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:

Wait until the hot weather has passed over. So many of us hold water weight in the heat.

I agree. This is such a new era we are experiencing in regard to these medications. My experience so far having had to go to the doctors and the A&E department recently is that hardly any of them even knew the names of these drugs. Some of them were vaguely aware of their existence but had to go and look it up on the internet to find out what I was referring to. Obviously this will change over time.

I think I've answered my own question by doing a bit of googling. I think I'll class today as day 1 of the 21 day window in which the pen would be ok to use at room temp, therefore I will step up to 7.5 when I get home from holiday and just use more clicks. Use this pen up first and then finish ah offf my 5mg pen that has been left in the fridge and which probably has 7.5mg in (final 5mg dose plus a bit extra of the "bonus" dose.

The 21 days apply to the US, it's 30 days below 30° in the UK.

I cannot wait to move up to 7.5mg this week! I'm definitely doing this all on willpower at this point. Also this month I've lost the least weight.

Pen 1: 2.5mg - 12.4lb lost
Pen 2: 5mg - 10.8lb lost
Pen 3: 5mg - 5.6lb lost.
I'll be lucky if I lose another half a lb before Thurs.

Appetite and food noise is back. I'm still making good choices 80% of the time, but a couple of biscuits/slices of toast etc have slipped in.

Violent side effects and dosed up on Imodium suddenly 17 weeks in and on my 4th 10mg dose. It’s really weird. I haven’t had anything like this before. I suppose I have used a new pen for this dose as I am keeping the end of the old one for my holiday. Maybe it’s something about the batch? I am planning to go down to 7.5 for the next few weeks anyway - I can’t live like this. A bit worried I am going to get dehydrated.

Me too. The last significant hair loss was when I did keto. The worse of the hair loss was three months after I started. My hairdresser confirmed that any drastic change in diet or pregnancy can cause hair loss around the three month mark.

I've been taking marine collagen (and aiming for high protein) to help prevent hair loss. I have thin hair anyway due to PCOS and could not afford to lose more!

As far as I can tell, it's helping.

I think like most people maintaining my goal weight scares me as in 15 years of diets I’ve never achieved it. I want this time to be different. I hope the prescribers wise up and come up with a suitable plan. I have stock piled a little, if I stay on track I should have 1 pen / 5 doses to give me some help which I plan to take every 10 days. If I can get another pen I will.

RE hair loss. I shedded quite a bit of hair just prior to starting MJ. It seems to have stopped. I’m going to start taking biotin.

I’m still stalled 😭😭 2 weeks now of no movement on the scale! I’ve had a very up and down schedule for these two weeks (very busy, lots of random meals out) so hoping that might be the reason I’ve stopped making progress? Just going to have to keep telling myself at least I’m not gaining weight! I am at the point where I’ve lost approx 10% of my starting weight so I wonder if my body has reached one of those static ‘I want to stay at this weight please’ points and that’s why the scale is refusing to move?

Sharing my code again for any new starters to zava 😊 REFGE8EX

Would any one of you lovelies have a referral code for Huel please? Apparently it will give me £10 off. Thanking you muchly! 😊

@MelissaLouRocks here you go!

Huel are offering £15 off your next order when spending £46 or more. It's super easy to use, just follow the link below. https://huel.mention-me.com/m/wa/rd4uw-939ff38cff

@giraffetasticc Its annoying isn't it! I had a stall. I keto so I upped my fluid, took a look at my protein and fat intake, back to basics - plain food for me works better than fancy complex stuff. And after a week it broke. I buy into this idea of a re-feed too, so if you've been a tad low on calories maybe try eating more. Good luck, I'm sure it will pass.

Fab, thank you! 😊

I’ve received an email from Bolt today (after I located info in my junk folder!) about this. It refers to 21 days out of the fridge too.
I keep my pen in the fridge anyway but thought it was worth sharing.

Ooh that’s spot on re: the dopamine seeking! Mine is home redecorating. I see a wall, I re-paint it. I see pictures in frames, I rearrange them. Was never like this pre-Mounjaro!

I've started some beginner strength training videos on Youtube. 20 minute sessions, quite manageable and I've enjoyed it. Planning on buying some resistance bands and will try a resistance video too.

The patient leaflet states 30 days. UK is different as ours have preservatives added.

Everywhere I look it says between .75 – 1.5g per kilo of your bodyweight, so surely that will vary enormously depending on the individuals weight. If I were to aim for 45g I'd be massively under my goal because I'm really heavy. I've been aiming for 100g (initially only because I saw it on this thread) and have had so much more energy when I manage that. Might just be worth clarifying grammes per kilo rather than overall quantity.

Hello everyone. Checking in after week 17. I've had three very busy weekends away at theme parks with home living so lots of unhealthy foods :/ I had a bit of a stall but period has arrived and I've had a woosh!

Can't wait for my 7.5mg pen next week, sorely needed the step up.

Current weight loss is 58lbs since starting Mounjaro, 60 lbs since my highest weight in jan. 3 more stone until I reach my first goal, will be the lowest weight I've been since I was 14!!!!

Has anyone had their 12.5 and can confirm the expiry date? Not sure when to buy my next pen as I'm stock piling a little.

Great loss @Thebaldprimadonna.

I found some trousers in the wardrobe this morning, size 14 petite - they fit 🤯. I even went out in public in a dress yesterday - only to b&q but it's a start at feeling comfortable enough that I'm not disgustingly fat anymore.

I'm starting to worry that by the time I've lost another 2st I will have to buy a whole new wardrobe of clothes (which I don't want to do as I have a ridiculous amount of clothes. I have a handful of size 12 items that I didn't sell/donate but almost everything is size 14 to 20. I might end up aggressively tumble drying them for maximum shrinkage 😄.

Today did it.........I hit 9st 13lb!
Never did I think I would see a 9 again!

BMI 23.2

Should I set sail for another target of 9st
My aim in this was always to hit 10st +and at 9 I would probably be a bit skinny and hard to sustain.

Also, when I was last 9st I was running marathons and was a ball of muscle.
9st of saggy flesh is a different thing entirely!

Just realises Vilgain delivery is one to two weeks! I'll stop looking out of the window for a van! We are so used to next day delivery.

Well done on the losses today everyone!

To those on a stall, sending whoosh wishes to you!