Mounjaro and ADHD meds

[roycroppersshopper]

I'm considering mounjaro as need to loose 3 stone or so.

Does anyone who is already taking ADHD medication use it? The ADHD meds do knock your appetite a bit but not enough for consistent weight loss. I just wondered if I would require a lower dose than the usual.

Any experience anyone has would be fab.

I've been on MJ for almost 5 weeks and I also take methylphenidate for my ADHD (although not every day at present due to the shortages - having to drag out my existing meds and only take them on work days when I really really need them). I've noticed zero difference when taking them both together. I didn't get much appetite suppression on 2.5 MJ and it's only now that I've moved up to 5 MJ that I'm getting more of a 'therapeutic' benefit. Haven't taken any of my ADHD meds since I started 5 last Sat as I've almost run out and still nowhere has any stock.

Love your user name @HundredMilesAnHour very apt!! Thanks for replying. Is there still a shortage of your meds? I take Elvanse and it's been fine now since about April. Was awful Sept to March though.

I'll give mounjaro a go.

Yep, there's still a shortage of mine - even the generic versions are all out of stock. I'm pretty much unmedicated most of the time now so it's a complete shitshow.

But you should be fine on MJ. I started with Voy as I liked having medical support on hand in case I had questions about MJ and my meds. So something for you to consider also maybe @roycroppersshopper ?

Hope the medication situation improves ASAP. It's crap trying to muddle through without.

I'll have a look at Voy, thanks.

I take Elvanse, have done for about 13 years so hard to say if it affects MJ or not because I don’t know any different (on 5th week of MJ and lost 18lbs so far).

Re: shortages, I’ve had loads of difficulty getting 60mg. Just had my dose titrated up partly because 70mg is supposedly easier to source (NHS psychiatrist said that Elvanse Adult originally came in 30, 50 and 70 and these have remained the most readily available strengths even tho 40 and 60 are now also manufactured. I’ve had to get scripts reissued for 60 x 30mg because 30 x 60mg was impossible). Hopefully 70 will indeed be easier because getting a prescription shouldn’t be like going on a treasure hunt every month!

Found this thread as I'm expecting an adhd assessment in January.

I was hoping the meds would help with food chatter and organisation...

But have also been wondering about drugs as my morbid obesity is actually causing me to not enjoy life and is the main thing.

@SageBlossomBunny I found the adhd meds didn't help enough with the appetite part. I'm on mounjaro now and that definitely is what I needed to quiet the noise. I think, together, both work really well for me and I have a lot more energy as well

Did you have to pay for the MJ?

My current fears are..

• I'll be classed as too fat for adhd med *if I get adhd meds theyll somehow clash with MJ if I got it

*That I'm creating more problems filing myself with meds.

But my quality of life is shit and where it's come to me ruling out most jobs because they're active... I need help.

Elvanse can theoretically be prescribed for binge eating disorder but I’ve found it makes me more likely to eat sugary carby junk (as each daily dose wears off in the evening) whereas MJ makes me only want to eat proper food things (salad, fish, cheese, yoghurt very few sugars/carbs at all) and I could drink booze on Elvanse (against medical advise, obvs) whereas I literally don’t want it on MJ.

I pay for MJ, around £145 a month. Have lost a stone every completed pen (3 stone in 12 weeks!) and plan to titrate back down after another 7-10lbs loss (haven’t gone past 5mg).

My ADD meds are NHS funded (prescription charge costs) but it’s a massive faff because my GP doesn’t like to get involved so I have to collect a paper prescription from an adult mental health clinic every 28 days where it’s signed off by a consultant psychiatrist (meaning it’s funded by secondary care not primary care).
Elvanse is the most expensive of the ADHD medications because we don’t yet have a generic version available (the US got one earlier this year so fingers crossed it comes soon because it will save the NHS a chunk).

I don’t think my two medications clash but I do give permission for private prescriber and NHS GP to communicate and I wouldn’t recommend starting both sets of new medications at the same time, I would do one for at least 3 months before introducing the next, just so you can tell which one is giving certain side effects (if you get any). I’ve had ADD meds for over a decade before starting MJ so it was already my normal baseline.

ADHD meds can raise your blood pressure so losing weight before starting (and thus lowering your blood pressure) is probably a good strategy - something to discuss with a pharmacist (not me, a rando on MN!)

I hope to have finished with MJ by the new year and then to enjoy the benefits of already having lost my excess weight and not having joint related pain when exercising when the New Resolutions people start up (it’s easier to work on personal healthy/fitness habits when everyone else is too - much harder when everyone else is eating Xmas chocs and Baileys and waving them at you!)

Thankyou yes that's helpful. My blood pressure is "elevated" but not high enough for meds there.

I feel so broken.

I have definitely felt broken in the past, turns out I was just a bit crumpled, rather than broken beyond repair, hopefully the same will be true for you 🤞

I see ADHD medications and MJ (and HRT, which is the other prescription I have) as tools to help me make improvements - sometimes a tool will turn out to be less useful than I anticipated and that’s OK - it was still worth trying.

It gets hard to figure out what tools to try, when you are dealing with various struggles it’s hard to even know which thread to pull to start unpicking the problems.

If you were to start a weightloss injectable now you would have 3 months to see if it’s a useful tool before you have your scheduled ADHD assessment (and at the very least might help you prevent further gain through the winter period, I know I have tended to gain more in the winter months!)

Maybe the ADHD meds will be a useful tool too, maybe not (some people find they increase hyperfixations which negatively impacts relationships - I’ve been married and divorced THREE TIMES! 😂)

The best tool I have ever discovered for me
is a daylight lamp - I’ve had seasonal depression through the shorter days of winter for most of my life but 30 mins of SAD lamp a day has made it so much more tolerable. I put off trying that particular tool for years because I didn’t want to spend the money on something useless (which was daft because one of the major manufacturers offers a 30 day guaranteed money back trial as long as you cover postage both ways).

CBT can be helpful for breaking negative thought processes via tiny, tiny steps - if you haven’t already done it you may be able to apply for NHS help online via your nearest IAPT service, no need for GP referral (the wait list might be quite long but time is gonna go by anyway so may as well be on the list). I know some people who have done sort of self CBT via a workbook - something to look into while trying to decide your priorities/which thread to pull first?