Mounjaro February to April 24 starters - Thread 3

[ObsidianTree]

Third thread 😊

Link to 2nd thread

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight-loss-injections/5167988-mounjaro-february-to-april-24-starters-thread-2?page=40&reply=139735608

Are there any BF MedExpress offers if you've been with them throughout? I think all of the chat has been for those returning. I can't find one and my window for re-ordering has just re-opened. If there's no BF deal, I'll hold off ordering as I'm on week 4 of 10mg, finally have some appetite suppression but already have one more 10mg in the fridge and so am not sure whether I'd want another 10mg or to go up to 12.5mg next

@thehousewiththesagegreensofa i believe you can email asking for a price match before you order. And they were doubling the price match last week.

Evening all. I’ve been quiet as I’m in such a different place to most of us now. However, after my complete flip out at my last period I am coming back to update.

I had my maintenance consultation and after the last week’s PMS I have made the decision to go back to MJ.

I have been without it for two and a half months and whilst my weight does go back - almost - to goal, the food noise and weight gain around my period has just been painful psychologically. The week before period the cravings go out of control and then I gain water weight. This month I didn’t go above calories and it has still happened. I whoosh up and it then takes until almost the next bout of PMS craving to go back down. (I have about a 22 day cycle with peri - lucky me, not!)

I am still exercising. But that pattern is what stopped my loss before for years and years and whilst it may be natural it is utterly demoralising.

I am therefore going to be taking MJ for the food noise and to stop that hell. It will still happen - it did whilst I was losing - but not to the extent it has been.

There you go. I am lucky I can afford it. It’s not for loss. It’s for all the positive side effects. I will stay at a low dose and see how this goes.

I have always been honest with you all and I thought I could do this with all the changes I had made. I can’t.

Not ashamed one bit. But you all needed to know as I was probably one of the first to try this who posts so much! (Or did!)

Ah hi @FlappyFish - I was wondering how you were getting on. I think you are 100% normal. Truly. I’m glad you’re not ashamed - there is nothing to be ashamed about! You tried and that’s fine.

I’m going about 10 days between doses now and dosing 9mg - I’m steady with a BMI of 28 & feel fine with it. I’ve just purchased a 15mg pen for £98 from med express and might grab another one whilst I’m at it.

I now know 4 others IRL using MJ.

Evening @AgathaMystery! The price has come down so much. I saw all the double discount stuff. Even then it’s dropped so much since February.

I’m glad you’ve found what works for you.

This time I am not telling anyone other than my fellow MJ’ers. Here and in life. I know I will get told I am thin enough. I don’t need to lose.

I don’t. I’m trying to maintain. I don’t think anyone who needed MJ to lose weight would understand. It was bad enough the first time.

It does seem that half the world is on it now and the other half wants it. I also know that’s absolutely my perception as I am so deep in the mire at present.

@FlappyFish thank you for sharing. It does look like a lifelong arrangement, but there’s nothing wrong with that - like spectacles or vitamins, we need a little crutch to boost our health.

May I ask how you plan to source MJ given your normal BMI? Or did you have a stockpile? I wonder how I might afford to stockpile!

all the best, and let us know how week 1 of the return to MJ goes!

@FlappyFish You are not alone, I'm on it for the positive effects and not weight loss now. I thought I was ready to come off it but I'm not. I'm at my ideal weight (my new new new ideal as that kept changing). Maintaining isn't easy at all. I'm doing the 10 day spacing and not noticed any change in how I'm feeling. I'm still weighing, meal planning and logging as when I don't keep what I put in my body conscious it all previously has gone to shit, and Christmas is coming which I know from the past is my danger zone.

@FlappyFish ibthink there is so much support for you here. Like we said back in March, we are some of the first. Learning as we go x

What’re we all going for our 1st anniversary?!

@flappyfish Appreciate the update, while reading all your updates on these threads, I've always felt we had similar experiences with reasons for weight gain and general approach to food. I've always thought maintenance was going to be difficult without mj. Your experience has now solidified my thinking!

I've literally just landed at my final weight I'd like to maintain at, and am genuinely worried how I'll manage. My plan is to stay on for the allowed 2 years and hope by then, rules (and prices) change to allow a proper way to control my weight that includes mj.

We are in it together.

@FlappyFish you're not alone, I'm in the same boat with my cycle. Have PMDD and before MJ the cravings and monthly water weight gains were so demoralising that I found losing weight without MJ impossible.

I too still have the water weight gains (also not as severe) on MJ but overall I lose weight every month. I've generally found it helps my PMDD symptoms overall so am already thinking I might have to take a small dose for life. Lost 25kg since April got another 10kg to go I think 🤔

Thank you for sharing, I've followed everyone's journeys since the beginning but barely posted myself.

@Chucklesisters I did a consultation with Oushk and spoke to Hira, whose business it is in person. You pay for the consultation and then a monthly fee and then if you order the fee is taken off the order. I don’t think I’ve seen any other pharmacy willing to do that if you didn’t do the loss with them. Maintenance wasn’t even a word back in June as we all stock piled as it was still the idea you could only be on it for a 2 years. That’s not the case. You can take it for life if you need.

I don’t want to be on this forever. Towards the end of my loss I was ready to end the flatness MJ gives. I would rather have that flatness of mood than this rapid cycling of it. The up and down makes me feel wretched frankly.

@ThirdStorm that sounds very sensible.

@AgathaMystery antigua please. Although maybe Turkey to do some corrective work. 😅 I jest. Others can and do, but I’m not comfortable with the idea.

@FlappyFish
Sorry to hear it's been so tough for you but good news that you've managed to get prescribed again.

Maintainers seem to fall into one of two camps - those who have 'learned to eat less, move more' and are, apparently, able to keep the weight off (in the relatively short term at least). And those who almost immediately struggle with the recurrence of all the issues which led to their obesity in the first place - physical especially - and need to use MJ in the long-term. My suspicion is that members of the second group are the ones for whom this drug was always intended for, it's why the drug is particularly effective for us, and there's no shame in needed a medication in the long-term to help deal with a metabolic dysfunction. Yes it's disappointing, and costly, and annoying but at least we've got the option now and a community who understands what you're going through.

@NextPrimeMinister Well done on reaching goal and I’m glad I’m helping! It’s so bloody hard isn’t it? I wonder if this will be added to my list of stuff I just have to take.

Take multivitamin. Jab. Take AD. Use HRT.

@Heparama thanks for sharing back and it’s good to hear how positive it’s been for those symptoms for you.

We have all got this.

Hello, everyone. I managed to miss this thread starting and hadn’t even realised how long it had been going.

So good to catch up and read about more success and also feelings around target weight.

I’ve gone from BMI 33 in March to 22 now. I’m on my last pen at 7.5mg but signed up to the Oushk Flex Plan for some security. I’ll finish around Christmas time.

I’ve never had a firm goal weight. Where I am now would have felt inconceivable when I started. I’ve barely lost any weight for the last six weeks though and I think if I could stay around 9.7 I’d be thrilled. I’m a size 12 bottom and 8 on top, with a tummy I’ll never lose and that’s fine. I’ve hit ‘normal’. I’ve been weight training and see/feel some definition in my bum/arms, legs.

I really don’t know what will happen when I stop injecting. I currently have suppression around amounts and type of food still, but not loads. The weekend just gone has shown a 7lb gain on the scales which is a shocker but I suspect it’s because I’ve eaten way too many carbs and salty things. I’m on loads of water today! But it was things a few months ago I could barely have touched and wouldn’t want to eat at all, so a warning too about what I can eat. I’ve never been a binge eater and have gone through Christmas in the past with very little gain, but have also seen the weight pile on if I eat the wrong stuff. So hopefully I’ll be OK if I’m mindful. I have definitely noticed we’ve ordered far fewer treats in our Christmas shopping this year, and are planning a far less extravagant menu. I remain mostly ‘meh’ about food in general.

@FlappyFish well done you, for identifying the issue & jumping to a resolution before it got out of hand! No shame in staying on.
@Wonkypictureframe I am like you about food. Christmas planning pretty simple, and I only really have to think about what the men will like, mainly all the traditional stuff ( Xmas pudding, minced pies) that leaves me cold.
I actually hit goal Friday. I am on my last 7.5 & the weight keeps dropping off. Tracking on Nutracheck, which weirdly keeps saying I am half pound away from goal when I am 1 pound under. I am ordering 5mg next and will stay on that through Dec. Also via Oushk.

@Moanranger I’m mostly thinking of food for the kids!
I do wonder if I will find I need something to dull my appetite forever. @FlappyFish I can relate and I think you’re totally doing the right thing for you. But I would also like to feel unmedicated. It’s so tricky. I think only time will tell.

@ThirdStorm@Wonkypictureframe @Moanranger Hi there.
I'm a month into maintaining, still on my final dose of 10mg (been on 3 10mg pens) as I didn't intend to start reducing till after Christmas (worried about alcohol relapse as much as food). I'm still losing (a lot - 6lbs in this month) and it's got to stop but struggling to find any equilibrium and wondering if I should reduce now anyway. My appetite suppression is as strong as ever, so upping calories is hard although I have tried to, mainly by having some nuts in the afternoon and some boiled potatoes with evening meal, but it's a bit ick.
BTW for those maintaining with Ouskh, there's now a Maintenance support group on FB with a maintenance live Q&A on Wednesday at 7pm with Hira.

No shame in having to go back on the jabs @FlappyFish. At least you have your decision made now and a plan. Well done for acknowledging your need of it and not forcing yourself to struggle and be miserable.
Knowing you've decided to go back on makes me realise I haven't got a cat in hell's chance of maintaining as I'd hoped 😄

I'm getting fed up of putting a small amount on each day. Haven't had a loss for a while now and as I've dropped down a dose, I'm hoping I don't put on even more weight.

I don't have any health reason to stay on the jab but I can't actually remember how things were pre-jab. My periods are still bloody awful and I eat so much around that time, but until I come off the jab, I won't know how bad it could get.

I think I differ from most of you in that I never gave up any foods on this journey - I've still eaten takeaways, bread, all the bad stuff on a regular basis so I don't have to worry about reintroducing anything. But I HAVE to get a handle on the amounts of them I eat. Even now it's too much to be healthy and I'll have to cut back on them even more once I come off the jab.

I haven't given in to the discount code on med express yet. I really must get through my stash first before I think about handing more money over to anyone!

I think I have upped my calories already given my tiny weight loss now. I think my worry is that I am basically maintaining now on 7.5mg and suppressed, so can I really hope to maintain without MJ at all? But I want to find out!

I don’t know of any of you take HRT but I have had to up my dose of HRT on MJ. I am almost 45 & have been on HRT for 3 years (mirena coil for progesterone & Evorel 75 transdermal patches). Might be worth an HRT tweak if anyone is feeling bonkers. I was!!

@PissedOffNeighbour22 I’d say I’ve almost gone the other way and eaten things I haven’t touched in years on MJ as I was able to eat such tiny amounts of them that I finally got the ‘everything in (real) moderation’ success! So for me I will need to go back to my previous clean eating 95% of the time to stand any chance of maintaining. That’s no real hardship as I don’t mind eating that way particularly but it’s been a fun six months!

I agree with this about these drugs designed for people like us etc. There was a video posted a long time back about these drugs and what they were designed for and the scientist or speaker said that if you come off the problems come back, they aren't designed to be used short term. I know my issues around weight are caused by my body not working properly. So coming off will just result in me gaining the weight back, so not something I plan to do ever.

@ObsidianTree it's a bit depressing to think that we all might have to be on this jab for the rest of our lives. I'm 40 so feasibly the next 30yrs plus, I could be required to stay on this just to make my body work properly 😓. For a lot of us that sadly WILL be the reality though.

It is depressing but if you think how quickly things have changed in the last 2 years worldwide with WLI, and in the UK in the last 6 months, I'm sure maintenance prescribing will look very different in our lifetimes too.

Hey twin @FlappyFish - I was literally planning to message you on fb today to see how you're getting on.
It's a bit crap to think we may not be able to be without it but at the same time we are lucky to have the option.
I've not been brave enough to even consider stopping and just bought two pens with a 10% code. One 7.5 web one 10, both with long expiry dates my stash will last me a while. I get married in 9 months time and I know I won't stop until then as I have my dress already.
For those wondering, I've now used two pens for over the 30 days and have not felt anything negative. Pen permanently in the fridge and wiped before and after each use. Not advocating it to anyone but it's working for me.
I've now been back on 3.75 for 2 weeks and my weight has finally started to go down albeit very slowly. I'm 9st 8 now, bmi 23, and my goal is to try and maintain at 9-7 (so between 9-4 and 9-10). I'll stay on 3.75 until January unless I suddenly lose too much (unlikely!) and then reassess.