Please reassure me it gets easier

[bananagram18]

Week 2 of 2.5 Mounjaro. Week 1 was ok, some headaches but pretty smooth.

This week started off ok but now feeling intense nausea and diarrhoea. I’m feeling pretty terrible this morning and wondering how I’m going to get through work today.

I know it’s an adjustment and everything I’ve read says this is normal and will pass. I was really contemplating giving up and not doing the next injection. What should I expect for week 3?
thanks for any advice.

Most side effects are linked to what we are eating/not eating eg the headaches are likely to have been dehydration. Nausea could well be linked to not having eaten enough and the diarrhoea to something you have eaten or bizarrely, to constipation.

Treat the symptoms if you want to and then have a look at your diet and see what could be causing the digestion issues. Good luck for next week.

Thank you. I haven’t been eating enough due to suppression and nausea. I will try harder on that front.

After the second jab you will have more drug in your system than the first jab as a longer half life means it builds up.

I was/am OK on 2.5 but had similar symptoms on 5mg. (I increased my dose gradually and then with these side effects deceased my dose gradually again). I'm OK again back on 2.5.

I would suggest when you take your next dose you take less e.g. 30 clicks of your pen will give you a half dose of 1.25 (from a pen where the full 60 clicks are 2.5. I would also delay taking any more until you feel better.

I expect you will be OK on a smaller dose. Maintain a smaller dose for a few weeks and if you are finding it is not helping you with your hunger enough increase the dose gradually - e.g few weeks at 40 clicks and so on.

If you are struggling to eat you may feel quite unwell. I have low blood pressure anyway and a combination of the jab and eating very little left be feeling light headed, headachy, tired and sicky. It did really improve after the first two/three weeks.

I would suggest that if you are reacting this strongly on the first dose level you may want to delay going up to the next dose. Going up to 5mg is a hard one for lots of people. I did a half way dose between but unless your symptoms subside I would delay for another month.

I suggest eating lots of watery, light food. Fruit, veggies, smoothies etc if you can't manage while meals. Avoid alcohol, processed, fatty or spicy food.

You could reduce the dose. You might find a lower dose is still effective but with less side effects.

Thanks everyone. I am off alcohol and trying to prioritise protein water vegetables. I am not planning on going up a dose at the next pen.
I know not eating enough is gone to make me feel much worse so I’ll try and keep having small meals regularly.
I am not keen to reduce below 2.5 at the moment as I’m hoping my body is adjusting which seems to match everything I’ve read.

Does that mean the second week is hard on 2.5mg because of the remaining meds from week 1?

I've had a similar experience OP and am dreading my third jab!

@bananagram18 sorry you’re feeling like this. Try soothing easy to digest foods. No UPFs. So, whole grains (in small portions eg porridge, brown rice), pulses, chicken, fish, eggs,fruit, veg, salad, plain Greek yogurt, olive oil, small pieces of good cheese, seeds and unsalted nuts and nut butters. Hummus and hard boiled eggs with veg sticks are good for lunches on the go.’Have protein at each meal with some grains/pulses and fruit/veg.
Zoe podcasts are excellent at what to eat. Drink lots of water (very good for staving off nausea I find with MJ). Homemade soup with pulses, chicken and veg is very good when feeling as you are currently.

I’ve had intermittent nausea and indigestion with MJ. Now just gone up to 7.5 mg with some nausea again, so sympathies. I’ve taken moving up doses very slowly. I stayed on 2.5 mg for two months and then gradually titrate up to 5mg (taking a month to do so). Stayed on that since December and have just taken a month to titrate up to 7.5mg. For the indigestion if it’s really bad I take two Gavsicon, but don’t need that so much now. Overall I’ve found carbs (unless in fruits, veg and whole grains) really make me nauseous. So do fatty foods or sugary foods. So I don’t eat those.

Thank you for the good advice. I will persevere and try and eat more regularly. I have been very careful and not eaten anything rich or greasy at all.
I have been sipping water all day and it’s definitely helping.

It’s pretty grim isn’t it. Hope you improve and I am now considering halving the dose as the suppression is so strong.

My first couple of weeks were not great as was sick quite a bit and just felt awful so I took a week off and started again.

Second time around, a week later, I've had absolutely nothing. But I'm learning what I can eat and sticking with that so I'd definitely agree it it food related and including not eating enough.

Days when you don't feel hungry, eat small amounts as your body does need fuel. Even if it's a protein shake or such like.

I've stayed on 2.5 and now week 7 and I feel great.

That’s really reassuring thank you. Glad you feel so good now. I will stick with it and be stricter on eating properly.

I had awful, projectile vomiting on W1D4 after no side effects. Was so ill I skipped jab 2 completely, jab 3 was 1mg and jab 4 was 2x 1.25mg. This really built my confidence and although I had side effects such as constipation and dizziness, no more vomiting. I started again in May with 2.5 and so far, so good.

It sounds like you're going through the wringer in your early days on Mounjaro. Of course everyone's experience is different but hopefully hearing other people's reactions will help a little. I would second @Winter2020 about the build up of 2.5mg for a few weeks. It can take a while for it to build and reach a steady level in your system which may impact your experience of the medication in the early days.

I am also a proponent of staying as low as you can for as long as you can. They manufacturer can only recommend specific doses as those are the doses that are tested but people are finding success at varying amounts of medication. Some people feel no suppression until 7.5mg and some struggle with 2.5mg.

My sister had similar experiences to you on 2.5mg and after 6 weeks of feeling rubbish, we dropped her down to 50 clicks (approx 2mg) which works perfectly for her.

Protein shakes/water are a great choice when you're struggling to eat. I hope you can find your sweet spot and feel better soon.

That’s very interesting about your sister. Very good advice coming my way thank you all. I will see how the week goes, jab day is Saturday. Maybe a half or two thirds dose could work well. Much appreciated ladies.

Two smaller doses in the week seems like a good idea too. Thank you

I could only get away that because I had skipped a dose, so i still only used the pen four times. I still have a fair bit of medication left in the pen, but not sure if I'll be able to draw it out tomorrow because that will be more than 4 draws, if only at day 30). If you're happy using syringes to extract the liquid, this won't be an issue for you.

I have no idea how to do that but will investigate. I’m thinking maybe a slightly reduced dose this Saturday depending how I feel for the next few days. It seems to be day 3 is the worst for me.

Thigh injection instead of stomach/elsewhere injection, seems to result in far fewer side effects.

I have only done thigh as I heard it was better for side effects. Will be sticking to thigh for now!!