Starting saxenda

[secretgirl]

Hi all.

I've just stared saxenda this morning. 0.6 for the first week.
I'm juat a little nervous as I'm an anxious person. I have at least 4 stone to lose

Has anyone any tips?
Can anyone let me how much exercise they did to see results and how much I should be watching my food?
Am I OK to drink alcohol on it? I never asked the doctor.

Thanks in advance.

Had a bit of a craving for sugar last night (after an 8k walk, so indulged myself) and had a pack of fruit pastilles and a pack of rolo. Usually would eat 2-3 times that, I'm still on week 1 so it might be a placebo effect, but I'll still take it.
@StrikesAtticFlat I read somewhere that the effects last 13-15 hrs so you might be sleeping thru some if you are jabbing in the evening? I'm injecting at 8am and I reckon that if I feel too hungry in the evening, I can either go out for a walk or go to bed!

I was wondering if it was placebo effect but I noticed 2 things over the last few days

1. hungrier at the weekend so I think I am used to the 0.6 dose and I am ready to move up today
2. I had a busy day yesterday with a meeting after work, so didn't get to eat until 8.30. I was hungry but the "food noise" was gone... I wasn't distracted during my meeting, whereas usually I would be wishing they would wrap it up

I am bit afraid of moving up, this week is insanely busy and I am worried that the higher dose might sicken me, but I will give it a go today and hope for the best.

Took my first 1.2 dose this morning and feel ok. A bit tired.
Couldn't finish my breakfast (porridge) and I am looking at my bowl of soup now and not sure if I want it, but I'll get some into me.

Hi, can I join in too !
I'm also from Dublin . I went to the gp to see would she prescribe ozempic but the starter dose seems to hard to get in Ireland at the moment so recommended saxenda instead, because it's easier to get .
Am I right in thinking it costs 280& per month?

I think you can shop around a bit on where to get it - which I didn't do! I spent 330(ish, I can check).

I think it was higher to allow for needles and sharps bin, but they wouldn't have been that much.

I went with Health Wave because they offer delivery, but I was off work so ended up calling in to get it anyway.

Hi, I have been on Saxenda since July. Lost one stone (not straight away) and then it stalled. I admit I was not working very hard, not tracking food, no time to exercise. So after not losing anything for a good month or so I looked into other options and have managed to source mounjaro from the UK.

While waiting for this I happed to change the time of injection from first thing in the am to 3pm, and I suddenly started losing again.

I am not a big morning eater in general.

I am paying €80 a month since my GP managed to get the HSE to cover it.

Not sure what to do now since I hate the daily injections but will see.

Hi all.

@85isalive You may get a bit of nausea but I'd say you'll be grand on the higher dose.

@naturallydelicious mine was 260 in the local pharmacy plus needles and bin ao about 275 in total.

I went up to 2.4 today. Feeling fine.
But I àm concerned about the fact I've put on 1kg! Worried now it's not gonna work for me.

Hi @secretgirl I think fluctuations will happen, if you keep an eye on your cals you will lose over time, even if it doesn't show week to week

I weighed today, 7lbs down but I will caveat that by saying my start weight was from the pharmacy scales so they probably don't match. Nevertheless i am glad to see the lower number and I will use my current weight (212) as a guide from here on.

Feel a bit blah and achey today, I didn't sleep brilliantly. Hopefully it will pass soon as I have a really busy few days at work coming up.

Hi @naturallydelicious , my first 3 pens cost €218 +€21.50 for online consultation, needles were included. I went with Zava and Healthwave. I started 25/9 and will need to start another pack of 3 pens on 13/11 - so 7 weeks for the first €240. I'm fond of a spreadsheet so have worked out that once I'm up to full dose, 3 pens cover 36 days and on average it will cost me €203 per month over a year (6 stone to lose...)

I got 5 pens in my first prescription, so that makes sense that it was dearer.

I feel rough today. Second day on 1.2
A lot of suppression and a dodgy tummy (had a run to the loo an hour after forcing myself to eat some lunch).

Went to bed at 7pm, got up at 9 because I thought I'd better eat something. Managed 3 rice cakes with peanut butter.

I just feel stuffed and exhausted. Going to go back to bed again soon and hope I sleep a lot of this off!

I slept a lot better last night but woke up with an awful headache. I seem to be full of side effects this week. I went back to a 0.6 dose today, after 2 days on 1.2. I have a really busy day at work and couldn't face being as unwell as yesterday. I still have a lot of suppression - I only managed a few spoonfulls of my breakfast. I don't want to be eating so little, so maybe I need a bit longer on 0.6, or wonder if I can alternate between 0.6 and 1.2 until I feel that level has worn off.

@85isalive hope you are feeling better! I was a bit worried about 1.2 but seems to be ok on it (3rd jab of 1.2 this morning). I find I'm going to bed at an earlier time because I'm exercising more and because I don't want to stay up late eating crap, so am sleeping better. For the first time in my life I'm getting up before work to run - I have always wanted to be a lark but have been an owl all my life. I'm 9 days in and 5.5 lbs down - had to move back to measuring in lbs/stone as the kgs on the scale weren't meaning anything to me.

I prefer lbs too!

I still feel a bit off-colour. I did 0.6 again today. I am off work next week so will try to push through on 1.2, but at the moment I am barely eating on 0.6, so doubling it might restrict me too much. I actually wouldn't mind staying on 0.6 if it keeps me going - I'll get longer out of my pens😂

Edited to add - that's a great loss you've had so far!

I've been running every day and also doing a big walk most evenings, so I think that's contributed! Have eaten quite a lot today as I'm in the office (but good choices, salad and fruit), but feel full as a tick when usually it would not really touch the sides. Might not have dinner tonight - that's a sentence that rarely passes my lips...

Spent 10 hours in my friends house yesterday. Our common hobby is eating while we chat, we both love our food! Ate 1 brown scone, 2 choc hobnobs, a chicken salad, 1/3 of a coffee slice, and 2 Butlers chocolates. Usually would eat about 3 times that in a day with her, and would then come home and have tea and treats while reading in bed. This suppression lark is working well! However I'm full of wing this morning, I may pick up some Rennies later.

How's everyone getting on?

Hi @bigdecisionaboutwork
I am getting on well now I think. Still very tired at times but I just have to push through it. I only moved up to 1.2 properly on Saturday. I weighed in this morning and I haven't lost anything this week, but I feel a bit sluggish so that might be it. Also I haven't been as careful with my cals for the last few days.

Fun discovery - we went to Nandos last night. I normally have a wrap with 2 sides. I couldn't even think about having 2 sides, it was like my brain couldn't "see" it as an option. As it was, I got a wrap and chips, and ended up taking half my wrap home.

This is MAD to me... I would have hoovered the lot.

How is everyone else getting on?

I've had great suppression for the first 2 weeks but quite hungry today - and went up to 1.8 this morning, so I don't know what's going on. However I'm an emotional eater at the best of times and have had the most stressful work day of the year today so I'm going to have a nice dinner and go easy on myself, hopefully when the adrenaline wears off I'll be ok again!

Thank you for the advice everyone. I actually managed to get ozempic 0.25mg so I have started that instead of the saxenda.

Hi all.
How's everyone doing?

I'm still at a complete standstill. Haven't lost anything in almost 2 weeks so I'm p*ssed off to saybthe least.

I started on 3mm on Tuesday and it has been awful. 2 nights now I've had severe nausea and diahorrea and and the kit awful noises in my tummy. It's been 12 hours both times after I've injected.
Thinking of going down to 1.8 today or skipping it for the day.

Hi @secretgirl
Sorry to hear you have been so unwell. I took my first 1.8 today. When I first moved up to 1.2 I felt awful, so I went back to 0.6 for a few extra days. I tried 1.2 again last Saturday and have been fine on it since. I am off work today so thought it was a good opportunity to try 1.8 for 3 days before having to be in company!

I wonder if alternating between 1.8 and 3 would help you get used to the bigger dose. I am not sure if that is a good/advisable thing to do though - can you check with your prescriber?

I didn't see any movement on the scales this week. I have been making poor food choices. I need to up the fruit and veg.

Hi all, 3.5 weeks done and a stone gone, had a few NSVs as well (jeans looser, top that was too tight now a bit loose, seeing muscles on my legs that were hidden by fat before). I'm on 1.8 but not feeling as much suppression as before, however was at a party on sat night and ate about half what I would normally eat, so I think I'm still experiencing it but not noticing it as much. How's everyone else getting on?

That's a great loss in 3 weeks @bigdecisionaboutwork and the NSV definitely help with motivation.

I am doing well on the 1.8, which has surprised me, as moving to 1.2 was very difficult. I'll move up to 3 on Friday.

I didn't make great food choices over the last few days. I am not hungry, so not snacking, but I did opt for calorie heavy dinners. I still haven't sorted out my fruit and veg intake! I plan to weigh on Weds, but not expecting a loss to be honest. My clothes feel better though.

Has anyone else gone off coffee? I usually love my first cup in the morning and have a couple more at work, but I don't even think about it now.

@85isalive I'm not a coffee drinker so can't really tell. But I'm.not drinking as much tea as I'm not eating biscuits with my cuppa!