Do side effects ever go away

[RoundandSad]

I've had my eighth dose of Mounjaro on Friday

I'm sick of all the side-effects and I'm sick of the taste of Pepto-Bismol

If you had side-effects, how long did they go on? After eight weeks, should i assume this is what I'm stuck with. From looking at Reddit, a lot of people have them the whole time they're on it.

Is there any chance of them going away after this long?

I'm only losing a pound a week too. Its a pretty rubbish experience tbh

be interested to hear what others went through

Gastro side effects are ususlly down to the type of food you are eating. This may also tie into the fact that you're losing slowly (caveat- 1lb a week is fine, but usually loses at thr start of weight loss are higher).

You likely need to look at changing the food you are eating:

• Avoid anything greasy or fatty
• Avoid heavy carbs (white bread, pasta, potatoes etc)
• Generally reduce the amount/volume of food you eat.
• Try having one meal a day.
• Keep your meals bland for a while - just vegetables and lean, low fat meat/protein only.
• Try a 48h fast to clear your digestion system. Or 24h if you can't manage 48h.

And drink lots and lots of water. Adding salt or electrolytes to the water is helpful gor hydration. But drink lots and lots of water.

Where are you injecting? Sounds bizarre, but the only time I had a weird taste in my mouth was when I jabbed in my stomach. Never have it if I jab in the thigh.

Sorry, I probably should've put more information

I'm eating incredibly carefully to avoid side effects- I was losing a little bit before I started this and I've got used to eating clean anyway

(my understanding was basically you can't have anything rich or fatty at all on this which is fine)

taking electrolytes the first three days because I feel dreadful

I switched to thigh for the last two injections
Hasn't made a difference

I think a lot of people either don't get side effects. I know two people who are on it in real life and they get no side-effects at all.

But it looks like a lot of people are putting up with side effects for the entire time they are on this if you look at Reddit.

i'm really hoping to hear from someone who can say it suddenly got better after three months or something!

I just feel a bit hopeless and I dread injection day.

I think my next step might be to try micro dosing but I would be really interested to hear if I just to wait longer for them to go away

I could try asking my provider, but they will just tell me what I want to hear

Okay, it's Sunday so I'll message them tomorrow

I had awful side effects on 5mg and 7.5mg, particularly in week 2. Sulphur burps, vomiting, diarrhoea and acid reflux. I avoided any acidic foods including vinegar based salad dressings. I ate several small snack portions on the days after the injection rather than one or two bigger meals and also avoided anything high fat including the good fats like olive oil (use the spray instead). It did get better and I'm mostly okay apart from the dry mouth side effect.

I’m a bit different to you in that for the first 8 weeks I had no side effects and I stayed on 2.5 the whole time. But then for the next 2 weeks off and on I had D&V out of nowhere and it was most definitely not a bug.

Anyway I made the decision to microdose down to 1.25 which I have been on for the past 2 weeks and it’s worked, no more side effects. I will go back to 2.5 next week and see how it goes. I would definitely suggest microdosing as the bad side effects aren’t worth it, in my opinion.

Thanks

I think I might try microdose the next couple of times

If that doesn't help, I'll have to stop

It just doesn't seem right to take something that makes you feel unwell - although lots of people seem to think it's fine, I I wonder if it depends what you're prepared to put up with

I’m in week 15. I did 4 weeks on 2.5 and have been on 5mg since.

I had sleep issues for a couple of months which resolved around week 10.

I’ve had constipation throughout which just seems to have resolved itself the last 2 weeks.

I didn’t suffer with nausea until week 11, it then stopped the following weeks and came back in week 14.

So based on my experience, the side effects I had from the start seemed to disappear after about 3 months but new ones have appeared later down the line.

It's scary to think it changes as well

Did anyone else have the almost permanent headache? It goes on day four or five, I think.

What dose are you on Op?

Did a month on 2.5

The last week wasn't too bad so I went up to 3.75, did that twice before trying 5

Mainly tried the five out of desperation because I had a quiet week and I'm only losing a pound a week, which is crap

But definitely won't be doing five again

So I had 3.75 on Friday again

I thought the side effects would be gone after eight weeks, or if not, that I'd have to choose to stop

So now it's a choice between microdose or stop

I can't face another 3.75 dose. It's sad to spend three days a week at feeling crap.

i don’t have any noticeable side effects at all anymore. I’ve been on 2.5 since I started and have lost 2.5 stone to take my BMI to 24. I now normally inject every 10 days or so, still 2.5.

side effects that I experienced were dreadful constipation, severe acid reflux, very low appetite for days 2-4 etc.

i can now eat anything I fancy really, and I don’t have the high suppression at any point that I had before. It’s much easier to manage.

@WhoWhereWhatWhy when did yours go away please?

Mine never did. I’d jag on day 1, feel fine on day 2 then days 3 and 4 were terrible. This was on 5mg.

Nausea worse than morning sickness. I couldn’t even yawn without gagging. I was sick a few times and due to the delayed gastric emptying, it was far more unpleasant than your average vomit.

I dropped my dose back to 2.5mg and stayed there. I think I can just about handle a 3.75mg but I have no clue how people maintain at 15mg. I couldn’t even do 5mg.

Dropping back down had no impact on my weight loss and probably made it easier to come off the medication altogether.

@Kibble19 thanks that's helpful

How long did you take it for?

Took it for about 9 months or so. I had this silly hope that I’d see a decrease in the side effects but no. The good did outweigh the bad, in respect of the weight loss I had, but those side effects shouldn’t be underestimated, as you know.

@Kibble19 that's really useful

Have you been alright to keep the weight off

Sorry for all the questions it is really helpful to make a decision

@RoundandSad I’m struggling to pinpoint a time that they went away to be honest. I have been taking it for about 15 months, and I don’t think I’ve had any side effects really for at least six months, probably more.

Nobody should be feeling this unwell, I don't know why people do it to themselves.

Drop down a dose. It'll be slower but you'll feel better! I knocked myself SO UNWELL when I went up to 5 for two weeks that I came off it for a whole month then started again on 1.25 for a month before going up to 2.5 again. It's been 7 months and I've lost just over 3 and a Half stone. Except for the terrible two weeks, I've been fine.

@RoundandSad i just think my body is tolerating it a lot better than it used to. It’s not all positive - I went about three months without drinking any Diet Coke as I simply didn’t want it, and I’d previously drank 3-4 cans a day. That suppression has gone away unfortunately, I’m back on the Diet Coke.

@PearlTeapot thank you

I don't know what's normal. I've read threads where people are having far worse side-effects than I am.

It's not stopping me doing anything in normal life apart from two Saturdays where I needed a nap. If I hadn't been able to have one, I suppose I would've just carried on doing stuff.

it looks like it's a pound a week, regardless of what dose I take so I guess going back down makes sense.

I would just like to feel 100% you know? I normally feel good and well and healthy. Since taking this stuff, at least half the week I don't.

That sounds horrible, I feel for you. I know the desperation to lose weight but I also have a low tolerance for feeling unwell!

I think you're one of the unlucky ones. I genuinely have never had side effects. You could try wegovy. Some folks who can't tolerate mounjaro have found wegovy fine

@Charlenedickens yeah it seems like most people posting don't have them

Monday and Tuesday we away and it was hard. I dragged myself through the days but I was absolutely exhausted

Really hard to decide

choices

1. stop taking it
2. give it a break for a week or so and then try 2.5 mg again - or less
3. decide that I'm just used to feeling like crap and take it again tomorrow but I would take 2.5

i'm worried about taking a break in case it makes side-effects worse when I restart

Also big new project at work next week

I think I'm just about back to normal today, which is a similar pattern, I suppose

On 2.5 I was okay by day five

I'm also uncharacteristically grumpy and obsessed with what I'm eating

Was chatting with some friends of my parents on Monday, they basically do 5:2 and started ages ago (so this medication wasn't invented. can't accuse them of taking that. Which seems to be the default now). I don't tell anyone about the medication but I did ask them about their experience fasting and they just said you get used to it and it's hard at first give it a month or so