Shemed Starters - Support thread.

[FatsiaJaponicaInTheGarden]

Hello! Is anyone starting or recently started with Shemed? I think there's a few of us on the boards. I started posting on a different thread when I was looking into MJ but thought it would be nice for us to have somewhere to share our experiences of the journey!

I'm Fatsia. My bmi is huge (22 stone with 11 stone to lose ideally. I'd be happy with less!). I put on a lot of weight after having kids and have tried all the usual things to lose it each time gaining more. We don't have a high income so it's taken some thinking before getting to this place and I'm really hopeful reading others stories of where this can lead. I. Really do want to experience the world in a slimmer body again.

I did the blood test today - stressed out this morning at the app was overloaded with so many starting on 2nd of Jan but the actual experience was great. I'm a bit needle phobic so it was great to have the little device to do the test.

Love to hear from any others interested in sharing experiences.

(Anyone wanting to debate SheMed as a company there are other threads where that is happening)

@Lotusbug ugh you have my full sympathy, it’s such a viscous circle. It took years with my consultant to get the right med combination, and it’s so much better now, but the problem still is that if I get a cold, I’ve got about a 80% chance of ending up in hospital, and people don’t get that at all. I’m really hoping your new inhaler works for you and that mounjaro helps both of us with asthma as well!

Rennie probably won't touch it, try Guardium, it's the only thing that quells mine

I keep a bottle of Gaviscon handy.
Or I take famotidine 20mg.
LINK

I must say that my asthma hasn't got better or worse on Mounjaro.

Maybe marginally better. I haven't needed steroids for a long time anyway. When we lived in London I was always on them. And in A and E.

I'm sure that moving to this little Scottish village, where there is far less traffic pollution, is the reason why.

I also used to smoke - yes I know it was stupid - but gave up over five years ago. That obviously made a big difference to the asthma.

So. I've lost 2lb this week.
I've regained control after the Christmas pudding and mince pie extravaganza.
I decided not to deny myself too much but I didn't go mad.

I didn't gain over Christmas, but I didn't lose (not surprisingly 🤣🤣🤣) but now I'm back on track.

I'm 13st 10lb today. This time last year I was 20st 2lb.

That's a total loss of 6st 6lb in a year.

I started MJ at the beginning of July, when I was 17st 12lb.

So in 5 months on Mounjaro I've lost 4st 2lb.

That’s amazing! well done you 🥳

I still need to reign it in post Christmas but the quality street are calling my name 😂

A 6st 6lb loss in a year is incredible

This is incredible!

I signed up for MJ because of the losses I was seeing even at smaller weights when it's more difficult to lose. The majority of larger losses I've seen are 2-4st - which don't get me wrong, is also amazing but there's nothing more inspiring to me than someone who was in my position a year ago, and is where I dream of being.

It makes it real, like I can do that too.

If anyone also has 6-8+ stone to lose like me, it has lost, I'd love to see your progress as we go ♥️

WOW!!! @TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOne That's incredible!!!!!! You are a completely differently person. I'd love to be where you are now in a years time 😍.
Ploot - yes I agree it does help to hear from this with bigger amounts to lose!/lost for inspiration.

Dandy - gosh that sounds hideous. I'm asthmastc and it "goes to my chest" but I haven't had a hospital admission in years so really nothing like what you and Lotus have lived with. Trying to lose weight while on steroids must feel actually impossible.

I had no idea there was a suggestion it helped asthma. I wonder if it's due to the weight loss... Or reduced inflammation or who knows!

I do wonder why as a population so many of us need this as in what went wrong with us all. But I'm so pleased it exists (well I hope I will be of I manage to stay on it!)

My drugs got delivered today! It's in a nice box with a cool bag inside.
There's a sharps box, needles and a little "goody bag" (!!) with drugs for diarrhea (loperamide), gaviscon, windeze, and cenlax which I'd never heard of but for constipation!

So well be going into this prepared. The only one not accounted for is nausea I think!

• oh just found a card with it with some management ideas and to report nausea/vomiting so they can support us!

All feels good so far.

My husband is on board that I wait til friday so I'm not going to be tempted to jab later... resists...

Eeeek so exciting that everything has arrived for you @FatsiaJaponicaInTheGarden! Also good to know about the goody back of stuff to help with side effects!

I’ve had an email from signature pharmacy this morning (still nothing from SheMed 😂), the link on it says my order has been checked by the clinical pharmacist but isn’t showing as dispensed or shipped yet so I suspect mine won’t arrive till Tuesday now

There should be a code in the email. If you open royal mail tracking and paste it in you can further track it.... Not that I got obsessed or anything 😂

@FatsiaJaponicaInTheGarden So exciting that yours arrived! I don’t even know if my blood test got there ok. I like that it comes with that little package of over the counter meds - that seems very useful. How many needles have they sent? I’m nervous about breaking one!!!

On the asthma thing, it seems to be inflammation related - the same effect was seen when controlling for weight loss. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2826086 But definitely more research needed! And yes, losing weight whilst on steroids feels entirely impossible. 😭 hopefully I can avoid needing to take any (outside of my inhalers ofc) for a while!

I can’t find a code at all 😂 the subject of the email is “Your Prescription Order Confirmation and Next Steps” then there’s a link to “view order details and track order” but when I click that it just says “We've received your order and we've queued the process to get your prescription to you” and a note saying it’s been clinically checked by the pharmacist. The delivery bit is empty. I’m wondering if because it goes via Royal Mail they won’t be able to send it today with it being a Sunday? Hopefully it gets dispensed and shipped tomorrow

That’s an interesting article! I briefly had metformin prescribed for my PCOS a few years ago to help with weight loss (until they decided it wouldn’t be helpful for PCOS despite doing very little research into the condition 😂) but i did have no asthma flare ups for the 3 months I was on it- I thought it was coincidence but maybe the tablets helped too

I think they're being careful about the nausea and vomiting side of things on purpose. I see they've included medication for diarrhoea, reflux and constipation, the commonest side-effects. But nothing for nausea and vomiting, so you'd have to contact them if this happened to you.

One serious side effect of MJ is acute pancreatitis, which has been fatal in a couple of patients.

It's reassuring to see that they obviously want you to discuss any nausea/vomiting with them, so that they can assess you clinically, and send you to A and E if necessary.

@Lotusbug I’ve been on metformin for PCOS for 16 years, and my asthma got a lot worse over that time, but maybe it would have been even worse without the metformin, it’s an interesting question!

I tried Metforim for my PCOS as well years ago, particularly when trying to conceive.

it wasn’t good for me just made me feel queasy but I didn’t loose any weight.

Oh that makes sense Broom - and actually is a good thing to see isn't it so a bit more reassuring really.

Interesting about the asthma.

Bizarre about the posting details! I Sri don't have blood test results....I'd like to know they're within the bounds of "normal for morbidly obese person" so probably elevated in areas but where they'd expect to be maybe. I realised I haven't had a blood test for over 2 years so may have tipped into diabetic or goodness knows what 😬.

I'm also a bit worried about anxiety. I lean that way anyway so hope drugs don't make it worse!

@Lotusbug

Ive had barely anything on email also!

I got an order confirmation and receipt immediately after signing up and ordering the blood test.

I got another generic email saying they were having issues with the app due to demand.

and then another generic email saying about delays and blood test will be dispatched early next week.

My app asks me to confirm the details I already entered and then just says ‘shipped’ for blood test and scan QR code when arrives.
I’ve not had a dispatch email with tracking though so I doubt it’s been dispatched yet.

I don’t mind delays I understand if there has been lots of demand and post Christmas catch up 😊 at least they’ve tried to inform us.

But hopefully not too long 😉

I think that's all the emails I got until I returned the blood test - my other emails were just after they'd received it! Although I can't remember if I had tracking for the blood test!

Hello all! I have no idea if I'm repeating myself here as I thought I had put a post in here but I can't find it! So forgive me if this is duplicated.....my screening kit is sat ready to do first thing tomorrow and I'm pinning so much hope on being accepted! This looks like such a supportive thread (so supportive in fact I've created a Mumsnet account just to join you girls)

You seem to be a group of women supporting women and I'm so here for that! I am pinning ALOT of hope on SheMed here and the waiting is painful!! So good to see a couple of you have already been accepted and are likely to receive your pens this week!!! Can't wait to see people's results and hope that I'm not far behind you!

@KeenGreen i felt nauseous on metformin too for the first few weeks but then weirdly didn’t after they increased the dosage, it was very much trial and error though and I wasn’t on it long enough to get any noticeable weight loss but it was only 3 months or so. I’m really hoping mounjaro helps with the PCOS side of things.

I haven’t even got a receipt email or confirmation of payment 😅 I did get a tracking link from Royal Mail for my testing kit though! Hopefully it arrives early next week for you 🤞🏻

@FatsiaJaponicaInTheGarden I hope your blood results get uploaded tomorrow when they’re back up to full staffing!

Hi @TLMoo welcome! Good Luck for your blood test in the morning, they seem super quick with the results and approval so hopefully this time next week you’ll be approved and ready to go 🥳

@TLMoo same, pinning it all on this! But I haven't felt this positive about being able to turn things around in the health department, possibly ever! I'm at the same stage, waiting for blood test kit to arrive. Currently drinking my way through the cocktail cabinet before I get a bit more sensible when Christmas officiall ends (i.e. when I'm back to work on Tues and hopefully jabbing next week!)

@Shmallow its crazy that just the prospect of it can be so bloomin exciting! I have a friend who has done so well on MJ but through Asda and I have wanted to try it for so long but I just cannot justify the cost until this came along! I seem to have lost and regained the same 4 stone for years and don't seem to get anywhere! I have my fingers crossed for all of us, 2025 is our year!

@TLMoo Welcome! The blood test was really straight forwards. Do remember to drink a pint of water and then wait 30mins and that you need to have fasted! I normally have a cup of tea early!

It looks like we'll all be starting at a similar time 😊. And yes I'm pinning a lot on this too so compeltely relate. I've been scared to hope on plans before but this has a much better track record. I so hope. We can all mange side effects etc.

Oooh, snap! Exactly the same over here.

Which is a good job to be honest, I'm in London for work on Wednesday through Thursday, so was hoping for a Friday start but maybe not.