What treatment with MS?

[SevenKingsMustDie]

As the title says, I have MS (relapsing/remitting), and want to try weight loss teatments.

My mobility is OK, but not great, so can do 10,000 steps but not run a 5k, for example.

I’m not sure if I would be eligible for any treatment with a BMI of 27.3 as it isn’t weight related, but being overweight doesn’t help!!

Anyone in a similar position?

I don’t think this is a question many people on MN can help you with tbh. You’ve got two situations - a BMI which either does or does not fit with the prescribing pharmacist’s parameters and if it does meet their criteria, you need to discuss with them any contraindications regarding your meds/condition and any WL treatments. The only way you are going to establish if you can access WL treatments is to approach a range of providers. I do hope you find what you are looking for.

Have you checked your blood pressure recently? Depending on your age, that seems to me to be the most common, easily diagnosable condition that would get you onto the list.

I have MS and I can't believe the difference Mounjaro has made to my mobility. I've gone from 4000-5000 steps a day being hard work, to easily achieving 6000 plus, so my mobility is significantly worse than yours, but that's a big percantage increase. More importantly, moving around is so much easier, I now do things without thinking (like going upstairs) that would have taken real effort before. Instead of always sitting down to prepare food, I often find I'm still standing. When I walk I've realised my upper body is no longer tensed and hunched up with the effort. All small things but the difference to my quality of life is unreal.

Now - it may well be because I've lost a good amount of weight. Or it may also be because my diet is consistently better when on MJ - I've known for years that reducing sugar and/or flour improves my mobility, but depsite super human efforts on my part I couldn't sustain a sufficiently clean diet indefinitely. Or it might just be because of the anti-inflamatory effects of MJ. There have been lots of reports on here of people seeing improvements in a wide range of conditions and I believe MS is another one - it's just less mentioned because fewer of us have it. MS is a inflamatory disease so it makes sense to me that reducing inflamation in the body will improve MS symptoms.

Last time I spoke to my neurologist he dismissed there being any connection, but I'm part of a large scale MS research project that sends out questionnaires a couple of times a year and this time they specifically asked about WLI and stressed their interest in knowing about use of them, which suggested to me there's a growing recognition that there might be something there.

So to answer your original question - MS isn't a condition that will qualify you for WLI with a BMI less than 30. But if you did find someone who would prescribe for you (or you had one of the conditions that would make you eligable with a BMI of 27) then, based on my experience, I think there's a reasonable chance you might just see a positive impact on your MS too.

Good luck!

Thank you both, @toomuchicecream and @Mounjaropen, you have given me some things to think about!