Why some people only need 2.5mg.and others need 15mg

[WaterInMajorca]

Just wondered if any knows, or has any thoughts on, why some people get great suppression on 2.5mg, while others don't get it til 15mg? Why some have side effects and others don't?

I've heard a few theories but not sure I agree.

I'm asking as someone who is on 10mg and has no side effects so far. 2.5mg was like a placebo or sugar sweet for me. I'm the same with other meds too - paracetamol may as well be a polo mint or tic tac. If I have a headache I need the powerful stuff!

Why are.some.bodies less responsive to.lower doses of mj, do you think?

F as interesting question!

@WaterInMajorca maybe it’s to do with blood sugars or something - I’m finding 2.5 not great , feel sick a lot of the time- but also found statins daily gave me weak legs and blood pressure medecine even at low doses I couldn’t hack at all - luckily low dose beta blockers were fine.

Yes I'm on 10mg, just taken last dose of 2nd pen today and will be moving on to 12.5mg next. I do have insulin resistance and I have had zero side effects throughout other than cold, tired which is more likely due to eating low calories below my deficit of 1200, average 850-1100 a day. I also have stronger suppression as I go up doses but then suppression and satiety wears off after some time so I move up! 6.5 months in now.

Mystic maiden, you sound very similar to me! I've also felt cold and tired but that's pretty much it for my side effects bar a bit of low blood sugar occasionally.

I just feel I need a big whack of this GLP1 to help me :) it's like my body had a massive empty hole where GLP1 should have been and now it needs loads of it to fill the hole. It is a miraculous wonder drug, just wish I didn't need so much of it and curious why my body seems a bit less sensitive to meds than some other people! It also.just feels like my body is desperate to resist the GLP1 and keep me eating 🤣🤣 mounjaro is definitely working but I feel like my body is.trying to fight it and is desperate to.get back to a higher weight and i.need lots of mounjaro to over-power my body's natural tendency! This is making me scared about coming off it if I'm honest, as I am v scared of re-bound..

I guess the answer will just be “different physiologies”, but what I find crazy is that the dose is the same whatever age, sex or starting weight you are.

I’m on the highest dose of Wegovy, which scares me. There’s nowhere else to go if my appetite creeps back. Previously, I discovered that a hard reset (feeling uncomfortably hungry but ignoring the sensation) makes the drug work better so I’ll rely on that.

I don't know for sure but it makes me think about what I know of other drugs, I took a test from the (ill fated) '23 and Me' many years ago and it explained why some drugs (in particular codeine, but others too I hadn't tried) don't work for me as I have a DNA variation (CYP2D6*4) that means I produce very little of the enzyme needed to make codeine functional in my body - I would need dangerous amounts for it to actually be functional in me so I just never use it.

I imagine that as well as any environmental factors we have had over our lives there may be genes for either other enzymes, or probably more likely receptors, for these peptides.

I've stayed on 5mg. I went up to 7.5 and felt very unwell and had no appetite at all and I hated it. I like 5 because it takes the edge off my appetite but I have few symptoms and can still eat fairly normally. I don't want to lose weight fast. I have lost 30lb so far but slowly. It suits me and my lifestyle. I do need to employ a bit of willpower but I decided I didn't want to be totally reliant on a drug. I guess we are all different.

I can’t even cope with 5mg. Tried 7.5 once and couldn’t get out of bed for two days. It makes me very sick and dizzy.

This is how I feel. I think it kind of proves hoe much we need it and how hard it was to do on our own. I had gestational diabetes although blood sugars are fine since then (touch wood) but I’m obviously higher risk for insulin resistance.

Yes, I imagine a large proportion of the variation is due to pharmacogenetic differences like this.

Have you asked for your 23andMe data to be deleted? I understand that the company went bust recently, and the data is likely to be sold to the highest bidder. I've seen a lot of people recomending to request deletion.

@WaterInMajorca , I feel exactly the same. I’ve had fairly slow weight loss but that’s recently picked up a bit since I’ve moved to 12.5mg. I’ve got another couple of stone to go and am worried what will happen if I get to 15mg and it stops being effective. I have no intention of stopping taking the medication, it has so many other benefits in any case, I’m particularly drawn to its magnificent impact on your chance of developing dementia (which my poor mother suffered with). I absolutely believe if I were to stop taking it my weight would quickly return.
In answer to the original question I do think that some people are overweight because of what they’ve consumed and their lifestyle, others have underlying insulin resistance (not routinely tested for in the U.K.). I have the healthiest of healthy diets and exercise regularly but my weight just kept creeping up before Mounjaro and absolutely resisted any attempt I made to lose it. I’m on this for life.

I am the same. No side effects except feeling cold. Now just gone up to 10mg as was starting to struggle keeping calories low on 7.5mg after it working well for a couple of months.
2.5 and 5mg had no effect on me whatsoever.
Presumably it is lower sensitivity in some people because there seems to be a correlation between getting few or no side effects and needing higher strength to get a therapeutic dose.
I think I will need to stay on mounjaro forever if that will be possible.

I wish there is a 1mg dose

I'm on 2.5mg and it seems to be working with no side effects.

My theory is that I am slightly deficient in the hormones that it provides. I have bounced between the bottom end of obese and (with huge amounts of willpower that never lasted for long) top end of normal BMI my whole life. I have a tendency to binge and never normally feel satiated. This can bring my calories under control to 1200-1400/day and I can burn more off.

I'm not a doctor of course, but I think for those needing higher doses:

• I think some people might just be much more deficient in these hormones;
• I think a lot of people seem to be upping the dose when they don't need to - aiming for enough satiety so they can get by on 800 cals/day to produce a quicker loss rather than ~1200 and adding exercise in.
• it might just be processed by the body differently in some people.

There is...you don't draw the full 2.5mg. So instead of doing 60 clicks to get 2.5mg, do 30 clicks and draw 1.25mg

Thanks! That's really interesting!

It's weird isn't it! I don't get why we all.rwact so differently! I mean, we r all human bodies!! How different can we be!!

Yeah, anecdotedly I've also noticed people who get less side effects seem to need a bigger dose...

I suppose it could be the same reason some people don't need it at all.
Some don't need it at all, some need a low dose, some need the highest.
I wonder if it correlates to how overweight a person became before starting WLI's. My BMI was 30 when I started and I respond well to a relatively low dose (not gone over 5mg).

Every body is different. Whilst we all have the same parts (generally speaking), we all eat different things, do different things, have different genetic makeup, different home environments, different stressors etc, etc.

I'm on 15mg MJ, I still get hungry and I still get the urge to eat. What I have learnt over the year or so I've been taking it, is that is OK. It's quite normal and I don't need to rush and cram food in ASAP. Likewise, when I feel full, I stop eating. I know it sounds basic, but it wasn't something I did before.

I've got around 10 kgs to go. I've lost 35 kgs, so I'm thinking about a slow titrate down. I've also found out that my local independent pharmacy dispenses MJ, so I'm going to make am appointment and talk to them about maintenance.

I'm not sure that's it. My BMI was relatively low when I started and I need a high dose.

Oh wow! That's an interesting side effects!

Yeah I'm nervous to come off too..

I have indeed asked for it to be deleted, having downloaded the raw data myself first. Thank you for checking though.