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:

Has anyone taken a dose out of their pen into a separate syringe and taken that away with them rather than the whole pen? Can you even do that on a plane?

I’m going to Barcelona next week, staying in a shared apartment and can’t put the pen in the fridge as I don’t want my family to know I’m doing MJ. It’s really hot out there and I can’t guarantee the pen wouldn’t get over 30 degrees but I’ve only had one does from it and don’t want to waste it all.

Going to ten days so I could take a dose early before I go and then one day I come back, not sure if that’s allowed?

I think you’d have more problems taking a syringe with unlabelled contents through airport security than just just taking the pen through. (Which I’ve done and is fine).
A gap of 10 days would be fine if you want to do that.
But I took mounjaro on holiday and although the temperature was over 30, I reckoned it was fine kept in the suitcase in the reasonably cool apartment, so just did that

Airport security scan on checked baggage will not flag up a syringe. You will not get it through hand luggage security because of the needle but pack in your case and will be no issue at all. Will be fine in flight as the temps get really cold in the air, possible very small risk of high temp if luggage left waiting to be loaded at a warm airport so you could pack with cool pack to deal with that, it’s a small risk, 30 degrees is pretty hot and more likely to happen in direct sun.

You shouldn't put the medication in the hold because it's likely to get too cold. It's just as likely to effect quality if it goes under temp as over temp.

Yeah Eli Lilly say not to put in the hold. Chances are it might be ok on a short flight but I wouldn’t chance it in case it freezes/temp gets too low

@Peggy148 doing a dose before you go and one on your return would be fine. The advice on missed doses is if it's within 96 hours take your missed dose and next dose as normal. Over that take the dose on your regularly scheduled day. And not to take doses within 3 days of each other. And if you miss more than 2 weeks you are meant to start back at the beginning. Info here: mounjaro.lilly.com/how-to-use-mounjaro#how-to-use

I work in aviation. The temperature in the baggage hold won’t go below zero, I can assure you. It’s minimum about 7 or 8. Pressurised. Pets sometimes travel in there, in which case they adjust the heat up a bit.

I did my jab at 10am this morning and started to feel crappy by mid afternoon. Sulphur burps, indigestion, and feeling nauseous. I'm titrating up slowly as I had a bad reaction to my second dose of 5mg so went back to 2.5mg and am working my way up. Did 4mgs this week so fingers crossed it doesn't make me ill.

Tracking calories made all the difference for me, even when I thought I was eating less and being careful I realised when I started tracking calories that I was still overeating. I have such a big appetite.

I'm having a rather weird NSV.

I'm 55 and post menopausal, so have these lovely thick, wiry hairs that have been inhabiting my chin for about the last 10 years.

Most days I pluck them out in the morning after my shower, but they seem to appear out of nowhere, and by tea time I could have a massive 3 incher tickling my nose.

Not sure why I've only just realised, but not had to pluck my chin for weeks. It's weird, but I'll take it. 😂

Ah interesting! Eli Lilly says not to put in the hold, it says hold areas can get too hot and too cold.
I’ve no idea how likely either situation is but I’ve always been fine taking the pens in hand luggage, so never thought to question the advice

medical.lilly.com/uk/products/answers/how-should-patients-store-the-mounjaro-tirzepatide-kwikpen-during-transport-and-travel-217602

I would think it would be an infection risk to withdraw a dose via a syringe then leave the syringe bouncing around for days before you inject it.

Probably better to either take before you go or put the pen in a sandwich bag and shove it in the fridge when you arrive? I have some opaquish ones which you can't see through but wouldn't work if your family are inquisitive.

The syringe is sterile. No infection risk provided you use a clean technique.

Evening all. Been busy this weekend so not had a chance to read the thread.

Just found this on tiktok that I thought I would share. Further info that glp medication reduces inflammation.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGe7cCaYh/

too clarify, I’m not advocating this! Just saying going from sterile to sterile is fine. It’s more changing the needle as you’ll want a fresh one for injecting from drawing up after drawing up so long ago.

Re medicine in the hold when flying a lot of the diabetes websites advise against it...

•	If you are travelling by plane, remember that insulin should not be kept in luggage going into the hold, as temperatures often drop below freezing there and there may also be changes in air pressure. Always take it in your hand luggage.

I've carried my MJ in hand luggage with no problems at all.

Wow that's amazing. I really feel like this drug will turn out to treat so many things we don't even know about now.

I've now had three cycles with no PMDD symptoms at all. This is unbelievable to me as my symptoms were so severe before, I literally couldn't leave the house for 10 days a month.

I listened to a podcast (think it might have been recommended on here before) about a doctor using micro doses of it in patients and improving all kinds of chronic health issues.

I hope the 2 year limit is changed before I get to that point as I'd love to stay on a small dose for as long as possible.

@Peggy148 You could buy this and keep your pen squirrelled away in you case for the whole holiday. It is only £6.39

L0famy Insulin Cooler Travel Case, Handy Pouch for Diabetic Supplies Drugs Storage, Mini Medicine Cool Bag, Diabetes Bag into Insulin Pen Needles and Epipen Case, Cooler Bag for Insulin Medication : Amazon.co.uk: Health & Personal Care

I was chatting to DH and looking at some photos from 2018 where I was 3 stone lighter. Covid lockdown made me pile on weight.

I was saying the lack of food noises, being 'hangry' and constant need of willpower is what makes this what makes mounjaro a much kinder way to lose weight. As you can see, I am a yo-yo dieter.

Wow another quick moving thread, well done to all the losers.

I can't thank eveyrone enough for their shared wisdom and inspiration, if it wasn't for stumbling across these threads, I would not have had the guts to try this life transforming medicine.

@FlappyFish I loved your post! So wonderfully reassuring to hear about your maintenance experience, you're the trailblazer for lots of us. Especially the part about returning to your new weight, even if you bounce up! I'm probably about halfway through but already trying to anticipate what I'll need to know to maintain successfully. Can you remind me whether you're on a maintenance dose, on your own out of stockpile or with the support of your prescriber?

In shorter term matters, I'm due to travel in 5 days and will need to take a pen with me. Can experienced travellers advise in whether I'd need to take it out of my hand luggage with the liquids to be scanned? I'll be wrangling family and that would be rather outing...

I left mine in my hand luggage without any problems.

It depends on the airport, if it's one that needs all liquids in a clear bag, then you need to do that. I accidentally left my inhaler in my bag recently and my bag was automatically pulled - I didn't think it was a liquid! They told me off for it 🙈 lots of places have better systems now though and liquids don't have to be separated, eg Gatwick

I don't think it's outing, my bag with liquids always has loads in it, your family won't see the pen