Anyone experienced depression on weight loss injections ?

[Brightonseafront]

Hello..I am wondering if anyone had similar experience to mine while on weight loss injections. While the weight suppression was remarkable, and no other side effects apart from mild nausea, I had to stop because I experienced acute severe depression ( I don’t normally suffer of any such conditions, and am generally healthy). I was hoping it will get better with time but it was too bad (& unsafe according to my DD who is a doctor and couldn’t believe the change in me ..). Just wondering if others experienced anything similar and did it improve with time? Thank you and stay safe.

You can look at current reported side effects (in the UK) of Mounjaro or Wegovy on the Yellow Card govt website. The link below is for Mounjaro, and it shows that there have been 6 reports of psychiatric issues, with 3 of those being depression related. So, it's quite an uncommon reported side effect, to date. Bear in mind too that these reported side effects are only suspected to relate to the medicine in question, and aren't verified.

https://info.mhra.gov.uk/drug-analysis-profiles/dap.html?drug=./UK_EXTERNAL/NONCOMBINED/UK_NON_000734813430.zip&agency=MHRA

Was it Mounjaro or Wegovy that caused the issues that you had?

I wonder if it's a confounding variable thing.

Extreme weight loss would not only mean restricted calories, which makes you miserable but isn't normally achievable because your brain makes you eat. Or if the fat you are suddenly losing stores toxins, hormones, something that is suddenly released.

Would be really interesting to know. I've experience some hormonal stuff on keto so I wondered.

I suffer quite badly with anxiety and was taking propranolol as needed, usually ended up about three times a week. Have been on MJ now for 3 weeks and had absolutely no anxiety and not taken any propranolol.

I wonder if it's reducing my sugar intake? I really don't know. My mood has been very good.

Sorry to hear that you had the opposite experience, not trying to rub it in! Just wanted to provide my experience.

I’ve had similar, OP. After moving up to 5mg I felt I was heading full tilt towards a depressive episode. I had similar on the progestogen-only pill and had to stop taking it, but my reaction then was way worse - more sudden and extreme.

With Mounjaro I dropped the dose back down and looked again at what I was eating, upping healthy fats. I still feel a bit ‘flat’ as I have from the beginning, but I think things are manageable. Looking at Reddit threads there are a few people out there that have been affected in this way. Sorry to hear you had to stop for this reason.

Thank you all so much for your thoughts,really appreciate it. It was on Wegovy that I had very acute depression out of nowhere ( trigger alert !! To be precise, I went from my vivacious optimistic self to obsessive suicidal thoughts literally out of nowhere, no obvious reasons, nothing …it was just bizarre) ..by then I haven’t really lost much weight…maybe 1-2 kg…and worsened when I increased the dose to ,so I had to stop early on, before any significant weight loss, my head space improved over few weeks, never experienced those awful obsessive thoughts since ( still have unopened boxes not sure what to do with, any suggestions?). I am now on Mounjaro since February, I’ve lost 3 stones and no such side effects, so really happy with how things are going after a lifetime of yo-yo.

I was reluctant to speak about this but I think it’s really important to speak about it and to raise awareness rather than dismiss it as ‘ no evidence’. For me I feel that reading about few similar experiences then, saved me…the knowledge that this must be iatrogenic, is temporary, and ‘not real’ , and that it should all pass, helped me stay put.

Thank you again so much for your thoughts and support 💓