Mounjaro and increased blood pressure

[autumnboys]

I started MJ in August and have lost over 20kg and am very close to BMI 25. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure last week and my GP (lovely, reassuring) wants me to come off Mounjaro for now ‘in case that’s what’s causing it’

i am a pretty compliant patient so I’ll do it, but I’m interested to know if anyone knows of anyone else that this has happened to? I personally think it’s to do with having been obese for over a decade, working in quite a stressful job, not enough exercise and too much salt, all of which I am now working to correct. It is responding to the medication and I know realise that what I thought was anxiety might have been the blood pressure.

The MJ gave me the confidence to accept a BP check when it was offered randomly by my local pharmacy - I naively thought that it would be great because I’d lost weight. Get your BP checked, if the chance arises.

The GP told you to stop Mounjaro and didn't give you meds for your high BP?

Yes he did give me meds and my BP is responding to them. Sorry if I wasn’t clear enough about that.

Mounjaro has been shown in the clinical trials to reduce blood pressure. It would seem pretty unlikely to be the cause of your high blood pressure.

If you're already taking medication and your BP is responding by lowering, how on earth will you or the GP be able to tell whether stopping Mounjaro has reduced your BP or if it's the medication? It makes no sense to me.

Having high blood pressure gave me terrible anxiety. Now back to normal and not nearly as anxious

I am medicated for high blood pressure and mine has dropped significantly since last year's annual review. Hopefully I will come off the meds eventually, I have read of many people who have stopped meds after MJ weight loss.

Did you have a pre MJ reading to compare with?

I bought a home monitor to keep an eye on at home and it is even lower than in the surgery (I get nervous in surgery because they draw blood at same appointment).

Yeah, I don’t understand how he’s going to know which is working, either. I’m on 7.5mg so it’s going to take a while to work out of my system, I checked on Shotsy. I guess once my BP is stabilised I can start again and hopefully demonstrate that it’s not hurting my BP.

i emailed my pharmacy to update them and they said that although they believe that MJ would help with the BP, they understood and I can email them when I’m ready to start again. I had intended to stay on for the long term.

@WeAllHaveWings unfortunately not. The last reading the dr could see was 2018 which apparently was ok, although I don’t recall that. My BP has gone up and down - I had to come off the pill in my early 20s - but has always responded to dieting and exercise.

I wouldn't stop taking it if your BP is being managed.

I have had exactly the same thing happen and am staying on MJ. I have had BP meds prescribed and the blood pressure is coming back down. I lost a lot of weight about 10 years ago and weirdly the same thing happened then when I got to about the same weight. Obviously i wasn't taking MJ then. The doctor doesn't know why it has happened but all my bloods are normal. Last time I freaked out and stopped exercising and stopped the diet I was on and ended up putting on all the weight again, which was stupid. I'm determined not to let that happen again. Taking morning and night readings, continual heart rate monitor and heart rate monitor on when exercising, staying in zone 2 or zone 3 so as not to get overstressed. I am hoping that once I'm into the normal BMI range (which is close) everything will resolve itself. Told pharmacy, they are happy nothing clashes meds wise.

If you are quite large(I'm morbidly obese) was it taken with the right size blood pressure cuff? I need an extra large cuff otherwise it comes up sky hight. Also lots of people have white coat syndrome where its higher taken by a professional.

Mine is raised on the charts but im hoping MJ will help. EIther way i need to lose the weight....

That’s very odd. Your doctor sounds ill informed. Mounjaro reduces blood pressure, as does losing weight, as that’s often the cause. I’m stunned they suggested that. I have high blood pressure, my doc recommended the drugs, knew my Bp,would come down as I lost weight and it has, I’m seen monthly as they taper down the bp drugs.

id ask for another appointment. See a different gp, as yours is a twat.

I have high blood pressure and take Ramipril, I have a home monitor and taking Mj hasn’t affected it at all other than to make it more stable

I’m on Mounjaro and have been since August. Four months in my BP medication was changed to a less potent one and the dose was halved to 5mg daily. Come Feb at my next visit to the Dr I’m told I should be able to stop medication altogether.

I think your Dr had a knee jerk response to the Mounjaro.

I would question your doctor further on this. Say that you spoke to your prescriber and they said MJ normally lowers BP so you are worried coming off might be the wrong thing to do. See whether they have an explanation that makes sense.

It sounds as though your GP doesn't really know much about MJ and is just thinking "new medication could be causing the new symptom".

I don’t want to say ignore your doctor but that advice seems so off the wall to me that I strongly suggest you seek another opinion. I think he/she might just have some kind of issue with Mounjaro and is against it. I also have high blood pressure but after 4 months on MJ it is normal. I am still on meds but they were only doing so much before. I think in most people it reduces blood pressure and of course losing weight does the same thing.

Thank you all so much for the advice and support, I am very grateful.

The GP was very kind to me and funny, put me at my ease, didn’t mind me crying and didn’t seem anti-MJ at all, was very congratulatory about my weight loss. His comment about it took less than a minute in an appt that ran well over at the end of the day. I don’t think he’s against it, just maybe overly cautious. I have decided to finish the pen I’m on and see how things are going. I think starting BP drugs and stopping MJ muddies the waters, correlation not being causation, or whatever it is they say.

thanks again - I will try to remember to update.

Mounjaro lowered my blood pressure.

Not all high BP is due to obesity. A lot of people with a healthy BMI have essential hypertension due to genetics.
Some medications can cause elevated blood pressure so I would follow your GPs advice.
Mounjaro can cause kidney damage which can lead to increased blood pressure, however you may already have had kidney disease before starting the WLI, this is why it’s so important to have thorough screening prior to starting WLI.
At least now your GP can investigate for underlying causes and you can receive treatment.

Mounjaro is just finishing final clinical trials and about to be approved for kidney disease, can you link to anything that says it causes it, as that seems very contradictory.

and no not all bp is caused by obesity, but it is a very common and major cause, and given the op is overweight, then it is fair to consider that’s the cause when mounjaro is clinically proven to reduce blood pressure.

I thought I’d come back and update this in case it’s helpful for anyone else.

My blood pressure is now well under control.

i can now see from the NHS app that blood tests show that my kidneys are compromised. I’ve had blood tests once a month (Jan, Feb, Mar, April) which have all shown blood tests consistent with CKD stage 2. Drs are unconcerned as it is stable. I will never know if the MJ caused it (I still doubt this, given the lifestyle factors I mentioned in previous posts, but I’ll never know) or made it worse or what. It’s a shame that there isn’t a pre-MJ screening when you go through a pharmacy.

I have no regrets. Every single other blood test has come back in normal limits. My gym’s body analysis was all normal too, which it wouldn’t have been in August last year when I went onto MJ.

Agree. I am never compliant with my GP! Aboit 6 times out of 10 they are wrong! Unfortunately I tend to have to do my own research to make sure what is being suggested is correct, and sometimes it isn’t 🤷‍♀️. Your GP is basing his/her decision on what - I can’t see any rational thinking there?

Update: I see @Angrymum22 writes “Mounjaro can cause kidney damage which can lead to increased blood pressure”, if true I suppose that maybe was the GPs reasoning. Still ….

Ooops just read your update.