Advice on MJ please.

[Thesofathatwas]

I’ve got 10mgs in my fridge.

I lost (with great difficulty) 1lb on 7.5mgs. Just 1lb in 5 weeks.

I feel extremely nauseous for the first 3 days with horrendous headache on the next dose up. Same again week 2, less week 3, nothing week 4&5.
I barely eat but drink around 2.5 litres of water while feeling so wretched and sick.

Is it better to take on an empty stomach or full? What will help the nausea?

I really have to prepare myself for how unwell I feel and dread the injection in anticipation of it.

I’ve now put it off for 4 days. Hunger through the roof so need to take it asap or that pesky single solitary pound will go back on and invite all its friends to join it.

I just want to get this bloody weight off but not by feeling so unwell I can’t function.

What did you lose before that and on what dose? How much have you lost so far?

Have you cut refined processed carbs/ sugar & alcohol and are you drinking loads of water op? I have found that dissolvable vitamin drinks help with the fatigue and dehydration/ tiredness… Sambucol elderberry flavour is great in a pint of water.

I think that we need to know more about your MJ and weight loss history, Op. Anecdotally a lot of posters have had a lot of trouble on 7.5 mg

Thanks for replying.

Ive been on mj for 6 months and lost 1 stone in the first month. (Nausea was unmanageable).

I’ve lost a further 5 lbs in the last 5 months. Can go a whole month and lose nothing, even gain weight.

Completely changed my diet and eating habits, do not touch alcohol at all. (25 years since I had alcohol)

Its the nausea and headaches I struggle with.

How have you only lost a pound if you’re so nauseous you’re not eating! You poor thing, you must be so fed up.

What was your starting weight? Do you have a lot to lose?

I can't fathom how you could have only lost 5 lbs in 5 months if you are barely eating due to nausea. Do you track calories?

Are you tracking everything you eat and drink and consistency in a calorie deficit?

What are your stats + height, starting weight , current weight, what deficit are you following and for how long? What do you eat on a normal day?

If you lost a stone in the first month and you had bad side effects, why did you go up the doses?

Could you try coming back down again? It's not worth feeling so unwell.

I use MFP to track. Have done for years.

Have around 3 stone to loose.

I’ve stalked the MJ threads and can’t seem to find anyone else with the side effects I'm have or where the MJ doesn’t work for them.
I’m keeping going out of pure desperation, I need to shift this weight. Hoped to find my own sweet spot where one dose worked for me.
Might need to throw in the towel and try another medication.

I did 2.5mgs for 2 months. 1stone off in the first 6 weeks then nothing.

What are the side effects no-one else has? You have mentioned nausea and headaches but those are common.

You really need to speak to your GP to find out why reducing you are barely eating yet only lost a pound in 5 weeks, and not much over the months before that. There is likely an underlying cause

It's not so much that the Mounjaro isn't working for you, it's the not losing very much weight when you are barely eating for 5 months that doesn't make sense. Are you very short and sedentary?

Paracetamol doesn’t touch the headaches either.

The nausea & headaches last for around 3 days after the injection, after that it goes so then it is utterly heavenly with zero food noise.

I thoroughly enjoy that I can carefully plan my food intake.
I can cook from scratch to pack in the nutrients and fibre but in very small portions. I batch cook.
I have zero appetite and generally manage around 800kals a day. (Any more than that and the weight goes on alarmingly quickly) so I know that 800kals keeps me stable but unable to lose anything.

Im menopausal, this has without doubt completely fucked up my body and mind. All bloods are normal so I can’t put any of this down to an underlying condition.
The only thing is menopause and perimenopause which has caused a huge weight problem.

So back to my original question, in the desperate hope that 10mgs will be my magic dose, how do you manage side effects to lessen them?

You go down a dose, if the side effects are continual. If you don't want to do that, then for nausea you can try OTC things like Pepto-Bismol, maybe travel sickness tablets too. You can try things like ginger tea, peppermint tea, peppermint capsules as well.

I have not had headaches related to Mounjaro, so can't suggest anything there unfortunately.

Thanks silence great suggestion re the otc travel sickness meds, I’ll definitely give that a go.

Really reluctant to go down a dose because, well, the lower dose just doesn’t work for weight loss, just for weight control and stability. I need to get the weight off.

Op, I mean this gently but you’re not averaging 800 cals a day, you’re eating to maintenance, it is not possible to fuel your body with air. If it’s not what you consume, it’s burning fat / muscle, thus making your body lighter. There is no other human possibility.

so averaged over a week, you consume to maintenance.

Going down a dose isn't going to make any difference to weight loss if you are already eating 800 cals a day and only losing a tiny amount of weight each week. That indicates that 800 cals is only a tiny fraction below your maintenance TDEE, assuming your calorie tracking is accurate.

To give you a bigger calorie deficit, you would normally think about doing more exercise and/or reducing your calories. But, you can't reduce your calories any more below 800, and I would be hesitant to suggest increasing activity on such a low calorie total already. Although, you haven't said how sedentary you are and whether you do any exercise at the moment?

Are you on hrt or any other meds that might cause weight gain or slow losses? Do you have any other health issues like thyroid that might explain how you gain so easily?

I put on about 3 stone in 6 months due to peri - once I got settled on hrt the weight gains stopped but it was really hard to lose. That completely undid all the previous dieting/low carving I did to get into a healthy weight/bmi after I turned 50.

then after about 3+ years I started mj and have now lost 2 stone and am working on the 3rd. I have moved up the doses and am building up to 7.5 by counting clicks to avoid severe side effects.

Agree with the point that if you’re maintaining on ‘800’ after weeks, it’s probably not actually 800.

Unless you are already short, underweight, and inactive.

What is your current BMI?

Op that sounds awful.
I’ve been on mj for around 8 months now and have had very few side effects thankfully. I’ve had nausea for a few occasions when I first started 2.5 then again when I went to 10. But that’s about it. So I’m very lucky I know.

in your case I’d want to start a plan again with fresh eyes. Because not only are you having horrible side effects but it’s also not working well for you. It seems that your first month you lost a steady amount of weight. Would you be better off going back to 2.5 and trying that again for even a couple of months?

i haven’t found any differences in times of injection or sites of injecting but that’s just my personal experience and clearly everyone responds slightly differently.

But in your case I would call and speak to a doctor at your prescribing clinic, and then start anew.

discovered I had high blood pressure so my clinician stopped the HRT until BP sorted.. I never went back in it and it made no difference to my meno symptoms anyway.

BMI is 32 last check.

Sedentary job and lifestyle so could move more. I’m so so utterly knackered though so it’s a challenge.

Not loosing anything each week. Nothing at all. Just either staying the same or gaining. That’s the pattern.

That would imply you are eating at maintenance. Are you SURE you are tracking calories correctly? Weighing everything? Not letting the odd bite here and there slip in, or forgetting to weigh things like drizzles of olive oil?

It really doesn't sound like you're suited to Mounjaro. Why not try wegovy? It's cheaper and very effective and hopefully won't have anything like these side effects. What does your prescriber say? Have you talked to them about how bad you're finding it?