Mounjaro Goal & Prescribers Stopping

[Rii]

Hi Everyone,

I haven’t been able to find anything about what I am going to say so I’m hoping people may have some advice/experience on the subject.

I have been on MJ since August this year. Started at 13st 8lbs and am currently 10st 3lbs. It’s the happiest I’ve been in a very long time!

as I’m nearly at a healthy BMI, I’ve been looking at switching pharmacies to one with a good maintenance offering, although I’m not sure what this looks like for me yet. (I think I would like to titrate back down and come off completely)

anyway… with pretty much all pharmacies I’ve found, once you hit a BMI of 22, it seems they will stop prescribing for loss and put you into maintenance.

This would mean 9st 5lbs for me, however i was aiming for a goal weight of 8st 10lbs which puts me in the middle of the healthy BMI for my 165cm height, however I’m worried i won’t be able to go this low on MJ.

Does anybody have any experience with pharmacies that let you go to a lower BMI before switching to maintenance and also let you switch when you are at a 23/24 BMI - The family Chemist was 19 but they are not taking anybody with a BMI lower than 26 currently.

Also, does anybody have any advice/experience with wanting/having a goal weight that is lower than the 22 BMI and being able to continue whilst taking MJ and the prescriber allowing?

Thanks in advance if you made it through the long post :) x

Pharmulous, Cloud and Oushk are the main providers that have been open and consistent about their maintenance offers. Others have a vague policy but do offer some maintenance like IQ doctor, The family chemist, Simple Online. I believe you can switch to one of the former three above. Someone on another thread switched to Cloud with a 23.5 bmi.

If your goal weight is in the healthy bmi range, then there shouldn't be any issue with maintaining on it.

Also, there is no difference between ordering MJ for loss and ordering for maintenance for most pharmacies unless you specifically choose a 'maintenance plan' like Oushk offers but this isn't something you'll automatically get placed on. You have to actively select it if you want to go for it. Otherwise, you can simply continue ordering and losing till you get to your goal weight, then either maintain or stop/taper down.

Thanks IMustBeInvisible.
i have heard back from Oushk and they have said they reccomend switching before reaching a BMI of 23. They allow you to reach your desired ideal/goal weight and then switch to maintenance which sounds perfect. I think the option of staying on their books when stopping completely sounds like a good option too.
I’ve also emailed cloud so will wait to see what they say before deciding.
thanks for the help.

Email Pharmulous too, before you decide. Don't rush this!

I really think people need to do this due diligence when they approach maintenance, because it really will be hard to change pharmacy when you are at a BMI of 23 or so. This is what I did, I researched by emailing them all.

I want a pharmacy that will work with me whilst I find out for myself what approach is going to work best for me. I do not need advice and I do not need 'plans' and I do not need 'help' in titrating down or whatever - what I need is support while I try things out. Maintenance will be for a long time and what works for the first 6 months/1st year may change or stop working or not be what I want after all. I can't know until I get to that stage of the journey.

The UK pharmacies are as much in the dark as we are regarding what maintenance may involve going forwards. Any advice is just opinion from them. Their job is simply to ensure patient safety and that prescribing is within the regulatory guidelines.

Our job is to find what works best for us, and that is very individual. Social media can be a hindrance here because far too many people want to feel safe by copying what they imagine is a 'norm' (see the many posts on here with people begging to be told which GLP1 drug to use, which pharmacy to use and what titration schedule etc etc.), whereas the actual process and experience of losing weight taking these drugs is so very, VERY different for many of us.

In short, a pharmacy may 'support maintenance' but look further, because none of us, patients or pharmacies, even know yet what 'maintenance' may actually mean.

I do recommend having a read of the mounjaro maintenance reddits - the drug has been available for far longer in the US and it is really helpful to read the many different approaches people have been taking for maintenance.