On it for life then.........😐

[Ihavesomeballs]

I've lost 11kg on Mounjaro. I wasn't obese to start with but I'm tiny, 5ft 1 inch. I'm now just in the healthy weight BMI. I stopped my 5mg dose for 3 weeks as I had to wait till payday to order my next pen. In that time I wasn't eating any more than usual but I put on 2kg. So I guess I'm on it for life......which sucks as it's bloody expensive. Anyone else??

You wouldn't know my friend the leading global clinician, they go to a different school.

I've seen stranger and more pointless things lied about on MN. I take nothing at face value now. Especially people who, having expressed an opinion and had it challenged, suddenly tell us that their husband/cousin/best friend/next door neighbour is a world renowned expert on the issue.

Good, so you've made a choice that works for you and weighed up potential risk with likely risk of serious issues caused by obesity.

Have you had your heart checked? As putting on weight really quickly can be fluid due to heart issues and you also mention your blood pressure has gone back up which is another symptom.

I was told my heart was ok, BP high and family history of many heart issues I pushed for investigation, ECG was abnormal, had stress test and 24 hour ECG and now awaiting urgent cardiology appointment as that ECG was abnormal.

My weight fluctuates really quickly I feel due to fluid retention

It will depend somewhat on whether you specifically have insulin resistant PCOS, but it’s likely that you do as it’s very common.

• Reduces insulin resistance: Many women with PCOS have insulin resistance, which can lead to a buildup of androgens and weight gain. Mounjaro helps improve insulin sensitivity and lower blood glucose levels.
• Aids weight loss: Mounjaro can reduce appetite, leading to weight loss, which can in turn alleviate PCOS symptoms like irregular periods and excess hair growth.
• Reduces inflammation: Mounjaro may have anti-inflammatory effects, which could be beneficial since chronic inflammation is sometimes associated with PCOS.

I take MJ for T2 diabetes and it dramatically reduced my sugar levels very quickly, I was on insulin and metformin before, once I started MJ I was able to drop the insulin completely within 6 weeks, and 6 weeks after that I had cut down and then completely stopped the metformin too. Since being on MJ my sugar levels have been perfect and I’ve lost over 6 stone and am for the first time since primary school a healthy weight.

I have had PCOS since puberty, got GD when pregnant with DD 12 years ago and diagnosed with T2 diabetes mid last year.

Because they are just buying it. I have 3 friends taking them. They are overweight but wouldn't qualify under the guidelines for prescribing it so they just order it from online pharmacies.

You can’t “just order it” from an online pharmacy, if it’s genuinely a pharmacy, regulated by the GPhC, and not a dodgy website. Online pharmacies prescribe based on criteria, with evidence needed before a prescribing decision is made. Some people might actively and deliberately deceive those online pharmacies in order to get a prescription fraudulently, but that is not the same as anyone being able to just buy it, no questions asked.

You don't have to be obese to get it. To meet guidelines you either need to be obese which is 30 BMI or 27 BMI with a qualifying condition when you start it, but lots of people then stay on it to maintain once they hit healthy BMI. I'm barely overweight myself now, probably won't be when I order my next pen, but I met the 30 BMI criteria initially.

Then also there are people taking it through dodgy means, as with many prescription drugs.

You can't 'just buy it' unless you meet the criteria, which is a BMI over 30, or over 27 from certain ethnicities or with certain health conditions. If you meet the NHS criteria, which are stricter, then you can get it for the standard prescription charge, otherwise you can get a private prescription from an online pharmacy, like your friends are. Either way, it still has to be prescribed, and you still need to meet the criteria.

Yes, this is a well worn trope for a reason.

That statistic is the same for obese people who lose a significant amount of weight by any method WLIs, gastric bypass, slimming world, keto, weight watchers, atkins, CICO, Cambridge………..

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4371661/

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-people-diet-lose-weight-and-gain-it-all-back

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/maintaining-weight-loss

I was asked who had told me. Next time I'll know to lie and say I just plucked it out of my own arse as apparently that's more acceptable and believable 🙄. Fuck sake. You know that doctors and medical researchers exist right? And that they will have patients right? And colleagues? And friends? And families? And so, therefore, someone will actually know these people and they aren't the Wizard of Oz yeah? Next time I'll post photographic evidence of me with him and a link to his LinkedIn, shall I?

Of course; always happy to share how life changing this has been for me.

Since the age of about 9, I started putting on weight. My parents and brother have always been at the low end of the BMI scale. My mother always made healthy, home cooked food. There was no UPF in our house. It was rather boring for snacks!

Anyway, my period started at the age of 12. I didn’t get it again for a few years - I think I was about 14/15 when it arrived again.

During this time, I was overweight, face full of acne, hairy face, snail trail, mental health very up and down. This unfortunately continued until I started MJ last October at the age of 34.

Since the age of 12, I’ve had about 10 periods. This made it very difficult for us to conceive, as you can imagine. I would continuously lose and regain about 5 stone. I can’t actually begin to tell you how being overweight and the associated symptoms of PCOS made me feel. Oh, such shame and self loathing. It was truly awful. So many missed opportunities and life experiences. So many times I’ve said no, when I wanted to say yes. How sad.

I knew about the injections in the summer of last year. I entered my stats in to all the usual providers many times, and then deleted it. Scared of the side effects, scared that this wouldn’t work either - so what was the point?

In September last year, I pretty much had a breakdown over it. My husband was amazing (he always is!) about it all, and was so sad about my suffering. Not to mention the concern around what a lack of a period can do to a woman’s body. He actually brought up the injections with me. He gave me the push. He said we didn’t have anything left to lose.

So, I started last October. Starting weight 102.8kg/16st 2.7lbs, BMI 38.2.

To my complete amazement, my period arrived in November. And it has done every month since then. That has never happened in my entire life.

By December, spots gone.

By January, mental health/anxiety issues, gone.

By around May, excess hair pretty much gone.

You could attribute some of these symptoms lessening due to weight loss, and that will absolutely be a factor, but that doesn’t explain how my period appeared since November. There is so much we don’t know about how MJ works positively in the body, alongside weight loss. I can’t wait to find out more.

I cannot begin to describe what this medicine has done for my body. My mind is now free. My body is truly free, working as it should.

I am now 8st, BMI 19. Been maintaining that easily for a couple of months.

I now say yes to everything. I don’t hate myself. I show up every single day in my new world and new body and can’t believe I get to live this life now. Free of all that torment and shame. I used to think there was something truly wrong with me. There is nothing wrong with me. I am perfect as I am, it’s just my body metabolically wasn’t working as it should. My poor body. All the horrible things I used to say to it.

Just like any other medication used to treat a metabolic/endocrine condition; MJ treats it as long as I keep taking it. If I stop, the symptoms come back.

I’ve not had any side effects, thank fully. I don’t have a gallbladder, it was removed some years ago.

This is just my personal experience, and it may not be the same for you. However, you could just try 2.5 and see what happens. You can always stop if you don’t like it, or it doesn’t work for you.

Plus, there are new medicines including in tablet form that are due to be released in the near future if you don’t like the thought of injecting.

If you do decide to try it, please find the monthly support group in here. I’ve met some amazing women, all lifting each other up without judgment. I’ve had a wonderful year and I am so excited about my life to come - freedom!

Best wishes.

Being a longterm patient and then working with someone is a grandiose claim, is it? I think I'd aspire a bit higher if I wanted to look grandiose. It's a post about weight loss jabs. Who the fuck cares that much! Interesting that the fat jab cultist only think that an entirely rosey opinion has any worth.

It's not a surprise though is it.

If you have not put the effort in to learn about nutrition and perhaps a bit of exercise then 90% of people will gradually slip back to their old ways and pile the weight back on.

I am more surprised that people think they can come off it and my some miracle expect to maintain their new weight.

@Hippobot I asked how you knew what you were asserting, not who told you. And it is a grandiose claim, whether it’s true or not, and I hope you can understand why people shouldn’t take what’s claimed online by anonymous posters at face value.

It’s also an appeal to authority, not an explanation of how you know what you were asserting. It’s not a valid explanation. And I would expect a leading global expert on WLI to not pass on unevidenced claims about what she or he is researching.

You are preaching to the wrong person! I have insulin resistance too! Was diabetic and now off medication. As long as you are not a type 1 diabetic you can reverse diabetes with exercise and controlling diet. I worked out and I thought I was eating sensibly for 8 months. I lost and gained weight and overall remained the same weight. Then I hired a nutritionist and now I am aware of a lot of things which affect weight such as stress, water intake, sleep, exercise, hormonal imbalance etc. But you don’t need a jab to lose weight. No one does, that is the easy way out. Sleep well, exercise, eat healthy, try meditation, and eat sensibly. You will see results, after all the yo-yo dieting I am finally seeing results so it is possible. And I am over 40! So age is not on my side.

Yes I had a 24 hr ECG last year, all good. Something is going on with me as my blood pressure is back high again, despite the 11kg weight loss. I do have bladder issues as I had Cauda Equina Syndrome in 2022 and my bowel and bladder suffered nerve damage. I will just accept I have to be on it for life......bit of a bummer but hey ho. 😐

They don't even need to see you face to face or do any health checks or verifications.

Yes but you can just lie on the forms.

I must have imagined those checks with Oushk and the verification calls I did.

oh well 🤷‍♀️

If you are dehydrated your bp will go up. Something to be mindful about.

And the 3-monthly update photos I have to send in.

It is really hard to get actual information about MJ, as it whenever it is discussed people get distracted by their own opionion rather than looking at the bigger picture. When GLP1 agonists where being used for insulin in DM2 no-one really cares.

From observation there are some people with conflicting interests.

1. People who struggle to keep their BMI below 30. I strongly suspect that when you hit "obese" category there are some adaptations to the body/brain that make it incredibly hard and unsustainable to lose excess fat, and maintain that. I think this should have a lot more research as to what happens to the body/brain when this occurs. People in this category are always taking the flack even though they are actually living with obesity and will have a range of responses.
2. The drug companies. They are making a bomb on this medication and therefore are invested in promoting its safe use. Due to the oxycontin scandal in the US there has been a lot of distrust about the information coming from drug companies about any type of "miracle drug" and they woudl be invested in the group of people who will be life time users this is a good strategy for a drug company. I am very critical about their use of celebrities (or rather the lack of condmenation) to market this drug
3. The health system. Getting people below BMI of 30 is beneficial to the health system as it lowers the cost of providing care. However due to the irresponsible marketing it may mean that people are a) taking unsafe substitues and b) are taking it outside the guidelines for an aesthetic purpose.
4. The food companies. The food companies (speicifically trans-nationals) are responsible for the obesity epidemic. When people were poor and couldn't afford food before the 1960s they were skinny, now they are obese. They will be happy about this because the leaders of the US, UK and Australia have really failed to protect it citizens in this regard.

And the pharmacy weight and height check I did which I uploaded

i am getting so forgetful