Did anyone else have awful side effects? If so, what did you do?

[Mounraine]

On W1D4 I became very ill, throwing up all night which triggered some more serious health concerns. I skipped jab 2 and jab 3 time is approaching.

I'm not sure what to do and I wondered what others have done in a similar situation experiencing bad side effects. At what point did you quit?

What does your prescriber say? Triggering serious health concerns would seem to indicate that it wouldn’t be sensible to continue.

They were very helpful and suggested waiting until I was well and, if I wanted to try again, starting with 1.25. My wondering is whether to or not.

Yup affected me so badly I had to quit after 6 months. Gutted as I lost 3 stone. But when I ended up hospitalised I thought it's just not worth it.

It’s almost as if buying stuff that you inject without rigorous health checks might be a bad idea.
Please just stop.

Oh for goodness sake. This is a prescription medication, it’s prescribed properly, the OP is in discussions with her prescriber.

Had numerous health checks thanks. Just didn't agree with me.

I’m surprised the prescriber suggested a 1.25mg dose as it’s a non-standard use of the pen.

I wonder if it would be worth considering trying Wegovy, you might get on with it more than Mounjaro.

But I think it’s really not worth risking serious health issues again, surely?

I had a horrible reaction to my first dose - really bad diarrhoea that came without warning 24 hours after I'd taken it. I was very wary about the subsequent dose but it was fine

Since then I've had a similar reaction every time I've gone up a dose, although thankfully never quite as extreme as the first time. I just make sure that I stay at home for 24 -36 hours after I move up a dose.

My GP said that she's got 80 patients on MJ, and only one had to stop because the symptoms were so bad.

I would consider 2 things. What I ate around that time as what you eat has a huge bearing on side effects, and whether or not the sickness could have been a big and unconnected. I would also take the medication as prescribed or not at all.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts.

How have you got on since @Condensedmilkdrinker ?

I missed this when I replied at first.

I would be concerned your MJ isn’t legitimate based on that ‘suggestion’ - who is your provider?

I'd rather not get side-tracked by that. Thank you for flagging it as a concern and I'll be sure to clarify with the pharmacist.

Side tracked? It’s a huge red flag and I think it’s the main priority, not a side issue, particularly if the MJ isn’t legitimate.

I agree, if it's not a legitimate provider I think that's where the issue may lie. So many people are wanting to try MJ now and desperately trying to get reduced prices, nefarious people will of course jump on the band wagon and sell dodgy stuff.

When I mentioned that my DH had started using mounjaro, someone at work blithely mentioned that an ex nursing colleague who now solely specialises in aesthetics aka Botox and fillers was offering Mounjaro for under £100 and it might be something he’d consider. Not bloody likely I thought but clearly there are those who’ll try it.

For goodness sake Mumsnet. I’m with one of the well known / recognisable names. That’s how I was able to talk to the pharmacist so easily - in person.

Please don’t anyone feel they should apologise for the digs, but if we could discuss my actual question/concern, that’d be really useful.

It depends what you ‘serious health concerns’ are really? I stopped MJ after 3 months because I had side-effects that I never got used to, then a particularly bad week of them. I didn’t think they were pancreatitis or anything. I did wonder about gastroparesis. I took a reduced dose throughout (after initial 2.5mg and then 2mg were too much) of about 1.6mg. There is no way I could have kept trying the 2.5mg.

I didn’t ask the provider as generally they won’t want to deviate from guidelines. I didn’t see any harm in taking LESS of a drug.

Apologise for the digs? Are you for real here?

I am not going to apologise for raising a genuine concern. There was no ‘dig’ at you, merely a question raised about the provider which was entirely reasonable.

It depends what you ‘serious health concerns’ are really? Good point, I mean more "side effects that you stop you going about your daily life".

It sounds as though you gave it 3 months before weighing up the cost as too much? If you don't mind sharing, what benefits did you get in the 3 months? And how have you fared since?

I would drop down to 1.25 mg as your pharmacist/prescribing doctor has suggested and see how you go with that.

There have been a few on this thread who dropped down to 1.25 mg as they couldn't tolerate 2.5 mg at the start, and then titrated up much slower.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight-loss-injections/5234360-slow-titrating-sub-dosing-chatsupport

I was fine on 2.5 mg but I then couldn't tolerate anything above 4.4 mg for a long time.

I only had my last jab 8 days ago. I lost a stone in 3 months which doesn’t sound much but in context, it brought me to my lowest weight in 5 years so I am happy with that.

My side effects were: thirst on day and night of jab, insomnia on night of jab, flu-like symptoms, constipation, nausea (which led to me eating to try and stop the nausea, so that was counter-productive), low blood pressure so dizzy, stomach gripes. These weren’t every week, and varied in severity, never bad enough to stop. And I kept reading posts of ‘oh your body gets used to it, it goes away’ so I kept trying.

The final straw was my jab last week which was only 1.4mg - insane thirst, then sulphur burps, vomiting, then up all night with diarrhoea and then went for a walk the next day and shit myself. So that was the end of MJ for me!

I was doing everything by the book - unprocessed food, protein, eating enough calories, lots of water. It just isn’t right for me.

I was terribly ill and off work after my first dose. I lost almost a stone in 6 days and felt awful.

I delayed by 2 days and halved my dose. I've had no side effects on dose 2. I've been hungrier, but the fullness after eating came the same, just a bit slower.

My provider strongly strongly advised me against halving the dose, only to delay. I was going to do that but when I came to inject I just couldn't make myself do it - so - you know, it's my body. I will delay by another day and do 45 clicks for dose 3, and edge back up towards 2.5. This is not advice!

Thank you @Dunkou. That really does sound tough, and I want to avoid something similar (having had similar SEs). Good luck with the rest of your weightloss journey
Thank you too @Lundier. We sound in a very similar place, only I haven't plucked up the courage to try jab #2.

Yes I felt excessively trepidatious about it! I lined up all my Immodium and rehydration salts and so on and cancelled my plans and I was determined to throw the whole thing away if it went wrong again. But it was fine! It wasn't some underlying physical rejection of the drug, just the initial quantity.

It also made me understand what people were talking about when they weren't sure it was working or if suppression was happening. On W1 I couldn't imagine not being able to tell. But on this lower dose, I have felt hungry at times. Not very, and not for long, but it's not like W1 where food seemed like an insane idea made up by aliens.

Agree @Lundier ultimately it’s your body and you know it best. A doctor or pharmacist may have ‘advice’ and protocol, but they are not god and cannot insist you to do something which doesn’t feel right for your body. This is especially the case for WLJ where people have such different reactions, as we can see from this board every day.