Continuing Mounjaro Thread 10

[FlappyFish]

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

9th thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/5074054-continuing-mounjaropart-9

Thread for newbies just starting out:

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

Courtesy of Flappy, deputising for the wonderful Obsidian.

Very nauseous this morning- seems to be a common theme for me the day after an injection.

What does NSV mean?

Thanks! Just had another royal mail email to say delivery today so let's hope we both get them today

Non scale victory, such as fitting in to clothes that you couldn't before or other indicators of weight loss / progress beyond the number on the scale.

I’ve been away for a long weekend so not keeping up here. Very pleased to come home slightly lighter than when I left.

I am rethinking my two week holiday and considering taking the last two doses of a pen with me in my hand luggage. Airline rules look fine with it. Would the pen need to go in a clear plastic bag through security? I think I would need to start the next pen before I left and leave that one in the fridge at home - not perfect in terms of using a pen within 30 days but the old pen would only be out of the fridge for 10 days by the time I used the last dose. It would be coming to a hot country with me (and on a cruise) but I think I could store it in a ‘cooler’ in the room which would be better than nothing. I guess I should also take a sharps bin.

How are people answering the are you in week 20-24 of injectables question on MedExpress.
I am on week 9 now but have been ordering as soon as possible each time. So have my 10mg ordered (would usually be week 16-20) should I keep answering no until actually in week 20 or should I be saying I am in week 20 next time I order. Does it just trigger a weight check?

Thanks @BlackFriYay!

I would wait until you actually are in week 20. I think it triggers a check where you have to have lost a certain % of your body weight to continue.

@Bananabuttons I do think many of us went into this wondering would this work. I certainly did. After all, I’ve spent half my life dieting, regaining, sabotaging, full of self-loathing that I just didn’t have the willpower.

Ha! Well, this has worked. It has turned off my brain sabotaging me. It has corrected hormones. Food really is just fuel. I get zero dopamine hit from eating something “treaty.” It isn’t a treat. It’s just processed crap that my brain was telling me I needed. Guess what? I don’t. 😂

What does the Med Express packaging look like? I’ve made the decision not to tell my husband (he is a worrier and one of those annoying people that won’t even take paracetamol so I assume the thought of me taking MJ would send him into a tiz)

I took delivery of my first 2.5 from Voy while he was at work but I know he will be working from home for the foreseeable.

@Teddd non descript brown box for me.

For those who asked on the FB link I can send it. Just bear in mind if you use your real account etc. Wr share some things we may now write here lol.

So how much is Family Chemist for 12.5mg?
For some reason I can't get on their web page.

Or indeed, who else is cheapish?

I don't need it yet, have a 10mg to use but Med Express pricing and their lack of 12.5in stock is getting me twitchy!

I have joined some of the facebook groups on Mounjaro and while there is a ton of good info on there I'm also noticing that lots of people seem to be using these medications to literally eat as little as possible like 500 - 900 calories a day and that people want to keep up the very dramatic weight loss they had at the start so 10lbs a week weight losses, every week which seems unrealistic and kind of dangerous. I know that sometimes very low calorie diets are justified for medical issues but they are usually medically supervised for patient safety.

I am on mounjaro and I think these drugs are amazing in that they are helping very overweight and obese people, perhaps with insulin resistance finally lose weight and improve their health but I also worry that if people are using these medications to cut calories in an unsustainable way that they could end up harming themselves through lack of good nutrition or that when they do stop the medications they will gain back what they lost.

I certainly had a ton of fallout from crash dieting in my 20's a lot of which I am still dealing with now so perhaps I am sensitive to this and I know I want to focus on sustainability and the ability to maintain weight loss when I inevitably stop the medication.

Obviously what other people do is their business but it is disturbing to see how this drug is obviously being misused by some people to eat at an unhealthy, unsustainable deficit and also how all this plays out in wider culture, many of us here know being obese is no fun and horrible for your health but crash dieting is also pretty bad in most cases.

I just wondered what others though of this?

@montysma1

It's £185 for 12.5mg at The Family Chemist but if MedExpress don't have it in stock yet it's unlikely they do either as the 7.5mg and 10mg came into stock for all suppliers at the same time as that's when it arrived in the country.

It's currently manufactured in the US, although they are working on a manufacturing plant in Germany but it won't open until 2027.

@GingerNugget

I don't think anyone here is doing that, in fact some have been having to deliberately make sure they keep their calorie intake high enough to get all the protein and veg etc. that their body needs for good nutrition.

My daughter went on a major diet a couple of years ago and lost around 3 stone in a matter of months but then had really bad skin and hair problems. I realised she was probably nutritionally deficient as she hadn't eaten a balanced diet while doing so and so I sent her lots of vitamins, minerals, fish oils etc. (she was at uni in another city) and that put things right again. She did put pretty much all the weight back on again though and is on a diet again, albeit a more balanced one!

I've been losing weight very slowly (and seem to have gained some back this week!), I would like it to be faster but in a lot of ways it's better this way although could do with speeding it up a little bit as it's getting pricey this way!

@GingerNugget Yup I agree with you wholeheartedly. I left an MJ facebook group because I disagreed that you shouldn't take a dose every 3 days. I had a mod tell me I wasn't a doctor so I shouldn't be telling people not to take MJ every 3 days. Also the encouraging of disordered eating is absolutely ridiculous.

The people mismanaging their calorie intake, taking fake photos to get approved, upping doses etc are the ones that give these meds a bad name. It's like the people buying cheap fake meds off of Facebook pages and then end up in hospital and the tabloids blame the pharmaceutical company.

I really resonate with this! I have been dieting foe the last 20 years at least and was really successful of the Cambridge diet about 15 years ago and kept it off until I had a baby. Now for the last 5 years I’ve been trapped in the diet circle and failing at the Cambridge diet for years! I’ve started Mounjaro 3 weeks ago and due my third 2.5m jab tomorrow. I’m not feeling any hunger suppression and have so much food noise still!
really thinking of taking 2 x 2.5m doses for my third one? Has anyone done this?

@lurkylurk I really haven't noticed that issue here at all, it does seem to be over on the facebook groups. I've even seen posts where people are told to drastically cut their calories from an already substantial deficit to try and lose the most amount of weight in the shortest time. Its almost like they are putting pressure on others to do as they are doing. I was a teen in the 90's and it does give me some of the vibes I felt during the waif era where girls in my class would share tips on how to make themselves sick after eating to lose weight.

@R4ch402 Yeah that is exactly the kind of thing I am seeing on Facebook and its really concerning. I will probably leave myself as overall it doesn't seem a healthy space especially if people like yourself offering some reason just get shut down.

One possible consequence to the misuse of these medications is that they could end up more restricted if people are abusing them and ending up unwell meaning it will be much harder and more expensive for anyone to get them.

@Flower79 the doses do build up in your body over time so I wouldn't double up on your third as you're trying to gradually build up to avoid side effects initially. The jump to 5mg is hard, it's a big increase and it's left a lot of us with pretty grim side effects initially.

It really isn't unusual not to feel much on 2.5, annoying as it is.

I am feeling a bit down today. After reading everyone's losses etc... I realise that I am not losing as much.

I've definitely lost 7 pounds. I think I have lost 2 more this month. I am going up to 7.5 tomorrow. I just feel like my body isn't working. I am eating alot left. I started logging my calories and was averaging about 1200. Some days I'd have more and others less.

I wish I had the stone loss that others have had. I started at over 15 stone. I am hoping the 7.5 helps me to lose some.

My son has been really good and keeps saying I look so much slimmer. He said it's really impressive. But I just feel bloated, fat and a lost cause.

I am hoping this feeling won't last forever.

@Flower79 I did this for my fourth dose using the bonus dose. It is up to you but as KeepingUndercover said the dosage builds up each week so maybe better to be cautious and patient. I still feel I am being a bit patient on 7.5mg although the weight is coming off slowly now and started to with the 5mg dose. Some people have a bigger response than others.

@lurkylurk See that's what I thought! But med express email said they had no date for it "being back in stock" which then made me think they had had it and run out. I couldn't understand that either as very few folk should be far enough on for 12.5 yet.

Family Chemist was showing it as if it's in stock though. Or it was! I can't seem to access their web site after being on it this morning.
Maybe it's the weight of Mumsnetters jumping ship from Med Express!

Does any of you experience headaches on MJ? Im on week 3 dose 5mg and have a headache nearly every day which I never had before
just can’t decide if I should do another month of 5mg cos of it or go up to 7.5mg? Thoughts?
I have almost no weight lost so far this month as well and food noise is there most of the time ☹️