Dose-splitting - don't care anymore

[Glowingup]

Just venting about the ridiculous situation with pharmacies putting their prices up by insane amounts. All along they have told us that buying higher doses and splitting them to get more use of the pen isn't allowed and is dangerous. I have friends in other countries (Sweden and Germany) who are on them who have been explicitly advised by medical professionals that the 30 day rule is pure bullshit when the medication is kept refrigerated and are prescribed 15mg to be split into doses of 5mg (or 7.5 mg). I have also been following a former olympic athlete called Jo Fargus who is on tiktok. She is Australian and her doctor tells her to split the doses and click-count and she gets 15mg pens prescribed by that doctor and takes a 5mg dose. They've been taking the piss out of us all this time and the price-hike thing is an example of even more piss-taking.

Anyway, through my entire journey, I have click-counted and I have lost two and a half stone and am a couple of kilos from healthy BMI. I have used pens for at least double the 30 days. I now have half a 7.5mg pen, a full 7.5 mg pen and have just been approved for a 10mg pen. I will inject 3.75mg every 8 days rather than every 7 to make it last a bit more. By my counting, I have 30 doses left and at every 8 days, that is 240 days so well into 2026. That should be enough to get the last few kilos off and some maintenance. I will take pleasure in taking every single last golden dose too. Greedy fuckers.

I had a 15mg pen purchased in mid june but it was far too strong for me so I'm dose splitting, will use it to taper down so I actually have an appetite to eat food! Managed 700-850 cals a day almost everyday on 15mg! Done a 12.5 and 12 so far, then will go down to 10.5 x 5 doses to finish off the pen making 7 doses. I always keep pen in fridge.
I have 2 x 10mg pens turned up Saturday so will use them to taper further down. Then I'll try to use food, tracking and exercise to maintain hopefully.

@Nunenco ive not go anything left beyond one golden dose which I’ve never used (hate the needles, the ones in the pen are okay!), the stock issue has meant I haven’t been able to reorder anything at all.
I’ve tried to place an order so many times and every time I’ve gone through the whole ordering process by the time I’ve got to checkout I’ve been told there’s no stock left.
So may well be going cold turkey.
Bit gutted really, it’s managed my insulin resistant PCOS like a dream, it’s been an incredible 10 months, almost 6 stone down and at a healthy place, body and mind, and I can’t believe it’s about to end! By the time there’s stock it will be longer than it should have been between orders and they’ll probably want me to start at 2.5mg again.

Great info @Glowingup definitely going to split my doses now. I've always used the golden dose with no issues but ready for maintenance now. I've got 2 x 5mg pens so I'll going to reduce down to 2.5mg and I should get 10 doses out of each. No way am I paying £200 a month.

@TheChosenTwo go to a chemist and buy a needle for the kwik pen and do a hard twist, if it breaks so what you weren't planning on using via a syringe anyway. I know lots of people who do it you just have to be really firm, there's no way I'd be wasting that dose

Thanks @Fairislesweaters - may consider just trying to get half out and another half the week after just to sort of wean myself down, are there any side effects to just stopping completely does anyone know?

I think side effects of stopping suddenly is more that hunger comes back very aggressively

@Fairislesweaters does hard twist still work? I have just the syringe method for the past 5 months as I could never get hard twist method to work. I thought the pen design had changed to stop that one.

But also, Eli Lilly told wholesalers to stop distributing now until the price rises so many pharmacies weren't able to get their regular weeks supplies meaning they were even more short on meds.

But also, Eli Lilly told wholesalers to stop distributing now until the price rises so many pharmacies weren't able to get their regular weeks supplies meaning they were even more short on meds.

I use my pens for 6 weeks, split doses and always use the golden dose. I have done this from the beginning. It’s been 18 months now, I’m 6 stones down and never had an issue. I will either continue to do so or change to Wegovy when my present pen runs out.

Yes, however I’m thinking it’s more full hunger comes back and as you’re not used to it, then it feels uncontrollable for a lot of people, where as tapering down as you went up does seem to make it more manageable.

i was on ten, hit goal, did an extra month on ten whilst reverse dieting and increasing cals by 100 odd a week, then moved to 7.5, did a month on that, and now a month into 5, and will stay on 5 for maintenance,

multiple reasons for me to stay on, from the therapeutic impacts of the drug, so want a therapeutic dose, to not wanting to live my life feeling hungry, deprived, struggling to control my weight, but can’t lie el Lilly’s behaviour has hacked me right off,

It has, but if you have syringes ready as a
back-up it’s worth a try.

Anyway, through my entire journey, I have click-counted and I have lost two and a half stone and am a couple of kilos from healthy BMI.

You will thread is titled I don't care. Clearly you don't.

I'm going to get flamed for saying this, but I don't care either.

You only had two and a half stone to lose roughly before you hit a roughly normal bmi.

You would fall into the category where the risks of you taking those drugs were greater than the risks from you being 2.5 stone overweight.

You are at a greater risk from the complications of those drugs than the complications associated with being two and a halfstone overweight

I started my weight loss journey probably around the same spot you did, I had over two stone to lose befoe I hit a normal bmi. Ive now got 1.5 stone to go.

I'm not risking my health with those drugs for a relatively low amount of weight to lose. Losing two stone by yourself is not an insurmountable task.

Those drugs were designed for people who were dangerously overweight to the extent that their weight was affecting their health.

How here you are, trawling all over the internet disregarding UK pharmaceuticals advice to make your pens last long beyond the sell by date and make them last for weeks and months on end
..well more power to you.

But you could have lost that low amount of weight yourself. It wasn't that much.You were not in the category where your weight was very dangerous to your health.

I think these injections are creating a bigger problem than they are solving.

They are leading to women who actually aren't that badly overweight going absolutely crazy and doing anything they can to get hold of them and save money by eeking out doses.

All should hear yourselves the way you re going crazy to get your hands on these drugs and use them off license and disregard the storage instructions and all when many of you aren't even that overweight

Do you even need a weight loss injection anymore to lose the last few pounds?

You don't need to go to extreme measures by messing with prescription drugs and needles you bought off the internet.

Part the growing community on here will just tell me to shut up or fuck off because you so aggressively, defend your right to use drugs rather than do it.The hard way.

It's got so disturbing how this behavior with prescription drugs and needles you bought off the internet has become normalised and acceptable.

I think it’s all the more reason not to send multiple pens to one person, the so called bundles. I feel for those on high doses who may have to start from scratch.

No disagreement from me!

Whilst I understand the current protocols & the need for the manufacturer to be protected legally, the more info that comes to light, the more it feels like EL have just been ripping everyone off.

Refreshing to find a group that call it by the correct term too! 😊 so many say microdosing, which is something completely different 🤦‍♀️

My OH’s job is literally these medicines and this industry so I’ll ask him later what he thinks about dose splitting and the 30 day thing. My instinct though is you will be fine.

Honestly the anger from that post is crazy.

Depending on what's available where you live/work you could try going to a local independent pharmacy that prescribes in person. Take evidence with you that you've been on MJ long term etc. They are less likely to have the same severe stock issues as online places.

You should hear yourself, jealous, angry, judgemental. Why are you on a weight loss injection thread if you don't agree with them and those of us who use them?

2.5 stone on a short person definitely would make them obese.
I'm 5ft 3, at 13st 1lbs and ethnic minority, I was way over obese at bmi 32.4, obese for me is over 27 and I've been prediabetic for at least 3 years, yes at a size 14-16, I'd never have thought it could happen at that size.
As for hard work, it is still hard work to lose on weight loss injections, you still need to be in a calorie deficit but with many users, it helps regulate insulin resistance and hormones and reduces inflammation which means it works great with metabolic conditions like pcos, underactive thyroid, prediabetes etc which would be difficult to lose weight without it and I did try the Joe Wicks body coach, paid for app, working out 4-5 times a week solid and eating healthy and tracking calories etc but that was exhausting as i also work full time in the nhs and commute 2-3hrs a day and all that resulted in a few lbs down over months and didn't resolve my blood sugar symptoms and carb cravings, which mounjaro has. I'm now 9st 10lbs bmi 24.0 and so much healthier and loving life!
So why don't you redirect your negativity and focus on yourself instead.

It'll be interesting to hear what he thinks 👍🏻. I want to dose split but it's the niggling worry of going against the rules.

@BlueyGreyWhale poor you, you sound a bit hangry. Have a sit down with a nice cup of tea and a biccie. I recommend Lotus Biscoff. Only 35 cals! You'll feel better in no time.

Or you just have to do exactly what us diabetics had to do when ozempic became unavailable ....... cold turkey. Exactly what we will likely have to do this time around too. Medication developed to manage a life threatening condition, that actually work for getting blood sugars under control when nothing else did. Once again I am looking at an effective drug becoming unavailable due to people paying to use it for weight loss. Hell yes I'm bitter and frustrated, all of you boasting about stockpiling in advance will just exacerbate unavailability dor everyone.

For what its worth, my blood sugars got crazy again after ozempic but I didn't gain any weight back. If you made lifestyle changes alongside the drugs this should be true for you too.

Looks like Asda have stock again (albeit at the nee prices) if anyone is running out.

@BlueyGreyWhale so much of what you wrote is simply factually incorrect
"You would fall into the category where the risks of you taking those drugs were greater than the risks from you being 2.5 stone overweight."

• if you are starting from obese, which 2.5 stone can easily be, then this statement is factually incorrect

"Those drugs were designed for people who were dangerously overweight to the extent that their weight was affecting their health."

• These drugs were actually initially designed for Type 2 diabetes, but in the UK they are licensed for weight loss use if your BMI is over 30, ie obese.

A lot of what you said is your own opinion, which is fine, we're all free to express that, but you can't expect to make statements that are simply untrue and not expect to be challenged.

A lot of places seem to be getting stock, with people saying orders are being shipped suddenly from various suppliers. There appears to have been a widespread delivery.