Anyone else have to stop taking Mounjaro because of the side effects?

[TribulationPeriwinkle]

I so wanted it to work! And it did, but I felt so awful, even at the lowest dose, that it just wasn’t worth it. I chucked it in after six weeks.
Several of my friends have had practically no side effects, lost loads of weight and look amazing.
Am I alone or do other people have similar tales of MJ disappointment?

I gave up because of awful side effects and no weight loss. Like 1kg from 6 weeks.

the nausea was awful

I lost just under a stone, and to start with the side effects were bearable. But about 3 weeks in, all hell broke loose and my bowels went haywire, to the extent that my GP tested me for parasites! I took a couple of weeks’ break and dropped the dosage below even the starter dose but it was still grim - endlessly churning stomach and sulphur burps from the very depths of Hades.

I’ve had no side effects and have lost 40 pounds. My friends taking it have had no side effects either.

Just bad luck, I guess.

I don’t want to hear from people who’ve lost loads of weight with nary a gurgle or a burp! I know plenty of these lucky folk already. I want to know whether my experience was as uncommon as reading the MN boards would suggest.

I've been on it for 8 weeks and have lost 16lbs was fine on 2.5mg. Went up to 5mg 4 weeks ago and had bad nausea the day after taking my jabs for the first couple of weeks, was fine the third week and took my last jab of my pen last Thursday and have had the worst diarrhoea since Sunday night. Not good think I'll have to go back to 2.5

Oh no, @JustDance1980! I hope it settles back down.

Me! First week on Mounjaro. Took my injection on Sunday and felt fine until Wednesday night-then everything went downhill fast. I spent the entire night stuck on the toilet with the worst diarrhea of my life. Now its Saturday, and nothing has improved. Anything I eat or drink goes straight through me, and the stomach pain is unbearable. I cannot function because im too afraid to leave the bathroom. My next injection is tomorrow, but Im already thinking I cant continue. I got Mounjaro to speed up weight loss, but at this point, id rather keep my sanity and do it the old-fashioned way!
Eaten nothing but Whole Foods. No diary. No alcohol. Clean proteins.

@TribulationPeriwinkle @TomatoPumpkin @JustDance1980 @Cliop221

Did you inject in stomach or leg? I've heard side effects can be worse if stomach injecting but not sure if this is true.

I'm hoping to start soon and this is interesting as so far the only struggles I've seen are when a dose goes up.

Don't take offence but wondering did you drink loads like I've seen suggested?
So sorry it didn't go the way you'd all hoped x

@Cliop221 I’m so sorry! That was exactly my experience and I also opted for my sanity.

@starlight26 I was doing stomach, but the effects were so extreme I find it hard to believe that shifting the injection site a few inches would have made enough difference.

@TribulationPeriwinkle honestly I can't say exactly where on mn but I know I read about the aide effects being less - I expect this topic area.

Maybe see that for some reason these injections weren't meant to be.

I've had to stop after 2 weeks. Officially I'm skipping a week, but I won't be resuming. Likewise I was okay for the first few days and it all went downhill from there. Back and tummy pains, horrendous reflux and bloating. Totally unable to sleep or work. Taking a ton of medication to try and manage symptoms. The diarrhoea has only started in the past few days. I've felt horrendous. It was working - good appetite suppression on 2.5 mg. Does anyone know how long it takes to get out of your system completely? I heard the half life is 5 days. I was hoping to feel better by now.

Yes I have had to stop and only had one injection. I injected Sunday over a week ago 2.5mg and within 3.5 hours I had diarrhea, the worst ever nausea and vomiting. That lasted a couple of days, during that time could not eat at all. Since then I've had bouts of nausea, diarrhea, headaches, dizziness, bloating, pain, burping (but not sulphur, the one side effect i've been saved) etc ongoing. I've also had waaaay too much suppression, I can hardly eat anything so feel very weak. I was hoping as it is now over a week I would be back to normal too, but not the case. I have read although it has a half life of 5 days symptoms can last for up to 25days, just hoping they get less and less and I can actually eat better soon as this is not healthy at all.

Just to update for anyone going through this, it does get better when you stop. I am now 11 days after jabbing and am feeling a lot better. Still have some acid and bloating but my appetite has returned enough to eat reasonable meals and I have lots more energy. No more nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea (fingers crossed).

It's 2 weeks since I jabbed and my symptoms are ongoing. No appetite, no feeling of movement in my tummy. I'm glad to hear your symptoms are improving @badgersnakemushroom . Hopefully things will start to improve for me soon.

My dad took it for diabeties but it literally stopped him eating. No appetitie at all and made him ill. No energy. so dizzy spells/falls etc not good for a man in his 70s. He did lose weight and his sugars did improve a bit. But he couldn’t live like that.

I've stopped, not sure if I will try again atm. No digestive symptoms, not a single burp other than a tender left abdomen because I became a bit constipated that radiated up to/above my waist. Extreme tiredness, fluctuating temperature that was very high at times (39+), very fast heart rate, increased blood pressure.

Can't be certain that it was MJ of course, but I've felt truly awful. Saw my GP who gave me antibiotics and I've got two days left.

Feeling better but it is day 9 since an injection.

Spoke to the dispensing pharmacist who said my symptoms were unlikely to be from MJ at that dose. They suggested that I miss this week and consider starting again next week, with electrolytes on board.

Not sure whether I will do that or not at this stage. ETA I think I lost 8lbs in two weeks. Not exactly sure of the exact number when I started and I was so poorly at the start of this week that I didn't eat for a day. Just general unwellness rather than nausea/vomiting.

@TribulationPeriwinkle I also do not agree that the injection site will make a jot of difference. Fact is that you have a dose of a drug with a half life of 5 days in your system whereever you put it.

I hope you feel better soon too. Sounds like you had too much of the slowing digestion (gastroparesis) which is what I suspect happened to me too. I would prob get a medical check if not better soon.

I was fine on 2.5 and 5, but the move to 7.5 was horrific. I was on holiday and spent days in my (bath)room in the hotel. I was worried that I'd have to come home early. Then I stopped trying to push through it and go out in the evening, to eat and drink like I was on holiday, had some pro-biotic yoghurt, lots of water and slowly introduced lean protein again. I've been fine since, haven't increased dose from 7.5 (6 months on from my hols) and just have to be "good" with what I eat and drink. In my case, it wasn't the drug that was giving me d&v, it was my poor choices.

Sadly, it seems that there are some people who are totally unreactive, and some who are totally intolerant of the drug's actions - I believe that these are documented as the outliers at either end of the scale. I'm sorry this one wasn't good for you - have you considered Wegovy? It's slightly different and may suit you more.

Yes i gave up on Mounjaro as a lady also on HRT said if you stop taking it, it will get your periods back to normal and they were right. Fortnightly periods weren't the best and I was forever cold when I usually weirdly don't mind the cold. I didn't have rip roaring success with the weight loss but did on blood readings but to be fair for much of it my mind whilst on it wasn't there.

I have since started on Wegovy and going to have to beat I'm on it for weight loss drum now I have improved my diabetes and unlikely to ever receive help from the nhs going forward, so it was a double edged sword.

If Wegovy does the same to periods that's the end.

By what mechanism would Mounjaro affect menstrual cycle?

It can have impact on hormone imbalances, changing menstrual cycles.

I haven’t tried Wegovy - anecdotally, the side effects are worse than Mounjaro, which puts me off. I did try Saxenda a while back and couldn’t tolerate that, either. I had high hopes that Mounjaro would be kinder to me!

I’ve come close to stopping. I’ve been on 2.5 for months as the side effects for the first couple of months or so were as much as I could bare. I still have a lot of acid (burping all the time, indigestion and pain around that), huge fatigue, constipation and more suppression than I’d like. I have battled on, and the side effects are now manageable-ish, but there have been times when it has felt insurmountable.

There was an Eli Lilly trial for the different injection sites and side effects

clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04050670?tab=results