The long term effects of Mounjaro…

[letmeask]

I’m not asking about the long term effects here, I want to ask those who trot this line out across the WLI threads, what sort of long term effects do you think would be present in those who use MJ etc short term? Not everyone plans to stay on the meds long term, so if no damage is done to them whilst taking it, what damage do you think will be done in the 10/20 years after? And for those who do remain on maintenance why do you think they will be badly affected in years to come, but not now?

My view is from personal experience of using a drug whose side effect at high doses was weight loss. It wasn’t the drug itself that directly caused the damage but the side effect of rapid weight loss leading to damage of the heart. In the same way that weight loss leads to pancreatitis. Mounjaro doesn’t cause pancreatitis directly, but the rapid weight loss it leads to can lead to problems.

No drug is completely safe.

‘best not to give Sue a platform’

well, that’s up to me to decide, not you. If MNHQ have an issue with this thread they can remove it, but until such a time, I am free to ask what I choose. I don’t need to consider policing who reacts to what or what Sue might have to say, the whole point of the thread was that Sue has nothing to say further than ‘what about’

I made the thread because Sue will ‘spout crap’ and o didn’t think for a minute that anyone with a tiny bit of same would believe Sue’s crap.

A pp has given a really good response regarding side effects years later, but I think most can differentiate between such responses and Sue with her nothing worth reading.

honestly @letmeask im not sure why you want to waste your mental energy like this....most health professionals will tell you, plenty of drugs are withdrawn even after being in use for a few years because new research comes to light. There are other drugs that people choose to continue because the potential risks versus benefits ratio comes out in favour of benefits to them (think HRT as an example). There were treatments I was taught to perfrom in the 90's at uni that are no longer practised in my profession, thats just the way it goes in health care. If you are happy with the benefits you are getting from WLI just carry on,you are doing it for yourself not anyone else on social media. People aren't daft to think about the long term risks of any health treatment they choose and if you are paying for this medication you do need to be thinking about what your choices are going to be in the longer term as not everyone can or will stay on it long-term.

People don’t like it because it’s just another arm of the weight loss industry that capitalises on women’s insecurity at a time when heroin chic is back in. Accessible only to those who can pay, of course. Admitting that you’re buying into yet another trend that polices women’s bodies doesn’t feel good though so people will twist themselves in knots as to why mounjaro is somehow superior than just eating less processed food.

Thank you, I really appreciate this response as it shows that there are reasonable answers to the question ‘what about the long term effects’ the vast majority of people saying it have nothing worth considering to say.

I wasn’t saying anyone was daft for thinking about the long term effects, I was basically asking the people who shout the loudest about it why, what they think. They can’t answer because these people don’t have a clue. That was the point of the thread. The people who shout the loudest about it are not even using it and completely unable to form a reasonable discussion about it. They just say ‘what about?’

The fact that there are considered arguments about long term effects has evaded most of these people.

It's not an either or. You can't take MJ, eat burgers and lose weight. I'm losing v slowly on a low dose and eating chicken, rice cakes, salad, veg, smoothies etc but without MJ the hunger pangs would drive me to snack and eat more. I'm v short and of an age when my metabolism is slow so need to be on 800-900 cals to lose weight. MJ makes that possible and over the 4 months it's taken me to lose 2st, with the same again to go, I'm reversing my pre T2D status and concerning fatty liver. I wish people would educate themselves about how MJ works.

I'm afraid you did, because I also read your OP in exactly that way. I hope you get what you want from this thread.

I definitely don’t care what Sue thinks. The point was to expose Sue for not having a clue.

I am clearly not very good at explaining myself, this is not news to me btw, and it has been taken in a way I didn’t intend. I take full responsibility and accept I did it wrong though, it’s just par for the course with me.

If you read the side effects the immediate risk may not be worth the reward for people who do not have serious health risks related to their weight. The idea that it is a panacea for everyone with a few pounds to lose is the problem. Whether the known potential problems with the gallbladder or pancreas will be significant in the future or other problems be identified in the future, who knows. But the more people who use them the more of the serious side effects will be found.

For me, I wonder if the side effects will be more psychological.... and perhaps social.

I seem to know more and more people on it. I'm one of those 'lucky' ones who has always been slim, but would need a stone off to look amazing/celeb thin. It's taken 20 years of exercise and watching what I eat and sometimes literally getting up and walking round the house, so i don't demolish all the biscuits.

People who are on wli are now wanging on about needing fillers etc to hold their faces up. One wants a stomach lift.

Other women who, like me, are slim but not concave, are telling me that they've started on it. It's rife in some work places. Naively, I still thought wli were for people who needed to get down to a healthy weight. But the healthy bit has been replaced by thin.

If it’s any consolation, @letmeask, what you were asking was perfectly clear to me. I think I got it because I am actually on WLIs, and have experienced the breath taking ignorance and unkindness of a few poor souls (amongst generally amazingly favourable and supportive comments).

A side benefit though, has been such an interesting post from pp about heart issues. Considered, reasonable, based on both facts and personal experience.

None of us can know, expert or not, skin in the game or (weirdly) not, whether there will be unforeseen side effects over a long period. It will remain (as all medicine does) about relative risk - of the condition you are treating, and the drugs you are using.

In 20 years I will likely be towards the end of my life. These drugs mean I probably have those 20 years, good years, ahead of me, rather than not. It’s that stark for some of us.

My answer to wot about pancreatitis is to point out the 18% increase in pancreatitis risk with every 5KG/M2 rise in BMI.

I don’t believe WLI are risk free and agree their use should be closely monitored, but I suspect for a lot of people the risk/benefit equation isn’t WLI vs medication free, it’s WLI vs medication for diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure and arthritis. I wonder if Sue has an opinion on that?

And that's an interesting point you make - that the drug itself isn't causing the side effect, but the rapidity with which some people lose weight. This of course can be the case whether using WLIs or not.
I've thought about other SEs such as constipation for example. How much of this is caused by the WLI itself, and how much by the caused by the change in diet, not just volume of food, but also different types of food.

Imo it’s to be used with caution (I wouldn’t use it) because it can cause GI issues (gastro issues) so side effects like nausea, vomiting and acid reflux etc although those are mild and more “accepted” side effects. Where it gets more worrying is the potential risks/links to thyroid cancers (which I believe is written in the box as a warning?). It’s not obv saying that if you use it you will get cancer, and it’s also not guaranteed that it will cause it in humans (based off animal clinical trials) however some people are genetically more predisposed to getting cancer so for me anything that might enhance that risk is an absolute no.

its very much a personal preference of what risk level you are comfortable with. You could take it for years and be fine or you could take a short course and have bad side effects. There are so many variables so it’s hard to really say

There’s no box warning about thyroid cancer on Mounjaro. If you have a family or personal history of a specific type of thyroid cancer, then the advice is to be cautious about using Mounjaro. Even then, it may be that the risks are acceptable compared to uncontrolled T2 diabetes or being massively morbidly obese.

I’ve just been reading a post on the Mumsnet AIBU board which is full of such anger and disdain about WLI. It really seems to trigger some people. No one ever posts about the ‘unnaturalness’ of anti depressants, or how taking paracetamol when you are in pain is cheating the natural healing process. It’s really astonishing.

I’m with you, OP. Funny how Sue and co don’t bang on about the unknown long term side effects of Botox, fillers and the other ‘tweakments’ that random, non-medical beauticians on the high street are injecting into people’s faces, isn’t it? It’s only weight loss injections - which have undergone many, many years of safety trials, can only be prescribed by registered doctors and pharmacists, and have huge health benefits instead of purely cosmetic - that are scary and worthy of suspicion 🙄

I'm concerned about the possible long term consequences of taking WLI. I'd be daft not to be concerned as I've been taking MJ for 15months and intend to stay on them for the very long term. However, I'm also confident that today's drug testing is much more rigorous than it was a few decades back, and that drug regulators around the world are closely monitoring their impact and will respond appropriately if concerns arise. I'm also 58 so long term for me is maybe 10-15 years - long enough to gain significant benefits from being a healthy bmi and to, hopefully, mitigate the risks of developing ageing-related conditions like dementia and heart disease. Being concerned about potential, currently unknown long term consequences of a particular drug or substance is, in my view, entirely rational if you're using them yourself. Non-users who bang on about it hysterically have a different agenda.

Hopefully Sue will read the medication leaflet that comes with her MJ pen.

At 59 being morbidly obese was not going to have a positive impact on my longevity. I have been taking MJ for 10 months and most likely will be taking it for some time. Similar to @KrankyKumquat I believe drug testing has improved and reporting is better.

One thing I’m curious about is the excess skin…. What happens to it? Will there there an exponential increase in cosmetic surgery to address it?

Sue doesn’t have a pen. Sue just likes to warn people of the fact we don’t know about long term side effects.

It was definitely the non users I was referring to in this thread. I realise I haven’t been at all clear.

I took mounjaro for around 7 months, I lost 20kg which I have now kept off for 9 months.

I do consider side effects, I wouldn't say worry but do think about it. My GP wasn't involved in prescribing or monitoring so I have bought my own blood tests and am going to monitor my health this way for a bit. In the end I thought it was a risk assessment and being overweight was a higher risk of health harms for me and in unexpectedly (to me I realise now it's obvious to others) my mental health had really improved now I weigh less, am more active, eating a better diet and more confident.

In that case Sue can fuck off!