Mounjaro - Psychological side effects

[RobinEllacotStrike]

Loving MJ - doing fairly well.

The elimination of food noise was/is HUGE for me - what a welcome relief from a constant tourment of "food noise" I have lived with for decades.

But now I have "other noise" in my head and I'm trying to find a way to deal with it effectively.

Firstly I joined some MJ FB groups etc and then quickly realised I was filling the food noise hole in my head with MJ noise - so I deleted those and just dip into a few MN threads now. I try to resist thinking of MJ too much.

And now I am almost compulsively trying to online shop - I say try as I don't really need anything and I'm stopping myself from buying most stuff. But I am really strongly drawn to online shopping. I work on a computer all day so its very easy but also very distracting.

I really don't buy much these days, though I have done in the apst - so this is like being pulled back into unhealthy habits I had long broken. It is creating a similar buzz in my head as food noise did.

I really want to address this - not only for peace of mind now, but I think if I can change this now the food noise is less likely to be as powerful when I go off MJ.

Anyone else?

How are we going to deal with this to make positive changes in our minds as well as our bodies and so we are beetter equipped to take care of ourselves post MJ???

You could try replacing the food noise with endorphins that are fitness related.

I do sea swim most days which gives me a blast of endorphins though the levels are much less in the summer - they will increase as the weather gets colder and get really amazing mid winter.

But I absolutely do need to exercise more - funny enough I've just been booking up some gym classes for the next few days.

Do you think its the same thing? ie the compulsion around food noise/being online/online shopping is all endorphin fix related?

Do you have ADHD @RobinEllacotStrike ? Just wondering as it sounds very much like you got your dopamine from food and now with MJ, you need to find your dopamine elsewhere hence the online shopping, exercise etc?

ive started couch to 5k

Yes, I'm certainly not going to offer you an armchair diagnosis but you might like to read up on how ADHD presents in adult women @RobinEllacotStrike because it sounds very much like you are chasing dopamine highs. Exercise will be one healthier way of achieving this. Maybe also short but challenging puzzles like sudoku or crosswords.

I don't know much about it but I believe there are dietary choices you can make which can help to control dopamine levels, and if you like coffee you can make strategic use of caffeine to help.

Was going to say similar... I have ADHD and ASC. I have a lot of dopamine noise - food, shopping, listing and relisting, excessive planning.

I have no noise atm after starting MJ this week, it's weird!

I thought this would be something everyone had 😂😂

I've seen a few videos about ADHD in women and thought it all sounded very familiar, but it also seemed like the whole world was self diagnosing with adhd so I didn't pay it any attention.

Interesting you all feel like it's dopamine related.

Does the GP do adhd testing?

I do really like coffee.

You can ask your GP but you will be waiting a very long time for an NHS assessment I’m afraid. There’s been a lot published on ADHD in adult women recently. I’m sorry, I don’t have any specific recommendations but I’m sure there will be guidance out there for managing dopamine levels. It doesn’t happen to everyone!

By the way, you are on to a winner with the sea-swimming - they have found that cold-water swimming increases dopamine levels and keeps them high for longer than almost any other activity. I’m going to my lake today!

I will definitely look into this further.

I had a wee look last night and many of the things they recommend to do I am already doing.

🙏🏼

Oh yes! This will be my 5th winter sea swimming. I absolutely love it. The buzz in the winter when it's properly cold is incredible. It's not so intense in the summer. We are all addicts chasing that high.

We have a community sea sauna I joined last year that turns my mornings into a big self care session pre work. It helps with the post swim warm up too.

@WouldYouLikeMeToSpellThatForYou the first week or 2 on MJ was amazing. The food noise disappeared for what felt like the first time in my life, and I felt so calm and relaxed. I could really focus while working- I've had focus/concentration issues for years & it's got worse WFH. It was such a relief.

Then all this other stuff started to creep into the space. I've been puzzling over it ever since. I had 2 weeks holiday and I was fine then.

But now I'm back at work, in front of a computer, it's become very intense very quickly.

@VelociraptorsVelociRapping enjoy your swim today!

a couple of days before I started this thread I decided I would start to go to the gym regularly. I had a lingering paid for gym membership I dusted off. Gym is a short drive away and I WFH so it is easy to add into my day. I decided I would start off with classes (I can turn up and be told what to do for an hour) & we can book them 4 days in advance. So I'm booking a variety of classes (Circuit/yoga/dance/strenght), putting them into my diary and going along.

Coming back the the ADHD/dopaime you all got me thinking of, what has amazed me this last week is the switch from "I'm far too busy to go to the gym" to adding something at the gym into every day for a week, and it has been very very easy.

I really don't understand the change other than this is someting entirely in my brain.

And I think this dopamine fix from exercising working for me is possibly the answer.

I also had a bit of an ephinany re exercise over the weekend - Its always felt like a huge effort, but now it feels so easy. By taking the exercise away from "its something I have to do and I can't do it becasue I'm a shit person" (yes I had those thoughts), to "its something I want to do for mental health and the physical benefits are a marvellous bonus", has been like a full turn in my mind. Plus its kind of fun.

I guess the dopamine rewards are powerful.

Bonus benefit - I've stopped biting my nails. Like magic. This is 100% a result of the MJ on my brain. My nails are weak and split, but I wear them short and I am looking after them a bit as they are growing. This has happened a couple of times in my life before - with my first pregnancy and one time I was doing lots of yoga. If I try and stop nail biting its almost impossible - its only ever happened as a side effect.

I do think that MJ really has excellent benefits for mental health, beyond quitening the food noise.

This morning I saw the sun rise, went to a 7am yoga class and then met my friend for a sea swim. a perfect start to the day.

Long may it last.

thanks for all you advice - its really helped me see things in a different way.