A really scary experience.. please advise

[Tgilaura]

Morning all.

I am on week 2 day 3 of 2.5mg and have had little in the way of side effects so far.
Yesterday I had a bad stomach which I put down to eating a few pieces of spicy chicken the night before, so I had breakfast and lunch but not dinner as my stomach was painful.

When I went to bed I had a panic attack (which I haven’t had for years) but I recognised it for what it was and was able to breathe and calm myself fairly quickly.
However at 3am I woke to my daughter crying and while I was settling her my heart started racing and I couldn’t breathe.
It took me a good couple of hours to calm down and go back to sleep, and this morning my stomach feels really heavy.

Has anyone else found Mounjaro affects their anxiety?
Has it lasted or being a fleeting thing?
Could it be anything to do with electrolytes?

any advice gratefully received

I think if you’ve a history of panic attacks and anxiety, then simply taking a new medication has triggered that for you again. I don’t think this is about the drug, but more your mental health. You need to work out if you can mentally cope, or need to come off of it, good luck, I’m sure you will find the right answer for you,

I've heard the way it works is dulling pleasure and happiness receptors to control cravings, so that's why I decided against it - because I have depression and anxiety and I didn't want to not enjoy things even less than I already do. It seemed contradictory, and more likely that I would feel those negative emotions more heavily.

Is it really worth having your anxiety & panic attacks triggered to loose a few pounds? I don't mean it nasty but your mental health is important too. That sounds like a horrible panic attack.

I think that is the best idea, Op. Hopefully it is a one off thing. Must have been horrible to experience.

@VoyOySaveloy . I apologise if you found my post 'snarky' it was not intended that way.

I have found MJ to be such a life changing experience and I mean possibly life saving - that I wanted the OP to see that side effects are often mild and certainly worth persevering with - especially as in my case - the very serious consequences of remaining 18+ stone, were much much more concerning than the inconvenience and uncomfortable feelings of nasty constipation.

Anxiety however is a far trickier one. It's impossible to say if your anxiety increased because of some underlying worry that you had about the drug - or because of a side effect. The only notified side effect of anxiety caused by the drug on the Eli-Lilly website is due to MJ side effect of low blood sugar. Which can be solved by taking a sugar tablet or better still - discussing with your prescriber who will be best placed to advise which type of sugar tablet.

Ultimately it's a balance that only the patient taking any drug can make as.!There is no drug ever made that does not have the potential for side affects to someone.

In my case it was simply - is this painful constipation worth it compared to the very real chance of heart disease/stroke etc at BMI 42. Of course it is. To be BMI 27 is indeed miraculous. So persevering was the right call for me.
As one of the very common side effects of obesity is death.

That’s really not what it does..

Gosh there are some dismissive answers on this thread. Palpitations and increased anxiety are known side effects so why are some people so keen to be dismissive? I'd argue that in all the hype of how fantastic this drug is (and it is) it is MORE important that we hear and give space to those who are struggling with it.

OP - anxiety at that level is scary. As you're already seeing, different people experience MJ having significantly different effects on their anxiety. For me, for example, it's been beneficial and has soothed my ADHD mind and calmed things right down. But I'm not sure if that's helpful to you to know, because it's sadly not the experience you're having.

From all the reading I've done, it can take a couple of months for side effects to settle. A couple of months could be unbearable with that level of anxiety. However, it's definitely worth speaking to your GP. It doesn't matter that MJ has been prescribed privately, you can discuss this with them and they can advise if there's anything to help you manage the anxiety or not. That would help you determine if you want to consider pushing on or not. It's going to be about weighing up the pros and cons and those are going to be really individual.

I think when it's such a 'wonder drug' and there are so many voices out there saying how incredible it is, raising high expectations, and the hopes that this could be the one for us that works when nothing else has, it can feel very isolating if the side effects are tough or different for you. It seems some people don't want to hear the balanced view, only how amazing it is, and that's unkind and dismissive to those who struggle.

I hope it settles for you, but please do chat to your GP.

I also have diagnosed Depressive Disorder and take meds for it. I found that Mounjaro has helped with this and I don't take the meds as often anymore.

I think what it does is stabilise the receptors/hormones so that you're not seeking dopamine (like cravings) and/or not feeling any highs from binging or sugar. That way you stop because you're no longer getting what you used to get from them that caused you to go for them. I know it helped with my blood sugar spike too and stabilised it. It's helped people with alcohol dependency for this reason. It doesn't dull happiness receptors (for everyone) as you can still enjoy what you do eat, you just are able to stop or not crave sweets/any "vice".

Hi op yes my anxiety and panic ghastly been terrible since last Monday. Started 2.5mg mounjaro on 4th October so 3 injections in. Struggled to eat at all and if I do have heartburn and reflux, started feeling and being sick last Monday then on Thursday couldn’t even keep water down. Spent Thursday night in A & E on a drip. Never again will I take this drug. I think my anxiety now is I still am struggling to eat and worried I won’t get better. Hope you feel better soon.

Sounds scary. I hope it settles down for you.

No idea if it’s caused by the Mounjaro. I’m on it and have had no side effects whatsoever so I’m sure it’s gutting when something like this happens.

Thank you for sharing your experience. If it helps you at all, from all the reading I have done this morning, people have reported they do get back to feeling normal but it can take a few weeks for the drug to leave your system so try to hold that in mind.

Thanks for this. I definitely will speak to my doctor tomorrow.
I know it sounds mad after such a horrible attack, but if I can push through it I would like to try.
I think that probably says more about my attitude towards my weight than anything else, but after consistently gaining weight for almost two years, reaching a bmi of 37, and every attempt I have made on my own failing and resulting in binging and increase in weight even more, I am desperate.

thank you for such a kind and reasonable message

I think there is a lot of data to be collected and research to be done on the psychological effects of weight loss drugs, especially on people with existing MH conditions (clinical depression, anxiety disorder, panic attacks)

Just if anyone is interested.. I spoke to my prescriber today and they said panic attacks aren’t part of the recognised side effects, and that it is more likely it was low blood sugar which can cause similar symptoms. Then a list of suggested foods I should be eating to prevent low blood sugar.

So no further forward really.

Yes but there is a growing body of evidence

https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-3419258/v1

Actual research

And anecdotal evidence, plenty of people experiencing it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Mounjaro/s/HKLK0Sypzd
(Edit: Sorry just search anxiety or panic on this forum - there are many many reports - can't seem to link an actual thread somehow)

I really hate the what feels like medical gaslighting of people who are early users of a medication that after all hasn't been out very long at all. It reminds me of the astra zeneca jab for COVID - we were told it was completely safe, and then they realised it can rarely cause blood clots. Or Pfizer and the risk of pericarditis in young men...again, that wasn't a recognised side effect, until it was.

I don't believe it was low blood sugar for me; I think it may have been related to speed up heart rate and my body interpreting this as panic perhaps.
I would place a large sum of money that in a year or two they will acknowledge that anxiety is impacted in sone users - either improved or worsened.

Searching on "mounjaro panic attacks" in Reddit - screenshot of hits, not the full list!

Gaining anecdotal evidence of people being hospitalised.

I think you need to look deeper, at how many people suffering already suffer from panic attacks, have had them in the past, and suffer anxiety. Of course injecting a new medicine will likely cause many of those people to spiral; this doesn’t mean the drug causes it, it means the act of taking the drug, trips the persons anxiety over the edge into a panic attack.

the real test would be how many people who have not suffered severe anxiety and panic attacks started to do so after the drug, because that would be drug related and not about an underlying mental health issue,

I don't agree. A drug exacerbating a previously stable anxiety issue can still clearly be drug related.

If I get asthma, but when I pet a dog I get a severe asthma attack, that's still caused by the dog. If I get eczema but using Persil washing powder causes a flare up, that means I reacted to the Persil - it doesn't only "count" if I have never had eczema before?

I have only ever had one other similar anxiety attack, related to my child getting a very severe illness. I do get a racing heart and feelings of anxiety if I drink too much wine (so I barely drink it). In that case I think it's the racing heart that triggers the anxious feelings, and I personally suspect it was a similar mechanism for me with MJ.

I am also very sensitive to adrenaline and have to have an adrenaline free injection to numb my mouth before a filling, or I get anxiety-like jittery feelings.

Basically I have a fairly mild anxiety history - not severe debilitating anxiety, I work full time, raise a family etc but did have a bad time related to a run of serious illness in my children. That was all finished and completely stable - no meds, no problems - until that first dose of MJ which I took with no feelings of fear (aside from how to perform the injection) - rather quiet joy and excitement that I was finally going to effectively lose weight. Plus there are plenty of other people who have anxiety who don't find they get this side effect. In fact they find it improves their anxiety symptoms.

About 10 hours later, having felt fine, I am woken up with a racing heart and fear rippling through me. This persisted on and off for about 4 days after the first dose, spiked again after the second dose I took 10 days later.

Two weeks later I desist taking the meds (back in early May) and have had no further recurrence of the symptoms. I know it was the MJ.

WOW .....just WOW! Congratulations on the weight loss.

Definitely secure medical advice-speak to your GP not just pharmacist prescriber.It could be worsening anxiety or cardiac side effects.It is known to cause increase in Heart Rate.Have it properly checked out.

Hi everyone.

I wanted to come back to update this in case anyone else reads with a similar experience - or if anyone has any further advice.
following my initial experience with the panic attack which started this thread, last night I had another spectacular attack from which the anxiety has lasted into today.
I have been on 2.5 the whole time, apart from two weeks on 5 which made me too nauseous and so I dropped back down to the 2.5. This week I thought I d try changing injection sites as I’d read it reduced side effects such as nausea and so instead injected in my thigh.

Well, the anxiety attack last night was something else, and the heaviness in my stomach and general anxiety has followed me into today. I can only assume it may be down to the change in site, I will definitely be going back to stomach if the anxiety calms down enough for me to continue.

I have lost 3 stone so far, with an ideal stone to go so I hope to not need to take it much longer, or if needs be do the last bit of weight myself.

has anyone else noticed the change of site making a difference?

Did u try eating something sweet incase it was low blood sugar

Hi. Yes I did because I felt out of sorts in the afternoon. So I had something sweet just before bed just in case it was that (it was also suggested last time that it may have been an issue, and I wanted to avoid if at all possible). However it made no difference and has made no difference today either.

I'm surprised you've lost so much on 2.5 as I didn't think that did anything but well done.

The only time I be had panic attacks was when my iron was low, GP said it was common so worth having a blood test if you haven't had one.