Finishing Mounjaro, terrified!!

[Cannotsettleatall]

I have been on MJ since January and have done incredibly well on it. I have dropped from a size 20/22 to a 10, and am 3kgs from my goal weight. I am planning to stop after my final dose next week and want to lose the last bit with "food noise" if possible, but at the same time, the lack of food noise has been so incredible that I don't ever want to give MJ up!

I am with E Pharmacy and they have been absolutely fantastic, I cannot fault them at all, but there has been no advice whatsoever on what to do when you reach your goal weight. I have read that you can titrate back down, and I have also read that you just stop. I don't know what is best. I am terrified of putting the weight back on (the weight gain was caused by prescribed medication but was impossible to lose again) but I am also a bit concerned as my relationship with calorific intake is starting to become unhealthy as the weight loss is slowing the closer I get to my goal weight. I don't want to spend another 4 months on MJ titrating down if it means that I am going to develop an eating disorder.

What have other people done in this situation? Thank you.

You’ve lost half your body weight in 4 months?!

I honestly think you should consider titration as your calories must’ve been really restricted to lose that much so quickly. You’ll struggle going back to normal.

Bloody hell, how much have you lost??

Im at goal now (3 stone in 4 months) and am going to titrate down from 7.5mg (the highest dose I reached) to 5mg and see how I go on that and then 2.5mg if I'm still losing on 5mg. I plan to be on it for quite a while yet as I know if I come off il get all the cravings and food noise back and I'm not ready to deal with it yet. I'm thinking if I stay on a low dose until maybe Christmas and see how I go then eventually try to go it alone. But il be straight back on it if I start piling it on again - I don't want to feel how I did before ever again.

It's all pretty trial and error really for maintenance - everyone's different and some will be fine going it alone and others won't and will need to stay on it. I suspect I'm the latter unfortunately for my bank balance!

There's a sub on Reddit called r/mounjaromaintenanceuk btw

I would switch to a maintenance friendly pharmacy. You could titrate down and they'll allow you to either stay on mounjaro or recommence mounjaro even at a healthy BMI. You need to make the switch soon though.

I lost weight in the past, when from obese to healthy BMI, but I couldn't maintain and it really upset me. You might be ok without mounjaro but personally I really really need a safety net.

There's Livewell pharmacy and pharmulous, they'd be my top two to have a chat with. I've had a brilliant experience with Livewell pharmacy personally but a lot of people rave about pharmulous too.

There's also oushk, cloud and swift doctor. Both oushk and swift are using affiliates on tiktok and I don't agree with using affiliates at all. This is a prescription only medicine and I don't think people should be earning credits for referrals. I don't know much about cloud but some people are with them for maintenance.

Think swift dr are cheapest because they price match to a degree.

Thank you all so much, you are brilliant. I think titrating down is the right option, life without food noise is so much better, I feel like a completely different, much much MUCH happier person. My diet has completely changed - I much prefer fruit and porridge with sultanas now to sweets and sugary breakfasts, but I'm so scared about going back to old habits.

I have gone from 94 kgs to 68kgs. Ironically no-one noticed at all until about 2 weeks ago, and at that point my weight loss had really slowed down.

I will get in touch with Livewell today, I don't want to use a pharmacy using affiliates either, I agree that this is medication, it should not be handed out like sweets.

Part of me is a bit sad that I may have to pay for MJ forever, but the other part of me thinks that I will probably save at least the cost of MJ on my food bill anyway if I can be on a lower maintenance dose, so it isn't actually costing me any more in reality.

Yes I think the same. Mounjaro is pricey but so is food. Especially when I used to always go to cafes and the work canteen, now I take a small sandwich to work and walk passed the cafes and wait until I'm home.

The price will come down too over the years, there are new drugs being tested, like a tablet version that would be cheaper. The patent for semaglutide will expire in a few years too so then we'll be able to order it cheaper. I was told by some pharmacies that if you've been on any GLP1 you can swap to another GLP1 for maintenance (by coming off one, having a quick break and going on the other), so you could be on tablets for maintenance in a year or two.

Yes! This is true, they are making a tablet form of GLP1 which will be a bit cheaper. Unfortunately I think MJ will be a life long drug. I'm nearly at target and I'll work my way back down the doses and hopefully maintain on 2.5mg.

Big thread with lots of discussion here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight-loss-injections/5252687-youve-reached-your-goal-weight-come-chat-about-maintenance-not-regaining-going-cold-turkey-or-titrating-down