What are my options please?

[piehole40]

I have just taken my 3rd dose of 2.5mgs on my first Mounjaro pen. I'm feeling great and have lost 4lb but the food noise is returning already. I had very severe side effects on Ozempic so I'm trying to avoid these with Mounjaro so don't want to move up a dose before I have to. What are my options?

Can I get another 2.5mg pen and take every 6 days instead of 7? Get a 5mg pen and just take part of the dose instead of all? Or should I just stick to the rules 100% and not mess around with a medication? TIA!

I (and I think quite a few others) were concerned about jumping straight from 2.5 to 5. I bought a 5mg pen and counted the clicks to take a smaller dose. A full dose is 60 clicks so 3.75mg for example is 45 clicks.

ive actually been on it 20 weeks and not quite made it to 5mg as when I did I had some gastro symptoms. I’m currently on 4.5

I would order 5mg. Price wise there is no difference but it gives you the flexibility to either carry on with 2,5 by using half the dose, go up to 3.75 or go for 5mg.

I agree I'd go up to the 5mg and take smaller doses (say 3mg or 3.5mg or 3.75mg) to ease into the 5mg if you can't go fully in yet due to possible side effects. With the 5mg pen, you have more freedom to go up to 5mg when you're ready than be stuck with the 2.5mg pen that may stop working for you before the pen finishes. The cost of 5mg pen is usually the same as the 2.5mg pen or with a little difference, depending on the pharmacy.

Thank you for advice! This is great!

So if I get the 5mg pen and opt for the smaller dose, then it'll last me longer than 4 weeks. Will that be an issue - will it go off or expire?

How do you know how many clicks equals what dosage?

Thank you SO much

The guidance is to discard after 30 days so I meant use 2.5mg if you're okay with 2.5mg, or use 5mg if okay with 5mg. There are people who use their pens past 30days to save money but it's at each individual's own risk and outside the manufacturer's guidance.

If you want to count clicks anyway, there are charts to do that or calculations to find the dose.

To calculate clicks:

Dose you want (eg 2.5mg) ÷ pen dose (eg 5mg) x 60 = number of clicks (That gives you 30 clicks).

Here's the chart too if it would be easier.

You can get 5 doses within 30 days injecting on days 0,7,14,21,28

I personally do a 6th dose on day 35 as I see 5 days as low risk. Others, understandably, will see that as higher risk and happy they got 5 doses will not take that risk with something they are injecting into themselves. Others will keep using a used pen for much longer, which I wouldn't do as I see that as higher risk and think it is pushing it. You need to think carefully what level of risk you are personally willing to take as there is no solid information on what is or isn't safe.

I use 45 clicks of a 5mg pen. That gives me 5 doses normally out of the pen. The 6th dose I need to break the pen or use a syringe to access. So far breaking the pen with a hard twist has worked for me but I hear more people are having problems with this and the pen design might have changed to prevent it.

I should have also said 45 clicks is 3.75mg (0.45ml if using a syringe)

There is solid info, the dosing guidelines and the time the pen should be discarded after use. There is no absence of solid info .

and what risk are you talking about. The risk of pancreatic issues? Infection? Unstable product leading to significant health issues?

I see this a lot, people pretending there is no solid info as a way to justify not meeting tne guidelines. Or saying they accept the risk,without articulating what the risk is. Which indicates they don’t know what they are risking.

on that their is no solid info. What happens if you use it longer than you’re told.taking out of date or expired medicine. What health issues can happen; there is solid info on when it’s expired and when to chuck it. Not wanting to do that for financial reasons is a very different argument.

I am very aware the instructions say to discard after 30 days.

Can you share the solid info on what you say the issues are after 30 days? Specifically that using the medication 5 days beyond 30 days increases the risks of "pancreatic issues"? You obviously can't as you are making those statements up and silly unfounded rants like that simply sound hysterical and undermine any credibility in your post.

I respect your personal decision to adhere to the instructions, and I will respect any credible information anyone can provide on any real risks of going just 5 days beyond 30 and will reassess my position. Until then I am comfortable with my own decision.

I’m sorry I felt I was clear. When someone writes words with a question mark after them, it means it is a question not a statement, as such, with this knowledge, please reread, as I didn’t say there was pancreatic issues, I asked a question, this is signalled by the question mark.

and once again if you reread again, I specifically stated there was no solid info on what happens if you do not follow the manufacturers guidelines, as such, asking me to tell you feels a little odd.

I agree @WeAllHaveWings and similarly feel comfortable with the risk, and jab at 35 days too.

The same way as I feel comfortable with other risks which I make an informed judgment about before acting upon.

I also don't feel the need to push my decisions onto other people, but am happy to share my practices as 'anecdata'.