So I'm not diabetic YET

[Fatbride]

I don't know what I'm expecting from this post but I'm feeling really sad about the conversation I've seen over various social media platforms.

I've seen so many T2 diabetics celebrating the price increase. I myself was diagnosed as pre diabetes at over 20 stone with PCOS.

Without Mounjaro I would certainly have been diagnosed as T2. I have managed to lose some weight and reverse the pre diabetes using Mounjaro.

I honestly cannot comprehend someone who has developed T2 diabetes through lifestyle choices rejoicing someone no longer being able to afford their treatment to improve their health.

I could maybe understand it if I'd been getting my medication for free but even before the price rises it wasn't exactly cheap.

I just feel so sad and it all as I have a couple of friends who are prescribed through the NHS who seem almost victorious that many won't be able to continue treatment . But 2 years ago they would not have had the conditions that now make them eligible!

There's several woman I work with who have booked sleep studies to try and be diagnosed with sleep apnea to try and qualify under the NHS.

It feels a bit like people will make themselves more unwell to meet the NHS prescribing criteria.

Again I don't know what I want from this thread I just feel really sad.

I have sleep apnea, high blood pressure and I'm obese.

You need to be worse than that to get it free on the nhs.

When your bmi is over 40 and you have four serious health conditions I doubt you have a long life ahead of you unfortunately. I'd rather never get to that point. I can't imagine wishing for sleep apnea. I'm trying to loose weight to get rid of it. I snore like a train

I understand and empathise, I was also prediabetic from tests 2 years ago with a HBA1C of 45. My GP didn't tell me, it's been undetected until 3 months ago when I changed GP and they added all my history to my nhs app. I started mounjaro as 5ft 3" obese bmi 32.4 42 year old weighing 13 stones in Oct 24, because my sister had just been diagnosed prediabetic and my dad is also diabetic and i didnt want to end up the same way, little did i know that i already was. I also have IBS which mounjaro has resolved while im on it. It's also resolved all my high blood sugar symptoms and high BP, which was affecting my daily life. My immune system was also shot for years, from June to Dec 22 I caught 7 respiratory infections! I'm now at bmi 24.0 and so much healthier. I don't think people realise that there are people like us on mounjaro and we were a few numbers away from being diagnosed as diabetic.

I think a refresh and clear out of your social media might be a good idea. The things you’ve seen sound very unpleasant, but I suspect it’s being amplified by what/who you follow. I haven’t seen any of what you describe. People post controversial things on social media for the attention. I don’t take it seriously.

Unless the women you work with also have three conditions out of T2 diabetes, high blood pressure, dyslipidaemia or cardiovascular disease, then getting a diagnosis of sleep apnoea won’t help them get Mounjaro on the NHS. Assuming they also have BMIs over 40. I don’t think it’s possible for people to deliberately make themselves unwell enough to meet the NHS criteria, nor would many people try.

If people you know are cruel enough to celebrate other people being unable to access medication, then that is sad, to discover that they are more unpleasant people than you previously realised. I don’t think there’s a need for general despair though.

@NotPerfectlyAdverage I'm fairly certain that I do have sleep apnea. I regularly drift off to sleep and am jolted awake in a panic suddenly gasping for air. Unfortunately due to the distance to my local clinic and my agoraphobia I haven't been diagnosed. However it has drastically improved with weight loss but it's a very scary feeling.

I also have high blood pressure and have been taking Amlodipine for a few years. I also have hypothyroidism and take levothyroxine.

Because there might be supply issues from all the people using it who don't really need it.

There are people going crazy, trying to get their hands on them who are only two stone overweight. Undoubtedly, they could lose that amount of weight without prescription medication.

Maybe they've had issues getting it because of the amount of people buying it. Who don't necessarily need it for health reasons and could lose weight without it.

I did in a moment of madness. Consider getting weight loss injections.But then I thought I am only 2 stone or so overweight. Im trying to do it without and I ve had some success.

I think ultimately this is going to create a whole new breed of problems. People are stockpiling it and keeping it well beyond the expiry dates. It's not a long life medication if it needs to be kept in the fridge. Keeping it for too long is going to result in it getting bacteria in it and well, let's just see what happens when you inject that especially when people have been breaking open the pens to fiddle with their doses...more bacteria and infection risk.

Idk they might be rejoicing, because they ve had trouble getting hold of it. Maybe they think a lot of people will be priced out, so they'll actually be able to get at themselves.

I am one of the people who have stock piled it. Well, I’ve bought five pens. This is simply because I can’t afford the new prices. You’re wrong about the expiry dates though - all five of my pens expire in January 2027, so it’s perfectly safe as long as you keep them in the fridge.

@ILoveWhales if being two stone overweight means you are obese then prescription medication for obesity is appropriate, not a misuse. If being two stone overweight makes your BMI over 27 and you have a weight related health condition, then prescription medication for obesity is appropriate.

The pens can be kept in the fridge, unopened, for many months. Pens usually have expiry dates of 10 to 12 months plus. There’s no issue with keeping them, in the fridge, for that long. No one breaks open the pen to fiddle with it. I think you’re referring to people using syringes to extract medication once the pen locks. That’s against guidelines, but doesn’t risk introducing bacteria any more than using the pen with a pen needle does. I think you’ll be disappointed, there won’t be waves of people with skin infections as a result of having a stockpile of pens.

Anyone that rejoices over someone else not being able to get their prescription medication is a deeply unpleasant person. Or that celebrates people being priced out of accessing a prescription medication. And it won’t help them access it via the NHS any way, as the NHS supplies are separate and ring fenced. If a pharmacy has been using that stock to service private prescriptions then that is a pharmacy error and any anger should be directed at them.

Okay that's good to know.

I’m a type 2 diabetic prescribed Mounjaro because insulin and metformin weren’t doing the job.

Today I have spent hours ringing round pharmacies because no one has any 10mg pens in stock. Eventually I’ve found somewhere that has 5mg pens and I’ve had to ask the GP to write me a new prescription for 2x 5mg pens so I can double dose and we’re hoping that the new prescription will be processed by the pharmacy before they run out because they apparently aren’t allowed to reserve meds.

Ive taken my last dose today so as of next Thursday I will either have managed to get a prescription filled, or be unmedicated or be back on insulin and metformin.

I am a bit pissed off that people have been stockpiling if I’m honest.

Absolutely no judgement from me to the stockpilers, if I could have afforded it I 100% would have ordered as much as I could.

There sure is a lot of poison out there about fat people losing weight - sometimes from other fat people too! You see it on here, too. Bizarre.

It’s also extremely weird that some people take pleasure in other people’s misery.

God, I love your posts @SilenceInside - every single one!

I’ve not seen any of the things that you have seen - where on earth are you seeing stuff like this? I’m type 2 diabetic and I’ve never heard of anyone espousing views such as this and I’m appalled that anyone would.

I have had an unpleasant experience recently though. I was prescribed Mounjaro as my blood sugars were sky high, and the medication I tried wasn’t working and had awful side effects. I was actually considering getting a private prescription for weight loss purposes when I saw my GP about the drug side effects and she suggested Mounjaro. It has been wonderful. My blood sugars were back to normal levels within three months, and I have lost nearly three stones. It’s slow and steady as I am on 5mg and can’t increase as it has already stabilised my blood sugar so the guidelines say no need to increase. However, a friend found out that I had been prescribed it and she has been vile to me. Saying I don’t need it and have lied to get it, that it’s unfair that i don’t have to pay, and it shouldn’t be allowed on the NHS. Her envy has destroyed a friendship - and I can’t comprehend that she is resentful of me having a serious disease because of the drug i have been prescribed. I won’t be telling anyone else about it!

I have to say what happened to the body positivity movement.
I say this as someone who has been pretty overweight myself and lost a lot of the weight before injections existed, so I may well have tried them if they've been around back then.

They used to be such a movement about being proud of your body in a amount of what it looks like a not needing to change it.

I do wonder now if that was all just a front.So make people feel better about their bodies, because it seems as if those same people can't get the hands on these injections fast enough

@mylittlekomododragon Facebook, Tiktok, Instagram, Reddit. Well done on your loss!
I'm so sorry your friend was so awful to you.

I think you misunderstand the point of body positivity, if you think that you have to remain obese to be positive about your body.

Body positivity is about loving your body whatever size it is, however many scars it has, whatever colour your skin is etc. It's not about staying at any weight for the rest of your life just because you've been vocal about loving and appreciating your body while it looks that way.