Slow titrating & sub dosing chat/support

[SubDoser]

Thought it would be good to have a specific thread for those of us who are using sub doses to titrate more slowly than average due to managing side effects (or simply preference). If there is already a thread going though please point me in the right direction!

Finally made a decision on how to up my dose this time. I had been going up by 5 clicks of a 5 mg pen each time (so 0.4 mg) - decided to go up 10 clicks this time (so 0.8 mg). Hopefully it proves to be a good choice!

Fingers crossed that you tolerate it well. I'd certainly hope so as you have been taking it nice and slowly.

Thanks @Swissrollover ! So far so good but early days (19 hrs).

So far (39 hours) I am glad I went up 0.8 mg rather than 0.4 mg this time - definitely feel like I am on the meds more now and like I need to be careful with what I eat. When I overdid upping the dose before the symptoms appeared around now. Now the next test is whether or not I start to lose weight again...

How is everyone else getting on?

Thanks for having this thread, it's interesting. I will be going up very slowly though I'm right at the start so can't comment much yet. I'm BMI 27 and short.

So far I've done Dose 1 of 2.5mg. Had really strong appetite suppressance and nausea for a few days, it was overpowering.

Dose 2, I did 2mg. This also created really bad nausea and terrible night's sleep for jab day, but was ok the rest of week. Good suppressance for 5 days, not overpowering.

My next jab is due tomorrow but I'm delaying until Tuesday as I feel so rundown (persistent cold, side-effects and not being able to eat particularly healthy food because of nausea). I think I will do 1.8mg for next 3 doses as that splits evenly the rest of the pen.

I've ordered 2.5mg again for next month as I don't anticipate going up much.

I've only lost 1.5lb despite not eating over 1000 calories any day. I think it's possibly because I have been very inactive as been feeling so rough. I do think some weight is due to come off though shortly, at least a pound.

I'm on my second week of 3.75mg. Suppression is quite strong and I'm glad I didn't go straight from 2.5mg to 5mg. I plan to do at least four weeks on 3.75mg then will decide whether to stay on that dose or increase to 5mg.

Sounds like you're managing it really well @Dunkou and have a good clear plan in place. I find it interesting how differently some people react to it but with a bit of thought and trial and error we can make it work for us.

Great news you're getting great suppression on 3.75 mg @JunoRoma !

I'm trying to get more organised with food - shopping, planning, prep. Now having a regular slot with Ocado and starting to buy the Pyrex cook and go containers (DH rolling his eyes as I have a very plentiful supply of lock and lock containers...). I'm at the overthinking stage with the actual food though! Just need to start. I'll go and give the fridge a through muck out now. Last adult child left home this week - so I can claim the full fridge & freezer back! DH is a fussy/plain eater and I'm not (and get bored/don't want to eat what he does) so we often eat differently - doesn't help.

Good idea on the food prep. I need to really think more carefully about nutrients.

Time to make another decision - 5.8 mg is getting me no where either so I am going to be brave and go up again after just two weeks on that to 6.3 mg. Fingers crossed I hit on the perfect dose as this is getting tedious now.

Sounds like a good idea.

I really like the Shotsy app. It was £18 or so for a year (one week free trial), but has been worth it for me to keep a close track of my levels.

You can see your estimated level for each day. I recently decided to jab a day early, as I wanted to increase the level in my system without significantly increasing the dose. (I went from 8.5 to 8.75.)

You can play around with future doses too and it will show the expected trajectory.

There are one or two free GLP plotters available online, but I found them harder to use and couldn't retrieve the data I'd entered at a later date.

Thanks @Swissrollover - I think I will sign up for shotsy! The free GLP1 plotter is all very good but without having an account all your data gets lost each time and entering it all is a bit of a chore.

I took the 6.3 mg yesterday - so far so good but too early to tell really.

Just put all my shot data into Shotsy - thanks for the suggestion! Hopefully I'll get into entering the other data too and it will prove motivational.

I still need to make more progress with food organisation and habits etc (although I have made some - now have a regular Ocado order - one arriving in an hour).

I think I will take the plunge with Shotsy as well. I'm not really getting a sweet spot with not getting side effects that affect work, and getting long enough suppression.

I've done:

Shot 1 - 2.5mg
Shot 2- 2mg
Shot 3 - took 2 days late as felt run down from side-effects, 1.6mg
Shot 4 - took 1 day late as had enough suppression, 1.6mg

I took Shot 4 on Wednesday though and suppression wore off last night, so do need to go up a bit and I also want to take it a bit earlier than a week.

Weight loss has been v slow, only 4 pounds in 4 weeks (and I actually put a pound back on this week, but am trusting it will disappear again). I have eaten significantly less than pre-MJ and theoretically have a calorie deficit that equals a pound per week, so just have to keep going.

Good luck, hopefully you can find a sweet spot. As someone who started on 2.5mg and found it too much (did the next few at 1.25mg before titrating up) - Shotsy is helpful because the medication is building in your system week on week.

I found I still had some of those side effects (insomnia/mild nausea/feeling cold/run down) around shot day even on very low doses (1.25) Just wanted to mention this in case you're hoping they go away completely for you, as that might not be the case.

I've done 16 injections, my last few at 2mg and this is the first week I've not had any side effects around shot day - feel like the time has helped my body get used to it.

@crumbsonmyface thanks, we sound quite similar, those are my exact side-effects - cold, nausea, run-down on shot day / morning after. Interesting it's taken so long for them to subside for you. I had hopes after last week as I had no side-effects. I did write down exactly what I ate that day so maybe I can repeat the experience!

I can't imagine myself going above 2mg for a long time, if ever. I seem to get low blood sugar really easily (not monitored, just how I feel), even though I'm eating regularly, including protein, carbs etc. I do drink a lot of water, but possibly not enough electrolytes, I'll increase that.

@Dunkou - definitely sounds similar, especially with the low blood sugar - had some of those episodes and they weren't fun.

Honestly it's got so much better as time as gone on. I just had a look back and this is what I did:

1 x 2.5mg (shock to the system!)
7 x 1.25mg
5 x 1.66mg
3 x 2.08mg (planning on staying on this for a few more weeks at least)

The side effects definitely reduced as I got used to each dose, but I've noticed it's so much better as the weeks have gone on. The first month or two were the worst of it x

I micro-dosed AND went up slowly. I was v worried about side effects as I always get bad side effects with any medication 😤! Have been on Mourjana for two months now.

Funnily enough I didn’t get much in the way of side effects, whether it was because of my slow approach or not, I am not sure.

I currently split my 5 mg dose in half. So I take 2.5 mg on Wednesday and 2.5 mg on Saturday.

When I go up to 7.5 g I will most likely split it 3.75g on Wednesday and 3.75 g on Saturday.

My weight loss has been slow, less than a pound a week on average. Though that did include the Christmas period of course. I’m hoping to up the ante a bit in the coming few months.

PS. I even split my 2.5 dose in half.

Is everyone click dosing? Has anyone done every dose using an insulin needle?

I'm clicking but will use an insulin needle for final dose from the pen.

I've been doing that but really dislike the Mounjaro pen compared to the Wegovy one.

Hi subdosers.

I’m glad to have found this thread. Concern about side effects, being just on the 30 BMI boundary, being short, and with no immediate rush to lose weight fast, I’ve decided to ease in to my MJ journey.

I’m 4 weeks in and going well so far! Side effects are minimal and suppression is enough to keep my in a gentle calorie deficit without much effort!

I do a mix of both - although recently I've taken to just using the insulin needle because I am taking a bigger dose than 5 mg from a 5 mg pen (this pen has been (5.8/5.8/6.3/6.7mg which is 70/70/75/80 clicks or 0.70/0.70/0.75/0.80 ml). I'll go back to counting clicks next week as I am moving on to a 7.5 mg pen but will take less than the full dose to start with.

Hopefully not a lot less. It felt a bit reckless going up again after just one week. Just took dose #34 about ten minutes ago...fingers crossed I don't regret this!

Thank you

I'm still going with small doses as finding side-effects overwhelming.

It's OK, I'm on 1.6mg which gives me suppression for about 3 days. I do have a more normal hunger after that but not near the level of pre-MJ.

I've lost 5 pounds so far, which is fine.

Wk1: 2.5mg
Wk2: 2mg
Wk3 - W5 - 1.6mg