Continuing Mounjaro...part 16

[ObsidianTree]

Please note: Mounjaro will only be be prescribed initially if your BMI is above 30. If you have additional health conditions you can get the medication with a BMI 27. (Prediabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or heart problems)

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 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 - Some people find that they don't need to go up a pen dose each month if the current pen dosage is working well for them. If you are unsure when to go up, speak to your prescriber.

8 - If you are having bad side effects after titrating up or you are struggling to eat your calories each day, your dose may be too high so should consider lowering your dose. Speak to your prescriber if unsure.

9 - 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

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

11 - 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

12 - Protein is important as eating less protein can cause muscle wastage and hair loss.

Some natural sources of protein:
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/best-sources-protein

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321522#high-protein-foods

13 - 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.

14 - Drink lots of water. Water helps with the weight loss. Try and drink at least 2ltrs a day.

15 - 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.

16 - 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

17 - 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.

18 - 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.

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

MedExpress:
2.5mg and 5mg. £149.99. 7.5mg £169.99, 10mg £189.99. 12.5mg £209.99. 15mg £209.99 Coupon codes no longer working!

The Family Chemist:
2.5mg and 5mg £149. 7.5mg £169, 10mg £169, 12.5mg £194, 15mg £199

Zava medical:
2.5mg £139, 5mg £139, 7.5mg £169, 10mg £189. 12.5mg £204. 15mg £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, 15mg £199

Asda:
2.5mg and 5mg £179. 7.5mg £189, 10mg £189, 12.5mg £204 15mg £204

There are others not listed.

20- You will still be prescribed Mounjaro when your BMI falls below 30. However, it may be harder to move suppliers once you BMI is below 30 if you wanted to move.

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

The Family chemist :Would consult you as approached healthy BMI to discuss maintenance under close supervision(if you started with family chemist)
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 and does offer maintenance
Zava:Once healthy BMI will stop prescribing this treatment
Med Express: BMI 25 and cut off.

22 - 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

14th thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight-loss-injections/5102149-continuing-mounjaropart-14?page=1

15th thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight-loss-injections/5107426-continuing-mounjaropart-15?page=1

Thread for newbies just starting out in July:

https:/
/www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight-loss-injections/5101435-mounjaro-july-2024

Video on how to inject:

@Forevafatty Curate tried to palm me off saying it was fine if not cloudy, fine for 30 days etc.

I got very stroppy saying I had a pen to finish and would be outwith 30 days by the time I used theirs.

Told them that courier issues were their problem and not mine.

Said they are legally obliged to provide me with medications delivered in good condition and able to be used according to manufacturers time frame otherwise they are putting patients at risk!
They sent replacements!

@Forevafatty If the don't respond, open a case with your bank to recall the payment. Explain that the med arrived late and not chilled and so is not safe to use.

Oh my god - I think I’m broken. I’m half way through week 4 on 2.5 and been pretty much symptom free. I’ve now had an upset stomach since yesterday AM and it’s horrific! I’m really bloated and gassy and slightly traumatised every time I go to the loo. If anyone else has had this; how long did it last?! And how can I make it stop?! 🤢

@toomanycushionshere I had this when I went up to a higher dose and my body wasn't ready. The runs lasted a few days. Word of advice... Never trust a fart when you have the runs! Thank god I was working from home when I shat myself!

Did you take your 4th dose and kept the 5th dose for the next week, or did you take both doses to make first 5mg dose?

Hope you feel better soon

@ObsidianTree It was just a normal 2.5 dose. Ironically I’ve been planning on staying on 2.5 for another month because it’s working well enough and I’ve been worried about getting side effects!

@toomanycushionshere 24hrs. Sleep and imodium did the trick.

Has anyone else had problems with ZAVA honouring the friends referral code?

A poster from mumsnet used my code. Yet I have never received an email from ZAVA with my 15% off. I have emailed them three times and just get a generic email back of how to share my code with friends. The poster who used my code even pm-ed me her name and order number to email to ZAVA... cue another generic email about how to share my code. Arghhhh!

I do and can confirm Hira is very helpful. I'm going to stay with them for as long as they'll have me.

@toomanycushionshere hopefully it's a one off and goes away.

@diian if you go to put an order through with Zava, a few steps into the process you scroll to top to see order and you can add the Zava code. They are preloaded so you don't need a coupon code. You select to use a coupon before proceeding with order. Think it's after the part where you add the postage. It will tell you how many coupon codes you have to use.

@diian check here. It is after selecting postage you can access it.

Thursday morning weigh in and jab time.

SW: 12.6.6
CW: 10.6.0
IGW: 10.0.0

Going to go for the full 7.5 from my new pen. I was thinking of staying on 5, but on consideration (and lack of symptoms from a bonus 5+2 last week) think I'll stay on plan.

16th week, and 2 stone 6 oz lost.

A super NSV this week - I was getting ready to go out and watch the football last night, I've bought a couple of new (to me) charity shop pairs of jeans and some boots. It was lovely to try on clothes and decide what to wear! I could choose which outfit looked good, not end up going with which looked 'least bad'.

And I can do up my old leather jacket, which hasn't even come close to meeting across my boobs in many a year.

Your comment about choosing what to wear versus what you have to wear that doesn’t look terrible really resonated with me. It’s been so freeing having lots of clothes that all fit and feeling good in them. I keep expecting to put something on and it being tight (I’m in a stall) but I need to rewire my brain that the 46lbs I’ve lost isn’t going to come back on overnight after a bad day! 😀

@toomanycushionshere I've remained on 2.5mg so side effects have been limited but for the bloating which was terrible in the first few weeks I used "Rennie Deflatine" I think it helped a bit. I have also been taking Psyllium Husk (the solgar one on amazon) and its been brilliant, I'll keep taking this post MJ too.

I got blocked for posting too much 😭

I need to be careful! Didn't realise this was a thing! Can someone finish off the other thread please!

😮😮😮

Who knew that was a thing!!!

Thanks @MelissaLouRocks for finishing thread 15! Hope you haven't got blocked too for doing it! I was unable to post for about 5-10mins... If you are blocked!

Did exactly the same to me, only tried to post 3 words in total ffs! Never had that before.

I ordered a 15mg pen from Zava yesterday. I fully expected them to ask me for more pics, but they didn't.

I know for new customers they are asking for more, but currently seems like existing customers don't have to have additional pictures taken.

Maybe it was the spamming of the thread with one word posts! But didn't realise that was a thing!

NSV - I have 4 coats that have been hanging in my house for 5 years with their tags on as I could not get anywhere near them meeting around my belly and boobs.

I just tried them on and they zipped up and there was even daylight between me and the zipper. I feel quite emotional as I have felt a failure for my whole life due to my weight and now I know I can get to a healthy weight.

Thank you to this thread and for whoever’s discount code I used to push me to start this journey. I started in the last week of May and it has been life changing already not just physically, but the mental relief from the absence of food chatter and negative cycle of overeating and guilt cannot be underestimated.

Hi all,
Ive taken the plunge and had my first dose delivered! Eek. Very nervous.
My questions to you experts are:

1. i was abroad when pen was delivered 4 days ago- my mum received it and put it in the fridge for me- is this okay? And....
2. I was planning to start today, but have started my period and may wait a few days as the period side effects are bad enough..... so the pen would have waited in the fridge for use for about 12 days by the time im ready to begin. Will this be alright.do you think?

Thanks. Im very hopeful. Prescribed by med express. Im type 2 diabetic but where I am docs are only prescribing pills not injections. Dr told me if i can afford it then deffo go for it.
No diet has EVER worked for me and ive steadily gone from about 9 stone to my current weight.

SW 16 STONE
GW- No idea yet!

Has anyone moved to Care pharmacy? Seems to be the prices with no need for referral codes and free next day delivery.
2.5 is £119
5 is £139
7.5/10 £159

How much is Oushk? Can’t see a price list which puts me off!

@Forgodsakethinkofthekids if it went in fridge as soon as it was received, it will be ok in the fridge until the expiry date. The 30 day rule is once you have taken your first dose.

Good luck for when you start ☺️

@ObsidianTree that happened to me when I was trying to finish off 13 or 14. I thought it was just me!

Oushk have their prices, for each dose, on their website https://www.oushkpharmacy.com/medications/mounjaro/