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:

OMG the 30 day shred with Jillian! I could only get to day 3!! Jesus I did say 3 over and over for about a year ‘if it feels hard it’s SUPPOSED TO FEEL HARD!’ gahhhhh

Thank you for all the swimwear recommendations. I swim in the sea land rivers and a local ford and my wetsuit is also now massive. I’m going to try it on tomorrow and then get it on vinted I think. It’s a good one. I use my speedo under it for swimming so I do need a decent suit.

Had a family party to attend today. Felt very slim in my dress but I've seen a few photos and I still looked fat, especially my face side on. I'm bmi 28.2 now so not that far from a normal weight.

We didn't get fed until after 4pm and my brother was very shocked to hear I'd not eaten since the previous evening and wasn't even hungry. No one mentioned my weight loss even though it is extremely noticeable now.

The food was crap so I ended up eating 3 slices of pizza, a couple of bites of desserts and a slice of party cake. Was hoping to do better.

On the plus side I tried on a bikini this morning (36G and 16 bottoms) and it was far too big. Unfortunately I sold all my smaller swimwear last summer. My stomach is too awful to be seen in public anyway.

I am the same, although I am only on 5mg. I still get cravings for junk food, still get hungry etc. The only real thing that has changed is that I require smaller portions in general to feel satisfied and I usually stay full until it’s time to eat again. Obviously I don’t want to have bad side effects 😂 but I do feel a bit envious about those that don’t even crave it, or don’t have the “food noise” anymore. Of course it could all change on 7.5 or 10mg! I tell myself that it’s probably closer to what life after MJ will be like.

@CormorantStrikesBack that's how I felt until around 2 weeks ago. I'm on 10mg now but had around 18wks where I felt I wasn't feeling what others were. These last two weeks have been so different. I'm hardly ever hungry now. I've only lost around 2lb since that feeling started though.

Hi!! I’m fairly new to MJ, it was a spur of the moment decision to go for it when my ‘fat jeans’ wouldn’t do up. I’m 5’7” and at my lightest was a size 10; if I could get to that I’d be so happy, but to be honest a dress size or two would be such a confidence boost. I am on my second week of 2.5mg with MedExpress. So far I’ve been ok, first dose was amazing and I wasn’t hungry for about 48hrs. It wore off fast though so I went a day early on my second dose (the advice on here made me feel much more comfy to do that, so thank you). The only other side effects are that I’m freezing cold all the time and I can’t poo! But I can cope with those if it means I can get back into my size 16 jeans.

I have some questions about how it works with MedExpress. What evidence do I have to provide to go up to the next dose next month? I don’t own any scales so had to weigh in at the gym. And what happens when I get to my goal weight? Do I reduce gradually or just stop? I should have done more research before I started really but I am glad I took the plunge.

Ah great thanks very much for that!

@Whaddo I managed to miscalculate by a huge amount one week.
The suppression was immense and made me really keen to get to higher dose pens!.

I had no ill effects. However, I have had no side effects at all for the whole journey, so it might affect others differently.

@Whaddo you should be absolutely fine. Possibly more suppressed than usual and maybe a little nauseous. Everyone reacts differently but that's not too big a leap.

Although having said that I'm a cautionary tale to not take this medication lightly, I recently accidentally took too high a dose too, I was at the end of month two of 7.5mg, took my bonus dose without properly calculating the amount but it was more like 12mg+ than 10mg. I had severe D&V the next day, vomiting every seven minutes or so (my DH was timing as he was worried he may have to call 111 as it was getting so relentless). Luckily it passed after a few hours but it wiped me out for a good few days.

But my experience was extreme and I'd overdone the dosage by a lot more.

Definitely worth always having electrolytes on hand for moments of stomach upset though (whether they're mild or extreme).

You couldn't make it up, after weighing in at 3lbs heavier yesterday I'm another 0.2lbs heavier this morning.

Calorie deficit maintained, even went out for a slow bike ride.

Either these scales are broken or I am 😂

I'm week 2 of my first 7.5 pen.

This is the first time in 16 weeks this has happened to me. I've had the odd +2lb around my period which later fell off but never showing consecutive increases like this.

I've re read what you all said to me yesterday and I'm hanging on to that to stop me having a strop 🤣

I did similar with my last 7.5mg pen. I was using it to titrate up to 10mg slowly and had a few weeks of odd doses like 8.25mg etc. Then towards my last doses when I got close to the bonus dose, when twisting my pen it got to the stop point before the bonus dose so I couldn't count clicks properly. I managed to do to hard twist method to get beyond the stopper, but could no longer count clicks. So felt I was injecting blind! I couldn't work out what I had taken. Was aiming for 10mg but was horrified when I thought I had taken about 13.5mg! Was so stressed worrying about it kicking in. But then figured out it was probably less that I took at about 11.25ish. Which luckily I got away with and my body accepted it!

However this won't help you if you have taken 10mg when you haven't had long on 7.5mg. I think you might know by now if you have reacted badly to it. Hopefully its not bad. Some people can handle the higher doses so hopefully you're one of the lucky ones. If not, then I think expect a few days of diarrhoea and possibly some vomiting. Hope you're ok!

Welcome and good luck @shovelyjo

@PissedOffNeighbour22 I also had a family party Saturday. Everyone said I looked slim and had lost a load of weight, but when I looked at the pics I think I still look big. My face that I thought was slimmer still bad a double chin etc. my arms/shoulders still look broad. My BMI is about 27.7 ISH. Hopefully we will start feeling we look better soon!

I’ve started week 5 using my bonus dose thank you for the help to get that out. I took 0.7ml in a syringe so just over the 2.5mg as I figured it will help me titrate up. I have a 5mg pen ready in the fridge for next week. It’s been really helpful and supportive to read the updates on here. I stalled in weight lose last week but instead of worrying about it after seeing others on here have same issue I’ve just focused on the positives & re measured myself to find I’ve lost an inch off bust, hips & 1.5” off my waist. I’m super pleased with that. Now need to work on restarting some weight training as I need to build muscle as I’m cardio fit but in my 50s I really need to build that strength again.

@Secretslimmer sorry wrong tag!

@Peggy148 When you re-order you'll need to complete the questionnaire again, including current weight. Its mostly filled out for you from the first time. I've not had to send in any further evidence (ie photos) with any reorder. MedExpress is still vague with maintenance but they say they'll keep prescribing you to a "healthy BMI". Very few of us have got that far so don't yet know.

@Peggy148 welcome and good luck

For the constipation, are you taking anything? Maybe invest in some solgar psylum husks. They keep me and many others regular.

When you need your next pen, you fill in the questions again for med express with you current weight. So I guess weigh yourself at the gym before you need your next pen.

Re coming off of mounjaro, it's up to you, you could titrate back down to stop cold turkey.

Anyone else on here also on HRT? I’m interested in reading that as the fat cells release so is more oestrogen from them into the body. The impact of MJ has felt similar to HRT when I first started on oestrogel in that my joints are not as stiff & pain in my hip has gone and brain fog is massively reduced. That feeling had worn off in last 18mths as i aged. So MJ has definitely impacted it somehow.
i didn’t use my oestrogel yesterday as I injected and it’s the first time I didn’t get a headache after injecting. Plus slashing my sugar intake has meant for the first time in months I’ve not actually had a migraine for 4 weeks, I was getting them every 10-14d and they lasted 3d on average making me feel horrid. I’m fascinated by the science around this and wish I could learn more.

@Summerheels
There's definitely something going on with oestrogen. I'm post menopausal (but no HRT) and my hot flushes stopped within 24hrs of first jab! And, after about 6 weeks, I had some spotting, 6/7 years after last period (thankfully, this hasn't reoccurred as constant bleeding was the reason I gave up on HRT). I've looked for research into impact on menopausal women but not found anything to explain it in any detail.

I have lost 12% of my body weight since starting Mounjaro and I am delighted.

I was away with friends over the weekend and a couple mentioned my weight loss and how good I looked but some also mentioned it to my partner and how noticeable it is. I too also feel I still have a way to go as am nowhere near the BMI I want to be at and I still look overweight.

I think I had avoided mirrors / photos etc for most of my adult life so was maybe delusional about how big I had got as I could not face it. I am also realising my clothes were all chosen just because I could get into them and they were not too hideous. It’s lovely to be choosing clothes and considering how they look and I am starting to discover what styles I actually like.

I am dropping another bag of ‘clothes I never want to have to wear again’ at the charity shop today which is a wonderful NSV.

My journey is very long, like a lot of us, and I was 20 stone 280lb at my biggest a few years ago. I got down to 168lb post divorce but went back up to 200lb for a few years. I am 5’2 so my BMI is still high. The difference is that I feel I am still at the start of this journey. I took W4 of 5 yesterday so have bonus dose and a 7.5 in the fridge. Have good suppression so far on 5 and feel I can get there with the help of this drug. It’s life changing.

SW 200
CW 173
1st GW 168 ( the lightest I have been as an adult 5 years ago)
GW - no idea but vaguely under 140lb to get to healthy BMI

There is definitely something about the oestrogen isn't there? I just had the most awful heavy period. Research suggests it's the oestrogen released from the rapid fat loss.

Give it a few more days. I'm sure it will balance out.

I am up 2lbs after a pretty heavy weekend. I'm not worried. It will down again soon enough. Might be a stay the same weight wise at end of the week, but I'm happy with that.

Really interesting about the oestrogen! I’m 57 and most definitely post-menopausal but not on HRT. I had some period type pains on Saturday - that low dragging feeling and lower back ache that I remembered almost immediately even though it’s been years since my last period!

@SilverHeels a fellow 5’2 and I cannot imagine having a ‘normal’ bmi as I don’t think I’ve been that sort of weight since puberty! 25 years ago, working as a fitness trainer and teaching 22 hours a week of spinning, body pump, step etc PLUS doing my own training, I was wearing a size 10 and yet weighed 11 stone!!

I can empathise @BlackFriYay - it is so frustrating isn't it! I'm onto day 10 of a stall where I've bounced up and down and still currently up. I'm also on 7.5mg (2nd jab in) and not feeling the suppression and have the food noise back so really hoping it starts to kick back in 🤞🏻🤞🏻

Good luck to everyone this week and I hope the scales start to move in the right direction for all of us stallers 🤞🏻🤞🏻

Sorry I'm pretty late to this, but this food list isn't terrible. Ok a lot of processed food, but calories wise, not a total blow out. Have you been low carb mostly? If so, it's definitely water weight. If not, it will still be off soon enough

I’ve got a weird “side effect” I cannot stand coffee at the moment I’m having to drink a coke in the morning for the caffeine hit. Hoping it will pass.