To up Mounjaro dose or not?

[princesspeppax]

Coming to the end of my first month on MJ, 2.5mg. I’ve been lucky to have no side effects. First 2 weeks really good suppression, first couple of days in particular really had to force myself to eat. Now
though definitely much less supression and its definitely will power I feel. Also after no fizzy drinks/chocolate this last week the cravings have been huge.

i’ve lost 7lb - which I was hoping for a little more. What would others do ? Remain on 2.5mg or up to 5mg ? I’m also worried about potential side effects by upping. Holiday in May and hoping to loose as much as possible!

I would say based on your description of how you're feeling, move up. I was similar to you - 2.5 initially worked very well, the effects were almost immediate but by the 4th dose I could tell the impact was waning.

It doesn't mean you'll race up the doses from there on. I stayed on 5 for 3 more pens, and 7.5 for 3. I've not gone above 10 and almost a year after starting I'm 6 stone down and starting to reduce through the doses.

I did have mild gastric SEs after the first 5mg (it's the only time in the dosing schedule that you're doubling it) but nothing awful. Also you can always count clicks to give yourself a dose between 2.5 and 5 if the SEs feel a bit much.

I would go up as it will just get worse with hunger, cravings and will power over time, which is not a good position to be in. You could take the remaining fluid in the pen by using a syringe as its slightly more than a full dose so will help bridge the gap to the 5mg. I use SHD medical to buy the syringes but some order from UKmedi. Look for an 8mm or if there is only 12mm, I only put the needle in half way.

Order the 5mg, if the price difference isn’t significant, and part dose 2,5mg. This gives you the option to increase mid month if you feel you need to.

2.5mg is a half dose and its really only seen as a stepping stone, i would recommend moving upwards the normal dosage if you arent getting the full suppression and have no side effects.
the aim is to lose more as you go up the dosages, so am sure you will find 7lbs is good on the 2.5. so this is working as it should

The current pens still have the golden dose left in them which is a bit more than 2.5mg so in your shoes, I’d use a syringe to extract the last drops for your 5th dose and work out the strength of it and then see how it affects you that week.

Doubling the dose to 5mg is quite a jump and you might be perfectly fine or you might get a few unwanted side effects. Be cautious if you have anything important planned within a couple of days of increasing the dose.

Initially, patients were advised to move up the pen doses every month but partly due to cost, many of us haven’t done this and found we’ve lost steadily anyway on the lower doses. Others have needed to move up the doses more quickly to feel the effects and some people had to go up to 7.5mg or 10mg before feeling decent suppression. We’re all different. Taking a higher dose may give you more suppression but that doesn’t mean you’ll lose weight any faster.

I’m 6 months in and only gone up to 3.75mg as that’s enough for me and I’m also wary of side effects so even if I wanted to go up to 5mg, I’d probably do it in a couple of stages using click counting.

The gap-1 plotter website shows you graphically how long the drugs stay in your system following the initial spike after 12 hours. It helps to understand why the suppression tails off so dramatically around days 6/7.

Lots of users time their doses to allow themselves to eat more on days 6/7, for instance at the weekends when they are socialising more.

https://glp1plotter.com

In your circumstances I didn’t move up from 2.5mg at all. In fact I only moved recently after 16 months on it. I don’t have full suppression for the majority of that time but I didn’t want it either. Feeling hungry is normal and being able to eat properly is normal. Look at what you are eating, but half a stone is good loss. Sure people lose more but it’s not a race. If you eat well and remain in a consistent calorie deficit you will lose weight.

5 is not a big step up its meant to be the first full dose

I beg to differ. I had barely any side effects of 2.5mg, took my first dose of 5mg on Friday and have been in excruciating stomach pain all week to the point I had to call nhs 24 to make sure it wasn't anything serious, If you want to move up i'd say go to 3.75mg first. I wont be taking 5mg again