Giving up

[Tgilaura]

I have been on mounjaro since the middle of October, and it that time have lost just over 3 and a half stone.
After a horrendous night of vomiting and diarrhoea, (the second in three weeks) I think I have decided I can’t do this anymore.
i ve gone from a bmi of 37 to a bmi of 27.8. I think to get to a healthy weight I d need to lose another stone or so, but to be at a weight I’d be happy it’s around another 5 pounds.

Can anyone advise if they have managed to lose the last bit of weight on their own? I haven’t really been exercising beyond walking due to the nausea, so hope I will be able to increase the intensity of my exercise. I m just so worried I m going to put the weight straight back on, but I just can’t manage the side effects any longer 😟 please advise

You need to speak to/message your prescriber hir advice but assuming you are on a higher dose can you move down the doses and take a low dose if you can tolerate it OK e.g. go back to 2.5.

I m actually only on 2.5 - I couldn’t tolerate 5 as I couldn’t eat at all. I did 3.75 and had the terrible vomiting and diarrhoea. I ve dropped down to 2.5 this week, and had the vomiting and diarrhoea again and horrendous nausea again today. The side effects seem to be getting worse rather than better. 😢

Sorry to hear that. One thing I did see looking at a study someone linked on mumsnet is that gastric symptoms are more likely injecting in the tummy and least likely injecting in the thigh. The effect of the med is less strong overall injecting in the thigh I think - that's where I've chose to inject.

It’s really interesting to hear. I did an injection in the thigh and for that week my side effects were significantly worse 😒 as I d also heard it should help. I regretted it badly. So back to the stomach it was but unfortunately the bad side effects have been ramping back up. It’s really unfortunate, but I am grateful as if you d told me in October I d have lost 3 and a half stone in January I would have laughed. I d love to be able to get the last bit off but I m not able to function as things are currently.

Did you take imodium and ginger tea capsules?
I did when it happened to me.. then it soon settled down.
Have you given up high fat/ greasy/ fried foods?

So an average loss of over a stone a month? About 4lbs a week?

I would suggest that your gastric symptoms are caused by not eating. Not eating, starving yourself, causes intense nausea. Using meal replacements such as Huel etc can cause appalling diarrhea and stomach cramps in some people.

You really, really need to speak to your doctor, not your prescriber. You may be experiencing something quite serious. None of this is normal.

Yes I ve been taking Imodium and cyclizine but it doesn’t always work for the nausea.
And yes haven’t touched anything high fat/ greasy/ fried since starting after reading some horror stories on here.
I ate a few pieces of chicken katsu sushi which seems to have been the trigger, maybe it was the rice? It felt like a brick in my stomach until I vomited it back later. 😭🤢

I will say that I started at a very high weight for my height, as I m really short my bmi was coming up to 40. I definitely don’t starve myself, prior to all these problems I was eating more “normally” than I have in years.

It does sound like it's not agreeing with you sadly. Do speak to your prescriber- they might ask if you would like to try an alternative medicine.

Whatever you do now try to be kind to your body - it sounds like you have lost a stone each month for 3 months plus. I think in ordinary dieting that would only be achievable at best the first month then things would slow down so your body has been through a lot. If you come off the meds I would try to focus on maintaining your weight nourishing yourself with a good calorie controlled diet and being able to enjoy exercise again and not be too hard on yourself if you stall for a while. What you have achieved is an awful lot and I think maintaining your progress should be your first goal. Be kind to yourself.

Have you ever tried your arm? I haven't but I also got the intense nausea when I injected in my thigh. I prefer the right side of my stomach now (I stick to it but find a different spot because the left side disagreed with me a bit) and I'm on 5mg.

I had the horrific vomiting and diarrhoea when injecting in my thigh a few times but never in stomach - so weird isn't it!

@Tgilaura Sorry you’ve been so unwell. Some people are just more super sensitive to these gastric side effects unfortunately. You’ve done amazing with your weight loss since October, well done!
You could try halving your dose again, to 1.25mg, & see if that’s better. After that you could try increasing the length between doses, so 10-14days between doses rather than 7 days.

Just on the off-chance OP have you looked at what you had eaten/drunk each time.

Before starting Mounjaro I already knew that I can't handle protein shakes and get diarrhoea from having one.

It could be possible for people to have a new food that doesn't agree with them - especially the "protein" versions as we are encouraged to get lots of protein and think it is the meds when we can't tolerate that food anyway.

I’m sorry you’ve been so unwell and I think if you’ve made enough lifestyle and nutritional changes since you’ve been on Mounjaro you have a really good chance of losing your last stone.

You know if you can’t handle the side effects. I have successfully changed over to Wegovy after something similar. Maybe worth a try. You are supposed to have a gap anyway so see if you can lose more on your own. You would have to have a BMI of over 30 to start again though. Maybe discuss options with your prescriber.

It makes sense that side effects are getting worse because if you think about it your body is a lot smaller now so the dose will have more of an effect than in a much bigger body. I've read some coming off and maintaining or losing more. You could increase days in-between jabbing to see if that helps or count clicks to 2mg maybe

I’m not sure that is how it works. Plenty of us lose a lot of weight and have no to little side effects. It’s more either she can’t tolerate it at all , or what she eats.

Hi yes I have been thinking a lot about this. It seems that I can only really tolerate cooked chicken, veg, kefir, some fruits… so quite restricted? It’s appears to be once I try to step outside of this that the problems start. I suppose I need to decide if I can just stick to those foods or not?

Honestly, I did struggle with side effects from the very first dose - but it was mostly headaches and nausea. This did calm down over a period of weeks - I think I stayed on 2.5 for the first 7 weeks or so? These latest problems have begun when I tried to titrate up and I ve bounced around doses trying to find one that is a happy medium of suppression but still able to eat.

I hadn’t thought about it like that.. I was just saying in another post I struggled with side effects at the beginning when I had a BMI of 37, and now I have a bmi of 28 maybe it could be the side effects are worse?
I have read about people who have managed to be prescribed it with a lower bmi (by whatever means) saying they have really struggled with side effects and the response from others has been “what do you expect? You aren’t heavy enough to need it or really be prescribed it?”
Maybe you are onto something there.

Well 20 years of being a scientist and studying concentrations tells me it's a sound conclusion. Any medication has effective and minimum dosages per kg, just look at a paracetamol leaflet, and for weight loss body weight will vary a lot amongst users. Yes some have side effects no matter what but some dont get them until a higher dose and depends on other health conditions like prediabetics may need a higher dose as will have insulin resistance, myself I'm on 7.5mg and no side effects at all. Yes food also triggers some users, I had half a pizza last night first time in 4 months on mj, only a slice of base and rest toppings scraped off, worst decision, I've been very ill late yesterday on loo and a loud gurgly tummy this morning, must be the cheese!

Exactly they prescribe above 30 bmi for a reason, to minimise side effects. Most users can continue under it as they've built up a tolerance, maybe you haven't/can't. See how you are on a lower dose. Does symptoms get better after day 5 as this is the half life so dose concentration will be halved. That would indicate its a concentration issue.

Yes I would say even after day 3 it feels a bit better. So this morning it’s day 4 and I ve woke up feeling pretty normal - no nausea at all. Yesterday I woke up with the nausea which lasted all day.
Perhaps I should try even lower than 2.5 next week - like a 1.25 and see if that makes a difference.
I m so desperate to not put the weight back on, but balancing that against feeling so sick all the time is so hard.

I think your body is telling you to stop. You’ve lost the bulk of the weight well done.
Stop taking it now but keep up your healthier eating habits.

It is a normal side effect. Nausea, vomiting & diarrhoea are all listed as fairly common side effects affecting more than 1 in 10 people.

I couldn’t tolerate the side effects either so understandable where @Tgilaura is coming from. They probably did nothing wrong, were just unlucky. Just because most people do not experience awful side effects on weight loss drugs does not mean it’s not normal for a minority of people to experience them.

I think you’re going the right thing stopping these injections as they are making you so ill @Tgilaura Once I stopped taking them I soon felt better again.