Continuing Mounjaro...part 14

[ObsidianTree]

Please note: Mounjaro will only be be prescribed initially if your BMI is above 30 until you get to a healthy BMI of 23 to BMI 25

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.
https://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 that 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, vomiting, headaches, aches, are side effects. There may 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. https://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.
https://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.

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

11 - 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), psylum husks(fibre for constipation), electrolytes.

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

13 - 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.

14 - 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: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/316618

15 - 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.

16 - 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.

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

Zava medical:
2.5mg £139, 5mg £139, 7.5mg £169, 10mg £189. 12.5mg £204. Zava offer refer a friend discount of 15% off. Ask for a code on here.

Simple online pharmacy:
£149 2.5mg, £149 5mg, £169 7.5mg £189 10mg

Bolt pharmacy:
2.5mg £149, 5mg £149. 7.5mg £169, 10mg £179, 12.5mg £199

MedExpress:
2.5mg and 5mg. £149.99. 7.5mg £169, 10mg £189. Coupon codes no longer working!

The Family Chemist:
2.5mg and 5mg £149. 7.5mg £169, 10mg £169, 12.5mg £194

Asda:
2.5mg and 5mg £179. 7.5mg £189, 10mg £189

There are others not listed.

18 - Worried about your supply being cut off when you get to a healthy BMI? Below is some info on some places maintenance plans.

MedExpress: Once at healthy BMI continue on maintenance dose for 6 months and then step down medication and monitor loss
The Family chemist :Would consult you as approached healthy BMI to discuss maintenance under close supervision
Curate: up to 2 years
Cloud: up to 2 years
Boots: Cut off at BMI 23
Asda: Cut off at a healthy BMI
Pharmacy2u: Will supply for maintenance
Bolt:Individual assessment once BMI 22
Zava:Once healthy BMI will stop prescribing this treatment

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:

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

2nd thread:

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

3rd thread:

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

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

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

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

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

8th thread:
https://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?page=1

10th thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/5080755-continuing-mounjaro-thread-10?page=1

11th thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/5085436-continuing-mounjaro-thread-11?page=1

12th thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight-loss-injections/5090788-continuing-mounjaro-thread-12?page=1

13th thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight-loss-injections/5096704-continuing-mounjaropart-13?page=1

Thread for newbies just starting out in June:

https://www.mumsnet.co
m/talk/weightlosschat/5082791-mounjaro-june-24-starters

Video on how to inject:

I saw that too. It is frightening.

Is it wrong that I find it quite amusing..
🤭

I've just registered and submitted an older using your code, thank you! Hopefully they accept me.. 😬

You're welcome! If it goes through then I'll be really pleased 🙂 Does anybody know roughly how long Zava take to review your application?

@BlackFriYay i submitted pics about 9am, will let you know when I hear back

@ObsidianTree @Letsgoogogo we might be needing that maintenance thread soon!!

I’m getting closer to my goal (less than a stone to go now). So I keep thinking about how the hell I’ll maintain. I’ve never achieved it after any diet. I plan to have at least one extra pen left after I reach goal so I can have some support, a friend suggested moving my dose to once every 10 days which I might consider. I weekly weigh and keep a weight loss diary so I think I need to do something similar for maintenance. I keto so I think I’m going to read the maintenance chapter in the Atkins book again!!

Hey all I've taken my
Fourth 2.5 and need to order my 5mg pen , zava refused me after I submitted my scales pic so will stay with pharmacy 2u which of course will be dearer.
I had some ( 2 slices ) of dominoes pizza this week , had the worse stomach cramps all night so that's put me off that
Well done to everyone continuing / losing / starting etc

Do you know why they refused you? Are you under BMI 30?

The discussion upthread is a perfect illustration of why I left Facebook. That level of toxic stupid plus the standard social media FOMO did my head in and I'm so much happier without it.

Looking forward to my 3rd 5mg this evening and hoping to keep on chipping away. I'm a slow loser by MJ standards averaging 1kg/2lb a week, but given that I've never ever managed to lose anything without actually being ill before this is a major achievement for me.

NSV was going to the gym today and working out properly despite the MJ-induced motivation slump.

@NiceUnusualDifferent I've tried Caroline Girvan, she's absolutely great. There's another thread on here for people doing her workouts. I ended up needing to go out to workout as home workouts felt like just another domestic chore (plus privacy, kids etc) but if your setup is different I think she's brilliant.

Bit of a moment of reflection for me too - I've been so pleased with losing over a stone and feeling so much lighter, getting into too-tight clothes etc, that I was actually quite surprised see myself in a swimsuit last week and recognise that there's still a fair degree of chunk here. No-one would look at me and think I've lost weight. Which I knew, intellectually, as I still have 3 stone to lose at 5'2", but the view and the feeling were so different it was startling. A non-NSV reminder of why I need to keep on keeping on, so good to keep it real.

I have a quick question about a thought that's niggling at me.

Do you think that this will be easily prescribed by GPs soon, and presumably if they prescribed it we'd be able to stay on it for maintenance too? I've just started, but keep worrying that I should have waited for a GP to prescribe it so I could stay on it for longer, and I suppose because I feel guilty for spending so much money on myself. My BMI is just under 40 and I have high blood pressure.

Presumably this won't happen anytime soon though? And hopefully my weight will be too low by the time it is readily available, and they won't prescribe just for maintenance. I really just want to get on with it, but keep having this guilty feeling!

Another Zava Code if anyone needs it. I've been using them since day 1 and found them very quick and efficient. They sadly don't seem to be doing maintenance doses yet, so I'm stocking up a little ready to titrate down. Only 11lbs to go to my target!

REFG26YA

SW 14st 2 - 17th March
CW 11st 7
GW 10st 10

if anyone else needs a code then here is mine 😊

There’s no better gift than the gift of good health. Use my code and you’ll get 15% off your first order at ZAVA: REFSGZS6
https://www.zavamed.com/uk/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=refer_a_friend
Maximum discount value: £30

A year from now you could be at goal by the time the NHS approves it you could be at a healthy BMI.

The money is a concern but I have found I have spent less on just eat and co op snacks.

Posting my zava code again of anyone needs 1 😊 REFGE8EX

@DesparatePragmatist that’s also the reason why I deleted my FB in 2018! Can’t believe it’s been 6 years! Haven’t missed it a day!

Btw, 1 kg / 2 lbs per week is not slow AT ALL! It’s the perfect sustainable amount, may we all be blessed with these losses! I think in most cases it’s only the first week (maybe the first week on each new dose?) that people see bigger losses. You’re doing awesome!

I think “soon” is the operative word here, and what is soon enough? With a BMI just under 40 (I am the same!), I wouldn’t want to wait around to find out. I would want to move as far away from that as quickly as possible due to all the health risks this level carries.

On the feeling guilty spending this on yourself, I think most of us can relate. But I look at it as an investment in my health and wellbeing. It’s the highest form of self-care, self-love and self-respect I could possibly give myself right now. And I deserve it. We all deserve it.

@DesparatePragmatist @3wDavid I gave up Facebook a few years ago, I'm still a member as occasionally need to check out marketplace or a group for work, but otherwise I pretend it doesn't exist. I replaced it with Reddit though!

Weight up this morning as we had kebabs and cider (I didn't actually finish my single can) last night with the teens to celebrate end of A levels.
My exercise this weekend has been painting the bathroom, which definitely feels like a workout.
I bought some salad stuff in this week's shop so I can prep lunches for work as I keep just having a yogurt and a cuppa soup, but really want to increase my fibre.

I've got about 3 and a half stone to go until I'm around BMI 24, so a long way to go yet. If I can lose an average of half a stone a month, I'll still be on this into next year!

Ugh I left FB in 2010. It is full of complete morons.

There is sometimes a very fine line on here between a newbie (yes we were all once MJ newbies I know) and someone who clearly hasn’t done any research or even bothered to read post one of any of our threads.

When I first joined the threads back in march, I used feel sorry for the newbies who would be directed to the first page and previous threads.

Now I understand the annoyance that they haven't even bothered to read the FIRST post, never mind the insert or do any kind of research whatsoever and so ask easily answered questions!

@DesparatePragmatist thank you. I can't go out to exercise yet (single parent) so hopefully it will be OK for now. Used to run a lot and hoping to get back to that when I can.

I agree re FB some really good advice but you have to sift through some shit to get there. My favourite thing today was there's no such thing as a calorie!

Oh and a small.NSV today, I've been able to paint my toenails. Can't remember last time I could reach comfortably!

Right?!

On what planet do you inject yourself with a drug you have paid hundreds of pounds for without even understanding it?!

‘hiya I’ve injected 2 days ago and felt nothing and lost nothing is this normal?’ 🙄

I find that everytime I go onto a Facebook group (not ours!) I just see the same questions being asked over and over again. I feel like most people that have been in a Facebook group over time knows how to use the search function, yet time and time again the same questions come up.

I do like to stay as sometimes I might have a question about a higher dose or something relevant to me, so I do a search to see if it's be asked before. I usually find the answers that way.

But generally I find them too tiresome to stay on and read all the posts