How are GP's about this?

[Indulgingmum]

Hi.
I want to start Mounjaro.

My BMI is 36.8

I have tried my fitness pal and low calorie but not getting anywhere.

I'm 49 so peri menopause is in full swing and I'm loosing my mind.

I can't afford it privately so wondered

Has anyone had this prescribed by the GP?
Are GP's not happy about being asked for this?

It's v v v difficult to see a GP where I am so wondered did anyone have any advice?

My understanding is gps cannot prescribe unless diabetic. For being overweight you would first be referred to weight management services and have to try their "support" first.

However if you can afford then privately you can get it.

Sorry I hadn't read your full post about not being able to afford privately. One thing is I'll say is you may find as your not spending money on food as much you can afford it. Good luck with gp. You can only try and ask!

You won't get a prescription via an NHS GP at the moment. There are a very small number of posters on this board who have NHS prescriptions for Wegovy, but they have only accessed it via months of engagement with tier 3 weight management services. Sorry.

It's not available on the NHS as yet. My GP is brilliant about it and very supportive. She has a list of patients waiting to hear when it will become available. It is expensive but if you lose on a low dose it's really worth looking into. Try Oushk and get a consultation they are really good.

Even for diabetics it's not available from all health boards and not without a long wait for those that do prescribe.

Our Heath board GPs are advising diabetics to go private.

Sorry op it’s not available. It is for people over 40 bmi with health issues via the weight management clinics, which has I think 8 month waiting list in average and then you need to go through all the other weight management options first. It’s a funding issue.

It is, it was approved about a month ago for the nhs, but as said over 40 bmi with health issues and via weight management clinics.

Your GP can't prescribe. They are not allowed to. They can refer you to a Tier 3 weight management service and they may ultimately prescribe it for you but there will be a wait of many months and you will need to comply with the programme. Still there's no harm in getting the process started by asking your GP for a referral just be realistic in your expectations and don't ask your GP to prescribe when they actually cannot.

The cheapest supplier at moment is £89 for 2.5mg for which you get the 4 weekly doses plus sometimes use it for a 5th dose.
I use this price comparison site then click on required dose for lowest price
monj.co.uk

My GP, and I have heard others say the same, wouldn't even discuss it with me. It's not something she was willing to recommend as it would be obtained privately.

Mine happily discussed it and said she’d prescribe if she could , but simoly couldn’t. I didn’t ask as I wanted her to prescribe simoly I wished her advice and she knew that,

Yes but the 2.5 is the non therapeutic starter dose and although some do, most don’t stay on that, as you move up, the price increases. There is no point starting if you can’t afford more than 2.5

@TheBoldHelper

I wasn't looking for a prescription, I was asking her where it was a reasonable option. She shut me down on it. I guess I'm some GPs are better than others, unfortunately I'm stuck with mine.

Yes I guess some are just shite. I am lucky, mine is also monitoring me as I maybe able to come off my blood pressure meds as I lose weight. Said she’d had great results on it for diabetes, explained the medication, how long the meds had been around for etc, then said if she could prescribe she would

so I’m back in a couple of weeks to see her again and get checked.

Thank you that's good to know.

Thank you all so very much.

I'm going to look at finances again and see can I squeeze it out of my budget.

Maybe the money I save on food would help as ppl said.

Had my annual MOT with practice nurse who was as thrilled as me about the 5 stone loss on MJ taking me off of BP meds, statins and has even reduced my thyroxine prescription..

She confessed that to her knowledge at least 4 nurses and 3 of the GPs were on it. - it's a big practice with 11 GPs and about 20 nurses most of whom I don't know .. so was not indiscrete .. but tells me all I needed confirmed . despite doing months of my own research and being utterly transparent on my online consultation regarding medical history.

@valueyourself I'm so delighted for you. 5 Stone wow!

Would you recommend it then?

Same. I wasn’t asking to be prescribed it on NHS. She told me I wasn’t that fat (BMI 35) and to try cutting down on snacks.

I've been taking 5mg of MJ for months, haven't lost even a pound! I get it prescribed as I'm T2D but the symptoms I get even on 5mg are awful so I am going to stop. Cannot cope with the sulphur burps, random diarrhoea and having to spend 24-48 hours in bed due to extreme nausea.

Mine was really supportive, said it would probably be very effective, to come back if I can't afford it and we will do a referral to tier 3 weight management but it would likely be a very long wait. And she wished me well with it.

.can I ask what you’re eating? Some people do react badly in the base case, but it seems for others there is also strong correlation between people eating unhealthily.,too much fat, carbs, sugar, and it then makes them very ill, the fact you’ve not lost weight could indicate it is a food intake issue, type and quantity?

Why has your dose not been altered?

I am in Ireland, and my GP was very happy to prescribe either saxenda or ozempic to me, based on my BMI.

I have since manageed to source mounjaro from the UK, next time I see her I will prob tell her I am using this instead of saxenda. (which worked until it stopped working)

Mine recommended it but said she wasn't currently allowed to prescribe it.