile, under forty and FAT. While I waited for surgery I was on a completely fat free diet. I was 23st4lb when the gallballer problems started in July and 20st3lb the day of my surgery in October. So I CAN lose weight. Not eating fat was easy. The prospect of a gallbladder attack was too terrifying to contemplate it to be honest.

So my surgery was in October 23 and I was determined to keep up with the weight loss. As of last week I was 22st10lb. In just over 6 months I’d basically gained all the weight I lost back. Enough is enough. I want the food noise/obsession gone. I eat well, I cook from scratch, I don’t eat meat, buy organic blah blah. But I over eat and I pick all day and my portions are too big and I eat from the kids plates. I’m not stupid enough to think I’ve just gained all this weight back by eating well.

I used a Voy code and took my first 2.5 Mounjaro dose on Sunday evening. I feel great. I’m having a protein shake in the morning, salad at lunch and something veg and protein rich in the evening. I couldn’t finish my dinner last night. When I say, I’ve never not finished a meal I am not exaggerating! No desire to snack at all.

I am excited and nervous about where this journey is going to take me but for the first time ever I am feeling hopeful? It’s Tuesday. I took this medication less than 48 hours ago and I can already feel it working. A bit burpy but other than that, no side effects.

If anyone is reading this and lurking like I was, and maybe thinking about taking the plunge oh my gosh do it.

At the start of last week I was 22st10lb. I had the shock of my life and began eating well on Monday 6 May. Took first dose on Sunday 12 May.

SW: 22st10lb
CW: 22st
GW: 18st is my first target!

Welcome @Teddd . Sound like you have made a great start already. Good luck 😊

@Teddd sounds like you're off to a great start!

I've noticed family chemist is £169 for 10mg. Do they tend to have coupons?

I MedExpress is still cheaper with a coupon code. But next order I might ask if they price match!

Anyone, who has had a lot of side effects, how long did they take to stop? I had no effects, negative or positive on 2.5mg, which I took for a month. Moved up to 5mg on a Sunday evening and vomited and diaharrea on the Monday morning, blamed it on roast I had on the Sunday, lessened the food noise and not so much full as bloated and slight nausea for the week. Took my second dose Sunday evening just gone, being careful what I ate and fine Monday morning. Didn't eat a lot yesterday but had an ice cream in the evening. Up all night vomiting and diaharea and so much gas, woke me up every two hours with bloated gas again and still suffereing from diaharea and nausea today, so much so I had to call in sick. Getting a bit down in the dumps about it, convincing myself I'm one of the few who it won't work for and I'm destined to be obese. Would love to hear from other people who experienced these symptons but they disappeared after a few days to give me some motivation.

@RunningAndSinging @ViolaPlains
Strangely, I’d actually looked into retatrutide before signing up for mounjaro. They are currently underway with clinical trials called TRIUMPH - this is a link to just one of the studies (if you navigate to main and search triumph they all come up). The next big thing is boosting metabolism.

For some reason I wasn’t eligible when I tried to register for the clinical trial but someone else might be (though not if you’re already on MJ!)

Please someone reassure me… I took my first 5mg dose on Thursday after being on 2.5 for a month. I have had no change to my appetite etc. in fact I have gone back to eating my usual huge portions! Is MJ not going to work for me? I feel like a lost cause 😪

I took my first dose yesterday and my clothes haven't fallen off yet. What am I doing wrong?

Seriously though, I don't know if I feel different/full or it's all in my head. I haven't snacked once today, which is amazing for me. I just can't wait to be a few weeks down the line.

Just taken my last 2.5mg dose and there was absolutely loads left in the pen. Like a good quarter of the clear bit was still full. I could only twist it about 20 clicks so I just took that dose as an extra to bridge between 2.5 and 5, but then I twisted it super hard and it kept going- pretty sure it was over a whole extra dose. I have chucked it as couldn’t see a way to use it as next week I want to take the full 5mg and can’t take extra but I can see how that would be very useful if you’re on the same dose for two pens in a row

@MelissaLouRocks glad you are feeling better now and that you are focusing on the positives. Hopefully this is a much better week for you 💪