Continuing Mounjaro...part 18

[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)

Mumsnet does not allow promo codes. Please do not post any. If you want one, ask and someone will PM you a code or there are now threads on the promo page that have codes for Mounjaro.

Pointers for newbies:

1 - For taking your first dose you need to twist the pen a lot to get to 1! Make sure the needle is twisted on tightly. Priming will help confirm if the needle is on securely and not faulty.

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 - 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.

10 - 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

11 - Taking Mounjaro can stop birth control from being effective. If you are on birth control, consider extra protection if you aren't planning on conceiving anytime soon!

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

13 - 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

14 - 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

15 - 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.

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

17 - 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
further reading about injection sites and the effects: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/316618

18 - 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.

19 - 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.

20 - 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.

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

22 - 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: Now saying they support maintenance upto 2 years.

23 - 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 to 9th thread, get link from thread 10

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

16th thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight-loss-injections/5115015-continuing-mounjaropart-16?page=1

17th thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight-loss-injections/5122095-continuing-mounjaropart-17?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:

105.55 today so a small decrease. It is injecting day and I did feel a bit hungrier yesterday so I'm doing week 2 of 5mg today.

Got a music festival this weekend so I'm looking forward to saving money on not buying loads of festival food and being able to wait till I'm back at the tent.

I made it! Finally in the 12s (shaved my legs first which obviously helped me get to 12st 13.8lbs...). And hit 2nd milestone - 15% of body weight, plus new BMI (26.7). I was 13.3.8 on Sunday after disastrous meal out on Saturday and had been a bit stuck for about 2 weeks prior to that. 12 weeks on MJ and 1st week of 7.5, total loss 33lbs.
I've been 100% on it since Sunday and now thinking there may be something to the theory of having a 'bad day' to kick start weight loss. Who'd have thunk it?

Hairy legs and long toes definitely add grammes to the scales 🤣

congrats on that milestone!

@Slimstar13 the Aldi chocolate mousse are lush, they are really hard to get at my Aldi, they go so quickly. I like the lemon one too. I don't like anything vanilla so would stay away from that. Thank you so much for this list
@KrankyKumquat well done!! I cannot wait for that 12 to pop in the scales too. I'm 13st 13 bang on, well that was last Friday and I've eaten clean and been very active. I'm not starting my 1st jan till Monday, my husband comes home tomorrow until Monday afternoon and I don't want any side effects when he's here, I've not seen him for 11 days.

To clarify, you can get Mounjaro with thyroid problems. Just Medexpess seem to reject you if you say you have thyroid problems. Asda, Zava and probably other suppliers have been fine prescribing.

I think med express have an auto reject if you put down any additional health issues. But an email to them might get around it.

Yes that same thread. My jaw was on the floor for the whole thread. Surprised it wasn't reported and deleted!

🤣 those pesky leg hairs.

Well done on hitting the 12s!

@NippyCrab
Good luck with your first jab, and yes, good idea to wait till Monday and enjoy your reunion weekend instead.

@ThirdStorm you need to amend your starting weight to be lower so the 20% goal weight loss can go down too.

Thank you! I did suspect. I really wanted it to reflect my whole journey not just phases. To be fair MFP allows me to track more than 20%.

@ThirdStorm

I agree, it is a bit silly. It doesn't get rid of your starting weight on the progress trackers though, so all is not lost.

I have just injected my first 2.5 dose.

For the pp's who are nervous about the injection/needle part - it was really easy - I'm using Voy and the instructions that come with the pen are extremely detailed - they seem to be the Lilly instructions so I imagine all pens have them in the box.

I did not feel a thing - used my tummy (which to be fair is extremely well padded!)

Anyway - I'm now just waiting to feel 'different'. Have had some long talks with myself about my worries about not being able to eat the things I love in the quantities I do - that thought gives me a panicky feeling. BUT - having read through this (and some of the previous 17) threads I am reminding myself that I won't want to eat like that anymore.

I'm hoping for some appetite/food noise reduction on this dose with no side effects 🤞🤞

Good luck to everyone else!!

thats how I first knew about the mj is via a post from my Botox lady ! Yep I was stupid and brought my first lot from her ! Then I found NM and joined and realised actually that was so very wrong and needless to say I haven’t been back to her for any treatment. It’s scary thinking about it who can actually dish these out and she was not doing it cheap either for my first pen I paid £170 and she did not ask me any questions just my address, was stupid of me but I didn’t know anything about who prescribed mj at the time .

I'm still plodding through my week with the unknown dose, next injection due tomorrow, but yesterday I noticed myself wanting to snack or eat something extra, although I still couldn't pinpoint any real craving for anything particular.
I did give in somewhat and ate some nuts last night, not too unhealthy but took me over my calories for the day.
Despite that I woke up this morning starving! Have reinforced myself with an omelette and stuck to all my other good habits like fluids, electrolytes, vitamins, etc. I'm going to move my next dose forward to today and keep everything crossed that my 7.5 journey gets less better!

Jamie Fraser
i too was so worried about the needle, I dithered and dithered before ordering and then when it came I was still afraid. Thanks to the good posters on this thread I did pluck up courage to do that first jab. It was nothing! All that stressing over it! It will be jab 11 for me tomorrow and I have lost over 2 stone now, so I’m very happy. 2 more stone to go so I’ll be plodding on for a while yet.
Good 🍀

I know, I checked BNF too so I'm not sure why it's on their list.

I've had an order of MJ from them, I definitely told them I'm on thyroid medication. It was a few months ago though.

Me again.

I'm not feeling hungry at all - I had a protein shake early in the morning, and a protein bar a bit later on (a grand total of 427 cal / 43 g protein). I've been drinking a ton of water, because hot. And I have this voice in my head telling me to just skip lunch and see how I feel at dinner.

But then on the other hand, this is not healthy, exactly, and I will struggle to have a dinner that's more than...300-400 cal. So I would end up with a day with 800 odd calories which is really nowhere near enough, and is stupid, and is not the point of this whole thing.

Do I go and make a light green salad with grilled chicken for lunch? Or do I skip it, part because I'm not really hungry, and if being completely honest, part because I keep thinking maybe that would solve my stall?!

It was definitely reported at least once but presumably was deemed acceptable to leave up. My jaw also hit the floor.

@3wDavid I would try and have a small lunch as you've described, even if you don't particularly want to eat right now.

On the subject of thyroid meds - if you are taking levothyroxine the dose is technically calculated by weight. My annual blood tests a few months ago picked up that I had slipped into hyperthyroidism once my BMI fell below 30, and has been adjusted downwards now.

If any of you are taking it but have lost a significant amount of weight (I’d lost 4 stone by that point) I’d really urge you to request a blood screen to check your t4/tsh levels when you get a moment. Mine are due to be rechecked next month, at which point I will have lost 1.5st more so I anticipate I may have to tweak them again.

Hair loss and other symptoms are indicators that you might be running a bit high.

@CautiousLurker my heart rate was high which made me get my levels checked. My free t4 wasn't especially high but have agreed with my Dr to reduced my dose anyway. Will be checking it more regularly for sure.

Just a heads up that there's a 15% off code for MJ from Oushk till midnight tonight for new and current customers. Just got 10mg for £159.99 incl delivery (dpd or RM, can choose delivery day). I won't put code on here as I think that's banned?

@KrankyKumquat I ordered using the Oushk code this morning too. I was considering going back to ME with the price matching but 15% was too tempting. Plus I don’t really need a pen just now so I like being able to select a date. I went for the end of August so I should have made a dent in one of the pens in my fridge by then!!

How long have MedExpress been taking for people? Mine has been sitting in awaiting prescription since Sunday.