How quickly did you move up doses?

[Midlifecrisisxamillion]

I know it's a minimum of a month to move up to the next dose but how quickly did you do it. Did you move up each month until max dose or did you do it more slowly?

The official guidance is to stay on the lowest dose that provides good effects for you

I've done:

1 x 2.5mg pens
2 x 5mg pens
3 x 7.5mg pens

Currently finishing this 7.5mg which is not working and starting 10mg in just under two weeks. Hopefully 10mg helps as my appetite, hunger and desire to snack have come back with a vengeance.

When you speak to pharmacists or join live Q&A events they will tell you not to race up the doses as when you get to 15mg if your body gets used to it you have nowhere else to go.

Most online providers show the standard or recommended schedule and there are differences in some (for example ZAVAs say you can maintain on 5mg where yours says 15mg), it is not mandatory to move up and any decent provider will discuss staying or moving up doses to meet the patients needs. The last Q&A I was on confirmed Eli Lilly also supports this.

They won't discuss micro dosing, or 5th doses, but they will absolutely support staying on the lowest dose pen that is giving the patient what they need.

If you want to follow the instructions go for it. I would suggest the ones that insist on following the plan to the letter are the ones that sell in bulk and don't have the resources to look at patients as individuals.

@SpeciallyDone 's post was accurate and did not warrant that response.

Thank you @WeAllHaveWings ❤️

This is what the MANUFACTURER Eli Lilly themselves say about staying on the lowest effective dose:

DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION -------
 The recommended starting dosage is 2.5 mg injected
subcutaneously once weekly (2.1)
 After 4 weeks, increase to 5 mg injected subcutaneously once
weekly (2.1)
 If additional glycemic control is needed, increase the dosage in
2.5 mg increments after at least 4 weeks on the current dose.
 The maximum dosage is 15 mg subcutaneously once weekly (2.1).

Just to emphasise the relevant bit you claim everyone else except you is 'parroting' -

IF additional glycemic control is needed, increase the dosage in
2.5 mg increments after at least 4 weeks on the current dose.

So easy to misunderstand the 'instructions' isn't it?

Many, many people have made the whole of their weight loss journey on Mounjaro at the lowest doses because they were so effective that they had no need to increase the dose.

Will be taking first dose of second 2.5 pen on Friday good suppression but still able/want to eat healthy choices,don’t want to feel like can’t eat anything. indigestion few weeks ago which has subsided now. Aiming to see how get on with this pen and stay at 2.5 if still effective. If not next pen might be 5mg.
I agree if working at lower dose ( and many others on here have done this with success) remain on that.

4 weeks on 2.5mg
6 weeks on 3.75mg

3.75mg seems to be a sweet spot right now, but if I feel it's not working then I'll move up to 5mg.

@lookathatbookcase for 3.75 do you use 5mg pen ?

@DollyPop100 Yes - 45 clicks of a 5mg pen. I have extra sharps so I can extract 5 doses out of each pen.

I did 6 weeks on 2.5 mg, before doing 4 weeks on 3.75 mg, before starting 5 mg which I have been on since...about 8-9 weeks now. I will probably move up to 6-6.5 mg to test the waters for the next few weeks before fully moving up to 7.5 mg.

I've done 1 month of 2.5mg, 3 months of 5mg and am just about to order my second 7.5mg pen. I have a lot to lose and am losing fairly slowly (although consistently) so didn't want to move up through the doses too quickly, with nowhere to go if it lost its effectiveness.

A quick look at Superdrug shows that despite looking, you didn't read the dosing schedule that they provided.

It says to "Increase OR Stick With".

I now move up sub doses when needed. I've had to move back down twice now because I did it too fast and had symptoms that were too much for me to tolerate with my lifestyle.

I'm on 4.2 mg at the moment - I expect to stay there for another 2-3 weeks and then I'll have a go at a dose that has made me ill in the past (but ONLY if I think the suppression isn't good enough anymore).

I moved up every 4 weeks - now on 15mg with 3 stone to go. I’m 7 months in and a weight loss of 56lbs.
No side effects until recently, itchy skin, which isn’t a problem but my hair is falling out now, in huge handfuls.
My poor hairdresser was horrified today, but I did warn her. So she done me a short blunt cut, no layers, looks fab.
I’ve got collagen, biotin and iron tablets now winging their way from pure supplements.

I'm about to order my third pen at 2.5. Although the effects do wear off towards the end of the week, and I have considered going up to 5 mg, I don't feel it is really necessary. I've heard it said that any effects on 2.5 are psychosomatic, in which case, thank you brain for my 17 lbs loss so far! I think everyone will be slightly different and you can only judge for yourself after a month or so. Good luck.

1 month on 2.5
1 month on 5
2 weeks on 7.5 so far.
I have felt the need to move up each month as the appetite suppression had been getting so so towards the end of each tier.
my concern is that I still have a lot of weight to lose (7 stone) and I am not a fast loser so worried that I will get to 15 quicky and have no where to go.
I am not one of these who barely eats anything and can only manage less than 1000 calories per day.

I hope to find a level that I can stick with for a good few months before 15.

Just to add to the ridiculous notion that if you stay on a dose for more than 4 weeks you are 'doing it wrong' and trying to save money/have loads to lose -

I have had almost complete appetite suppression on 5mg. If I had gone up as suggested by some, I would now be on my first dose of 12.5. I cannot begin to imagine how I would manage to eat or drink ANYTHING on a dose more than 2x my current one 😱

Not sure why micro dosing so frowned upon on here? I would have thought that the lowest possible dose that gives results for as long as possible would be the best way to proceed surely?

tbh I have only see a couple of posts microdosing on these threads and usually only temporarily when they have hit bad side effects so they can work up slowly.

Microdosing is taking tiny amount of medication longer term not just adjusting doses like taking 3.75mg out a 5mg pen (I am all for taking the dose or part dose that suits me). Microdosing would be taking something tiny such as <1mg.

My pet hate on these threads is the misuse of medical terms like "microdosing" and the other favourite "loading dose" when these are not relevant/incorrect for MJ for those mostly using it for weightloss.

I am happy on 2.5, I’ve lost 10.5 lb in 2.5 weeks which I’m really happy with. Plus I have taken a bit of my waist and hips and clothes feel looser. I’ve got good suppression and no side effects. I never usually lose anything like this amount and struggle to lose even 1lb a week in any other kind of weight loss program. So I am thinking I’ll stay on 2.5 as I don’t really need to go up yet/if at all. I will check with my provider of course.

I did a month of 2.5.

I did four weeks of 5mg and then attempted a second pen of 5mg but it stopped working a week in so I used the rest of that pen to do two 7.5mg shots. So 5 weeks on 5mg total.

I stayed on 7.5mg for 10 weeks (two full pens plus the two weeks I mentioned above).

I'm currently on 10mg. I've been on it for four weeks now and just purchased another 10mg pen so will be 8 weeks total. I'm having to use some willpower at 10mg rather than relying solely on being full/loss of appetite like I was on lower doses so I might move up to 12.5 after this next pen is finished.

I've steadily been losing 2lbs or so a week all along (except a larger loss in the first month) so I've been going up doses based on how well I feel I can manage my eating while on each dose. It's never "stopped working" in terms of not losing weight, but in terms of my old hunger and food noise returning or my stomach not staying as full for as long.

@IrisPallida - ref your pointing out Eli Lilly advice re staying in the dose that is effective for the patient;

Glycemic control is for diabetic use NOT for Weight loss use