When did you know you needed to go up a dose?

[L4ura171986]

in my 5th month. I’ve lost 12kg. I have been on 5mg and get quite a bit of side effects like diarrhoea and eggy burps. This has settled to just one / two days a week but now I’m not getting any side effects at all for past 2 weeks. 4 weeks ago the side effects were so awful that I dropped to 3.75 for 2 weeks but there was no suppression and so the last two weeks I’ve gone up to 5mg and there’s no suppression and quite a lot of food noise. Ive not lost for 2 weeks either. Bit worried about 7.5 being unmanageable with side effects. Urgh- dunno what to do! Any experience of this please? Also, was hoping to stay on 5mg because of the price x

Suppression is a side effect that is not guaranteed, it will come and go no matter what dose you take. Same with reduction in food noise. It's not a definite thing, unfortunately.

So far I have only moved up a dose when I stop losing weight. I'm a daily weigher and I will increase the dose after 2 weeks with 0 losses. I just try to use various coping methods to deal with the hunger and food noise when they happen. I've lost 8st in 8 months so it works for me and it might work for you too. I'm not tracking calories right now but will start once I get to 15mg as I won't be able to increase the dose.

If the horrid side effects you don't want have stopped then personally I would just wait it out. Give it a couple of weeks and if you're still losing then stay on your current dose.

I went up every month. I found 5mg to be the worst dose for me, not sure if it's because its the only double dose when increasing. Even going up to 15mg, I had the worst side effects on 5mg.

Currently moving back down the doses to taper off. Good luck op.

I moved up when the effects were no longer lasting the full 7 days. I could feel it taper off over day 6/7.
I often had mild nausea or indigestion for about 24 hours on day 2 after injecting. Not always though.
Now I am maintaining and injecting 12 days apart I have no side effects at all.

I only really moved up as a panicked knee jerk reaction to the return of the dreaded food noise!

In hindsight, I should have been more patient as I have learned that food noise comes and goes and every week is different.

Weight loss shouldn’t really be an indicator that you need a higher dose but if you are hungrier, less satisfied by the food you are eating and have incessant food noise that you can’t deal with, I would increase the dosage. For loss, look at your diet - what are you actually eating?

On another point, the side effects are really caused by diet not dosage so again, consider what (and when!) you are eating and what you can change to help with the nasties.

Thanks all. I have 2 x 5mg pens so will keep at 5mg for those at least then decide. It just feels weird to be on it and not have the diarrhoea and eggy burps. I felt so awful on those days I was off my food, now I don’t feel like that the food noise is back. Having said that I just ran 5K then popped into Gail’s bakery and didn’t buy anything as didn’t fancy it so must be doing something!

Went up as food noise back, hunger back, weight gain back, dreaded backward step.

Had horrendous side effects to the 2.5mg dose, vomiting, diarrhoea, nausea, headaches.
was dreading the increase and side effects that go along side this… but so far, nothing.

Food noise gone, calmness in my head is back, feel another stone about to be shed this month so excited!!!
Feeling is bloody AMAZING! The control is so liberating.

I went from 2.5mg to 3.75mg after 5 weeks because I thought, as my provider implied it, I had to go up and I wanted to do it in smaller steps. Then when I realised I didn't have to, I stuck at 3.75mg and have been there for around 15 months.

I have days, even weeks I feel the effects are much less, I haven't had "suppression" since the first couple of months.

Food noise is mostly gone, but can come back for a few days or a week or so, I can usually link it to when I have been eating too many carbs/sweet foods, been out a lot, so if I focus on protein again I have been ok without moving up.

I will move up if I need to, only after going back to basics and calorie tracking for a while to see if I can get on track again that way first, but I am hoping I can get to normal BMI and maintenance on this dose - <1st to go now.

I was thinking this I did 0.25mg on Wegovy for 4 weeks and a week so far on MJ but the supression has only lasted 3 days this week and weight isn’t coming off, I’m scared to move up to 5mg incase I have horrible side effects

2.5 only worked 2 first weeks for me so went to 5mg straight although no SE . I was loosing better in 5mg then I did on 2.5mg but effects started to ware off 4th week so decided to do 6.25 for 5 weeks then did 4 weeks on 7.5 , 8 weeks on 10 (out of which I didn’t lose last 3 weeks despite full suppression) . Done 8 weeks on 12.5 and loosing 1-2 lb in a straight every week. Would have continued to 15 but having to stop unplanned due to personal circumstances , 4st down (BMI from 37 to 29) with original goal of another 2 (to put me at BMI 24) since mid March so 7 months. Have 3 doses left in pen (planing 14mg, 7mg and 3mg from what’s left).

I have had 2 stalls for 3 weeks at a time on 6.25 mg and 10mg (believed to be body resets as weight I had longer time in the past)

had very minor SE throughout. Some morning sickness first couple of days on 2.5, dizzy spells and headache first week in 5mg, anxiety on 10 and 12.5 (first couple of weeks on each dose) some stomach cramping first couple of days after each 12.5 jab all very minor . Lost a lot of hair at start and recently but I have had that with big losses before as well.

I had no side effects in the month I did 2.5. I decided to move up as suppression got really low in weeks 3 and 4.
I decided to start on 3.75 a couple of days ago and I’ve had side effects on the increased dose- initial nausea on the first morning although this quickly passed and a splitting headache today. I thought I’d be fine after breezing through 2.5.
That said I don’t regret moving up as I have the suppression back that I experienced in week 1 and 2 where I can still eat but am not having to fight off cravings.

I have consciously chosen to eat fewer carbs but find that I don’t particularly want carby or fatty foods anyway. So with that in mind, regardless of dose, I think I’d struggle to find something in Gail’s that I’d be able to finish.

if you are struggling with side effects though, have you tried a lower dose more frequently? Some of us have found it a better way to manage the suppression/side effect seasaw. I take 3.5mg every 5 days which is the equivalent to 5mg each week and find it reduces the side effects on day 2/3 to do it this way.

I never thought about that. I have taken 5mg this evening and I will see what it is like but if it’s not good I will do 3.5 every 5 days.

@HereIGoOnceMore hope you don’t mind me asking but when taking 3.5mg every 5 days, do you use your pen past the 30 day recommendation? If yes, do you keep it in fridge or not?

I do keep my pen in the fridge and by using syringes, (it’s 0.42ml) I can get a 7th dose out on day 35, so 5 days past the recommended 30 days.

Just to explain this a bit more so that people can make their own choices; MJ has been established as safe outside of fridge temperature for 30 days, but will last until the expiry in the fridge, so I prefer to keep it chilled. I am also mindful that using it every 5 days rather than weekly, I am piercing the bung more frequently and slightly increasing the risk of introducing infection. To mitigate this, I am scrupulous about cleaning the bung with alcohol and letting it dry before putting the needle in.