Mounjaro/Wegovy with > 5st/30kg to lose: Thread 7

[MooBaggage]

Thread SEVEN of this lovely community. Anyone using weight-loss injections to lose more than 5 stone or 30kg is very welcome to join us, no matter what stage of the process you are on. Share your losses, your non-scale victories (NSV), your frustrations and your love of Longley Farm cottage cheese and kiwi fruit here!

Nothing is off limits to discuss - from protein sources to B bellies; Hammocks to smart scales; feeling chilly to easier bum wiping 😃

Please don’t post discount codes on this thread as your post will be deleted. These need to go in the dedicated thread on this board

@WeAllHaveWings @alwaysscared Also worth knowing that some people can't absorb B12 in any form, via the GI tract, which is why it is given by injection for "pernicious anaemia". When we had to put all the patients onto oral forms as Covid lockdowns loomed we did advise them that, if they felt the prescribed tablets were not helping, to try a sublingual lozenge form as the B12 goes straight into the blood vessels under the oral mucosa. I used to recommend the Solgar ones as a reliable and established brand

@WeAllHaveWings@QueenOfHiraeth thanks for this info. Vit B12 was fine on tests but may look into getting some

@QueenOfHiraeth I looked at the sublingual too and I've got a note of a couple of brands to look at after the B12 injections as don't want to continue them long term. The ones I looked at were the Jarrows B12 and folate (in active methylfolate form not synthetic folic acid), but will add Solgar to the list too as a good brand I have used before - still need to look into all this side too to see what my dose my multivitamin does/doesn't provide already 🙈

Is anyone else experienceing and really fed up with weird kind of chills, like shivery goosepimples that come in waves and can go on for hours or days at a time, then stop completely?
Its driving me mad, I still have my winter fleecey bedding on, for goodness sake its almost June!

Yep! I always get this on days 1 - 2 - had my electric blanket on last night! And my heated throw today whilst WFH. Bonkers!

Its absolute madness! 😁

I have the most wonderful snoodie from Sainsburys, it’s from men’s section and I bought it in xxl, it’s massive, thick, fluffy and comes down to my shins. The smaller I get the bigger it feels. I can pull my arms in and wear it like a sleeping bag, I love it so much. I think I’ll be snuggling under it and my heated blanket in the middle of August though, never really feel warm anymore unless I’m laying in direct sun absorbing the heat like a lizard sunning itself on a rock.

I've been cold since my first injection...every day...all the time. I ran cold to begin with (I hate office air conditioning with a passion) and am always bundled up. Today I have my big fluffy Oodie over another hoodie, which is over a long sleeve t-shirt, long trousers, fuzzy socks, very fuzzy slippers, and am dreaming of my very hot pre-bedtime shower, and then being in bed under my thick duvet with my layered jammies. 🥶🥶🥶🤦‍♀️

@alwaysscared thanks that was super helpful. For some reason I hadn't thought to look online! That's convinced me not to inject tonight, dont want to take the risk. My gastric emptying has slowed considerably and I've got an early slot at the hospital so don't want to risk it for the op. Plus I know GA slows things down for me anyway and I don't want to be making that worse!

In the long run of this journey a couple of weeks without injecting isn't the end of the world. Thank you, really helped me make up my mind!

@Timetofindme you are welcome. Good luck with your surgery, hope all goes well. X

@QueenOfHiraeth @WeAllHaveWings I checked my bottle of B complex vitamins from Solgar and they have the not so good form of B12 as your very interesting post described Wings. I had always thought Solgar were supposed to be one of the better ones given the price! Don't know if any of their other B12 vitamins are of the type you recommend, so may want to check carefully.

You can get b12 spray which is pretty good i think. I take a multivitamin called Inessa which has b12 in, along with pretty much everything else you can think of! It costs a bomb but it's fairly comprehensive.

I have had several conversations with my GP regarding B12. The GP would love for me to be on injectable b12 but a massive needle phobia means that ain't gonna happen. The NHS can prescribe high done B12 but it's all cyanocobalamin. So I take sublingual stuff I buy. You can buy pretty high dosage on Amazon but as thr doses get higher, it gets horrifically bitter. I also take it alongside l-methylfolate. It's not gonna do the job as well as the injected b12 for me but it keeps my levels at the lower end of normal instead of absolutely tanking.

@MabelSpan I'm constantly cold here as well. To the extent I was out for the day with the youngest and was wrapped in the emergency car blanket. Thankfully it wasn't the tartan one because I would have really felt like a 90 year old then! DH spent the winter walking around the house wearing shorts while I was freezing myself silly.

Thank you @NewbieMJit sounds like you had a horrible time of it I'm so glad you're keeping well now.

"Unfortunately " my thyroid is ok & I take loads of magnesium already I will however reorder the whole food B vits that have lapsed! I developed a severe case of Alopecia Areata last year which is reoccurring faster than it can grow back & making me feel far more angry & desperate than hair has any right to.

@mince3point14159265 That's interesting that Solgar may not be optimal. I think I heard something about them being bought a while back so maybe not as good as they used to be. The enshittification of life strikes again!
I take the Nutrition Geeks ones at the moment which look good and are very well priced

@alltablenochairsI am doing my B12 subcutaneously at home with a 30G 6mm needle, while it is not enjoyable it’s not that much different to doing Mounjaro, just a little bit more resistance on the syringe plunger pushing it through the finer needle as the solution is thicker.

Inter muscular is better but that wasn’t going to happen!

@mince3point14159265Solgar do a methyl version too, but it is important to also get a good multi vitamin with the cofactors you need to activate the B12.

@WeAllHaveWings my phobia is specifically activated by anything that looks remotely like a needle and syringe. Even pictures are enough to set me off. The day I voluntarily inject myself with a needle and syringe is the day I ride up the street on my pet unicorn! Because MJ pens look different they don't freak me out.

For anyone looking for a wholefood B vitamin, I would recommend these. Good for bioavailability. Pricey though.

Garden of Life, Vitamin Code, RAW B-Complex, 120 Vegan Capsules

They have their own B12 version too which I am not as familiar with, but my daughter takes them and swears by them

Garden of Life, Vitamin Code®, RAW B-12™, 30 Vegan Capsules

If you scroll down, the ingredients are listed

@Arglefraster it's your hair- you are absolutely right to feel like this. Hair is such a huge part of who we are as a person.

I don't have alopecia but after being critically ill last year I developed telogen effluvium and lost a fuckton of hair. Even now it hasn't completely grown back in all places and it makes me feel really self conscious.

Thank you I'm sorry you were so unwell I trust you're well now? I hope your hair grows back quickly .

The thing is I'm really lucky health wise & it's just hair so I should be grateful (& I am grateful) plus there's not really anything to do for alopecia - the steroids don't seem to work for me. But it just so weird I look nothing like myself & the only thing I ever liked was my hair. And yes self conscious all the time, trying to swap from horrible hair band to horrible hat without anyone noticing, hating the wind (that I used to love) because I'm either hanging onto my hat or freaking out that the part of my head not covered by the horrible hairband is showing bare scalp as the wind blows my hair. I was always a worrier but never anxious now I'm anxious all the time. And so angry when I get another handful of hair.

oh god sorry
TL:DR It's only hair but it's making me totally nuts.

Completely fascinated by the vitamin chat and @WeAllHaveWings 's incredibly knowledgeable post. I've just checked the iron and B vits supplement and am pleasantly surprised to see that it contains methylcobalamin. Sharing in case it's useful as a good value option for anyone: Holland and Barrett Iron + B Vits, Vit C and Minerals 15mg. £8.25 for 90 tablets or £12.49 for 180, one a day. https://www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/holland-barrett-iron-15mg-with-vitamins-minerals-caplets-6100128620

I started buying them because Floradix was getting so expensive, and yet I see that Floradix contains cyanocobalamin rather than methylcobalamin.

@Arglefraster it is not just hair and you are allowed to feel absolutely furious if you want. I hope I’m not mixing you up with someone else but I think I have mentioned on a previous thread that someone very close to me has had alopecia areata and later totalis since their teens. There are treatment options beyond steroids but you would probably have to pursue them privately. This person sees a private dermatologist and now takes JAK inhibitors, which have completely brought their hair back. Methotrexate was considered as another option. It’s an autoimmune condition and from what they tell me there are new treatment options being considered all the time

@VelociraptorsVelociRapping 😳knowledge is still growing as only been looking into it for the last few weeks to try to work out why I am so tired and after I got Dr to do blood tests to check them and said all was well when it clearly wasn't. I am sure lots of people know much more than me so correct me if I have picked anything up wrong. These summaries are interesting about the types of B12 and its co-factors.

There are lots of files in the B12 wake up facebook group that goes into them in more detail.

One thing I also noticed while reading, is the recommendation not to routinely supplement iron for older adults unless there is a deficiency as iron can accumulate in the body and cause liver, heart, joint problems. I swapped to a women 50+ multivitamin (Metagenics), most of the vitamins for older women do not contain iron (I was also using the Better You iron spray which on top of my previous multivitamin was way too much). I also noticed the one @taylorswift1989 mentioned (Inessa) which is not only for older adults says it does not contain iron for similar reasons.

Erm cognitive dissonance moment. Tried in some size 12 jeans last night. They were baggy. I think I might be able to do up size 10???