How long to persevere with side effects?

[Casablanca1]

I am on Mounjaro and 3 weeks ago increased to the 5mg. I had no real side effects on the 2.5mg.

Week one was ok (although I was run down with a cold/flu thing which I don’t think was related). Week two I had sulphur burbs and on about 48 hours after injecting I started to get absolutely horrendous diarrhoea. Literally every hour and all through the night at its worst. Very uncomfortable and resulted in awful piles. I had about 4 days of this before it calmed down. I then took a bit of a break as was on holiday and scared to take it again but then decided to take dose 3 about 5 days late.

So far dose 3 hasn’t been AS bad. But sulphur burps are back and I have had some diarrhoea again but not as frequent. 3 days now since I took it.

My question really is has anyone else experienced this and can I hope that side effects will lessen as my body gets used to it? Or should I think about either going back to the 2.5mg, trying a different one like Wegovy or stopping it completely (reluctant to do this as happy with the weight loss but obviously can’t continue with these symptoms on an ongoing basis).

Thank you for any advice.

I stopped taking Ozempic a year ago due to the side effects I hated it. A lot of people will say go back to the lower dose. I assume that having a break and taking a 5mg dose later than you were due to will not help as some of the medication will have worn off so you have given yourself a bigger dose out of kilter? It also makes a difference if you eat too little or have a fatty/gassy meal or drinks.

These are known side effects but no one can tell you if it will get better or not, I couldn’t live with the stomach pain and unpredictable symptoms and GP told me to stop it. Contact your provider for advice and support

If the symptoms are lessening then I'd try sticking to the current dose and seeing how you go. If you are concerned that the symptoms are still increasing or not getting any better then maybe do a 2.5mg dose from your 5mg pen by counting clicks.

I had a very similar reaction on the 5mg at about the same point as you, but it's calmed down and I have decided to stick with 5mg for now rather than move up to 7.5mg.

A lot of us had an awful time on the transition from 2.5 to 5mg, because it's the biggest jump in absolute terms - you have doubled the amount of drug going in to your system. If you are on dose 3 and things are starting to settle down then you are probably through the worst of it. Some people count clicks to administer a 3.75mg dose. Are you eating normally? I found the quickest way to reduce side effects was to eat much much less, which was not a problem as the suppression was also very high.

My biggest side effect is fatigue. I still can’t tolerate 5 mg and am taking 4mg. I’m on month 4 🤷‍♀️

Thanks all. I’m consciously eating much less as I feel like the less I put in, the less there is to come shooting out! Also definitely feel appetite is more suppressed on 5mg and can’t manage large portions anyway.

I was on holiday last week so was definitely eating more fatty foods so that probably didn’t help. As symptoms aren’t as bad this week (thank god as truly was horrendous!), I will keep going for now I think and hope that pattern continues.

Wondering if anyone has taken Imodium to help with the diarrhoea?

Don’t take Imodium unless you really have to. It makes the sulphur burps worse.

I also find Imodium to create its own problems, if you take too much too often it will create constipation so you don’t want to become reliant on it. I was prescribed it to manage my IBS and got stuck in a terrible cycle with it. I would take it for a one off if I really had to but the other issue you have on MJ is delayed gastric emptying so you don’t want to get into a Imodium/laxative situation

you are better off buying one of the stool bulking medications like fybogel or a gentle one that helps form but also keeps things regular and doesn’t create constipation