Mounjaro Mistake

[Bubobubo]

I started taking Mounjaro again last week, I stopped as the side effects were making me incredibly ill.

I took 2.5mg last Friday night and have accidentally just used a single dose of 5mg that I had left from last time. It's been a long week and I wasn't thinking.

Should I be worried?

No one can say. You just need to keep an eye on yourself and contact your MJ prescribers/GP/call NHS111/go to a & e if anything bad occurs.

You'll probs feel a bit sick or tummy achey if anything. Just keep really well hydrated, eat light and healthy and try not to worry too much. If you feel unwell you would deal with it just like you would normally.

How long was the pen open for? When did you stop taking it (how long ago)?
You may get some gastro effects. I expect they will pass 🤞🏼

How long has the medicine been open and how long have you been off it . I’m not really sure how you do this by accident, but you need to keep an eye and call 111 if you start to feel unwell. As you know you’ve a low tolerance to the drug, then yes it is likely you will feel very unwell when you don’t build up tolerance.

The 5mg pen is definitely over 21 days, it's been open for maybe a couple of months. Thinking about it, it's longer actually.

I took 2.5 for 4 weeks earlier this year, suffered bad effects at week 2, couldn't keep any food down, then it subsided. I got moved up to 5mg and again by week 2 I was taking time off work and couldn't get out of bed.

I haven't even lost any weight, although it has lowered my HB1C.

My eating is clearly not driven by hunger, it's much deeper than that.

You've got two causes for concern, firstly you're likely to get side-effects from going to 5.0mg given your reactions last time. At least you know what to expect!

Second, there's a risk from using expired medication (well over the 30 day limit). Anecdotally, many people use the pens past the 30 day limit and are fine. So it's not a guarantee you'll be unwell. But be very, very cautious, any signs of infection (fever, redness/heat at injection site, sore skin, feeling dizzy, etc) get yourself checked out at hospital.

If you are very fortunate, the old pen you used will have degraded in strength but not given you an infection and you'll be fine!

Was the pen at least kept in the fridge?

I think, unfortunately, as you suffered with 2.5, jumping straight in with 5 might make you ill.

Then there’s the complications around the pen, how long it’s been open etc. I would reach out for some advice from a medical professional.

You might get away with it and be fine. But I would seek medical advice.

No, I don''t keep any of them in the fridge! I thought you didn't need to once they had been opened?

I'll contact my prescriber this week.

I guess in some ways I was hoping the whole thing would just help with this addiction to food.

No, but you also are supposed to bin them if you haven't used it all within 30 days. I'm sure there is some safe leeway built in but it sounds like this pen could have been open for months? What made you think it was a good idea to use it? It's a bit worrying that you did that. Whether it was 2.5 or 5mg.

That is correct. Once opened they don’t have to be stored in the fridge.

But they should be thrown out after 30 days. Especially if not kept in the fridge. My understanding of this is that One of the reasons for this is to lower the chances of any bacteria getting to a high level. Rather that the medication degrading.

When you attach the needle, the needle goes into the red seal. If something has got in (a speck of dust for example) then you could find bacteria in the pen has multiplied to a quite high dose. Keeping it cold can often reduce how much the bacteria can multiply.

If you want to go back on this, I really suggest you spend a lot of time looking into this properly. I don’t wish to be mean. I was also on the same place as you, I know how desperate a person can get. But you should at least know the storage and use guidelines.

You are putting your health at further risk.

It was purely accidental. My new pen was in the same box as my old 5mg one. I have thrown it away now. I was tired and used the 5mg and then wondered why I only had one dose left, then realised I'd used the wrong pen.

It has been a long week at work and now I'm just panicking.

Oh op, using very out of date medication at a dose that you know makes you very ill , and wasn’t even refrigerated, and without building tolerance, is very concerning, I am sure you will be ok, none of us know what happens to the medication after expiry, it potentially becomes less efficient, which would be good news for you, or it becomes unstable, which would be bad news.

was the 2.5 also expired medicine?

the medication doesn’t need to be refrigerated after opening, but needs to be disposed of after 30 days, there is anecdotal evidence that if it is refrigerated you can maybe eek an extra few days out of it.

i don’t think anyone of us really knows what happens if it’s a couple of months old or more and kept in a drawer.

I understand the desperation though, I think it is worth speaking to your gp, maybe there are other drugs you can tolerate, maybe ozempic or saxenda.

id bin the old medicine now so you’re not tempted again, in case your lucky enough to get away with it this time.

good luck it’s hard, but you will find a solution.

Cross posted, don’t panic, I’m sure you will be fine.

But that’s the thing. You should throughly check the pen is ok. Check the liquid hasn’t gone cloudy for example. Or it’s not cracked or damaged.

You can’t have checked as you would have seen that the plunger was half way down?

Is your new pen 5? How have you managed to get that given you have been off it for so long?

2.5 and 5mg are different colours aren’t they? My 5 has a purple lid. Are you getting this prescribed by an actual medical professional? If your new pen hasn’t been used it should definitely be in the fridge. But if it was in the same box and this one wasn’t in the fridge, then you are storing them incorrectly.

This is what I am talking about. You need to be so careful. And you are not storing your new pen correctly. You are, potentially, making yourself ill.

Newest pen was opened 2 weeks ago, second dose of 2.5 was supposed to be yesterday.

I had the 5mg in the same container, and this is the one I accidentally used. It has now been thrown away.

This is the first time anything like this has happened.

I am taking MJ to lower my HB1C.

Yes it's been prescribed face to face, not purchased online.

There are other medications to reduce this, you cannot be taking a drug you cannot tolerate. Go back and see your gp. See what they recommend.

I'd pop into your local pharmacist. You won't get good advice on here however well meaning posters are.

Don't panic. And don't beat yourself up, we are make mistakes.
As you are using it to treat hba1c it may be worth chatting to gp, I know it's not linked to hypoglycaemia when used for weight loss but potentially could have an impact if used for diabetes control.

You need to talk to your GP or diabetic nurse or specialist.

People on here are mainly using this for weightloss not diabetes so the considerations are different.

You need to monitor your blood sugars more closely for the next few weeks as the results could be unpredictable.

When you are over this make sure you don't rush up the doses, you might need longer on a dose before stepping up if you're struggling with side effects.

@Bubobubo hope the side effects are not too difficult this morning.

It was a mistake, we are all human and make them! I'm sure this is one you won't be repeating!

If you were using just for weightloss I would say ride it out and speak to a pharmacist for help with any unpleasant side effects (sooner rather than later before they close / are shut on Sunday)

I know nothing about the diabetes aspects of the medication. Do you have the tools to measure and react to any changes in your sugar levels? Are you confident for this part? If not can you speak to someone today, perhaps 111?

Have you tried oral semaglutide @Bubobubo? It might have a better effect than the injections.

Don’t panic you are very unlikely to have any ill effects because it was beyond the 30 days. Unless you are very unlucky the injection is safe for a year. They have to say 30 days because that is what it is tested for but highly unlikely it becomes unsafe on day 31. At the same time MJ is best kept in a clean box in the fridge. Some people just have so many side effects on MJ they have to stop. Sometimes eating very clean or very low doses can help

I astonished at the stuff folks make up and post. You can’t seriously think they texted for 30 days and then said fuck it, we won’t test further. And how would you know it was safe for a year.

please just don’t make up stuff like this.

Please don’t talk about things you make up in your head. I work in this industry. They absolutely do test and guarantee for 30days because of regulations. And many scientific studies find peptides are perfectly safe for much longer. And even the most basic common sense would tell you it’s not going from safe day 30 to deadly day 31.