Mounjaro seems less effective after six months, cravings and food noise back

[ArtfulRedhead]

Is it possible that mounjaro just isn’t working anymore?

I’ve been on it for six months and have slowly increased to 7.5mg. But whereas at the beginning I had the suppression and the food noise was gone, now I don’t feel anything at all. It’s almost as if I’m injecting water.

I don’t really want to increase anymore as I promised myself I’d stay as low as possible. Also the cost makes moving up further pretty impossible.

I'm just craving sugary rubbish all the time, constantly obsessing over food and the whole reason I wanted to be on mounjaro was for this to stop.

i know mounjaro won’t do all the work for me and I don’t expect it to, I want to use it alongside calorie counting as a tool to help stop the cravings and food noise but it’s not 😞😞

Well, it's clearly something that you are experiencing, so there's something going on that isn't what you want.

I have been on Mounjaro for about 20 months now, and have been on 10mg for many months now. The effects can vary quite a bit. I find that if I have too much sugar, carbs etc that it can create a vicious cycle where the cravings for those things increase, despite the medication. I then try to shake things up and get out of that cycle, usually by a period of fasting, followed by really clean eating until I feel like I am back on it. Maybe something like that could help?

I am not sure I understand really, you are choosing not to move up so this is probably going to be the consequence that you have reached your tolerance and the solution is to move up a dose

Look, if you're taking half the maximum prescribed dose of a drug and it's not working then you obviously increase the dose.

It's difficult re finances but at the moment you are wasting around £200 a month. If you could possibly find another £30 or so to go up a dose you might not be chucking any money down the drain.

"i know mounjaro won’t do all the work for me and I don’t expect it to, I want to use it alongside calorie counting as a tool to help stop the cravings and food noise but it’s not 😞😞"

Are you looking at your macros?

I don't mean obsessing but something rough and ready. If you can target high protein (so in the region of 2g per KG of ideal body weight per day) and high fibre by making your carbs veg, fruit and wholegrains then you might find it easier.

You can do both of those things with supplements too if that is easier, food is always going to be better for us but most important is consistency so there are some compromises we can make to keep consistent.

The drug never stops working , if it did it would never be approved for diabetes or cardiovascular disease.

the guidance is to move up to your optimal dose, so you’re not on it, 7,5 is too low for you. It’s really not a case you can promise yourself to stay on a low dose and it will work as thays what you wish.

however it may never have worked, and diet fatigue has set in, it doesn’t work for 15 percent of people, and the mind is incredibly powerful if you think it works then for a period of time it will.

you won’t know unless you move up and find your optimal dose.

I also find the drug less effective if I eat too much sugar or carbs, it’s like it is dealing with that, and I still have the blood sugar crashes that cause the cravings.

to resolve it I also just immediately stop, but I do find it much easier to do that.

You need to move up a dose.

What you’re experiencing is common and doesn’t necessarily mean it’s stopped working. It’s more often:
adaptation
dose-related
or a shift from “strong effects” → “subtle effects”
So sometimes you get to a point where you are just maintaining.
You need to go up a dose.. l stayed on each dose 3 months.

You're on half the maximum effective dose so yeah, it's not working effectively for you. What's the point in not going up the doses if it's not working?! You'll have to go up or accept not losing any more weight. Most people have to go up to 10-15mg to lose the weight they need to. It's less common to find the lower doses fully effective.

This is an absolutely normal situation, the weird part is your reluctance to move to an effective dose. Why on earth would you not?

I went all the way upto 15mg, got to 10st bmi 25 amd started tapering down. now I'm back down to 5mg to maintain and lost 1st 3lbs since and I'm 8st 11lbs at bmi 22.0. Sometimes we need that higher dose to kick start better losses and resolve insulin resistance or prediabetes in my case but then insulin sensitivity increases when we lose enough weight.

The OP has already quoted cost as the issue.

But, I agree with @Tovetov that if you're already spending around £200 on Mounjaro and feeling like it isn't being effective, then spending another £30 to £50 a month for an effective dose seems like it would be more cost effective. Medicine Market Place are doing 10mg for £229 without any need for discounts or referrals, for example.

To everyone querying why I don’t want to move up the doses, it’s because of the potential side effects that increase as the dosage increases as well as cost.

I’ve only been on 7.5mg a week so I doubt my body has adjusted to it that quickly.

also some of the comments are very passive aggressive. To those of you who had been helpful and kind, thank you! To the others that feel the need to post passive aggressively on a forum to someone they don’t know and have never met - give your heads a wobble.

Did you have any bad side effects when you moved up to full dose? I’ve got friends who have horror stories with the high doses so it does scare me.

@ArtfulRedhead I assumed you’d been on 7.5mg for a while, apologies for misunderstanding. If you’ve only been on 7.5mg for a week then I would give it the 4 doses and see how you get on from there.

I had no side effects at all on 10mg.

I’ve been on 7.5 for 2 months. I haven’t lost any weight at all despite doing all the same things as I was doing on 5. I think I’m going to go up a dose as otherwise I’m wasting money. Maybe you need to increase your dose? It isn’t a given that you’ll have side effects, not everyone does.

I think it’s very easy on Mumsnet to read threads where it feels like a lot of people lose all the weight on 2.5 or 5 and never go up. It can feel quite competitive. But that isn’t the case for everyone. It’s not working for me. It sounds like it may not for you either, but give it a bit more time on 7.5.

I'm on 15 without side effects apart from feeling cold.
I've not really eaten high fat or processed carbs since starting MJ 18 months ago - lost all appetite for them.
I've only had 2 episodes of "digestive issues" - both from eating white bread sandwiches/pizza at work things.

You need to tirate up - its how the drug is designed to work - and avoid UPF's

Thank you. I’ll definitely give it a few more weeks and then see if I need to increase again. Like someone above has mentioned, as soon as I started eating sugary foods it’s just constant cravings for those so I’m hoping if I cut them out that the cravings will pass and I’ll be back on the wagon x

It’s how all drugs work isn’t it, you follow the dosage guidelines, I’ve not seen any drugs where you just decide to take a Lower dose than you require and decide it will work, Like take half a nurofen instead of two as it’s cheaper but decide it will work.

if that’s how meds worked, the nhs would all have us on a low dose of every drug to save money, and tell us it works,

for every med you need to move to the dose your body needs, otherwise it is pointless taking it.

I’ve just taken my third dose of 7.5mg today after about 5 months on 5mg. So far I’ve not had increased suppression on 7.5mg and am also 6 months into my MJ journey. No side effects and feels just like I’m taking 5mg still.
I’m hoping it may build up in my system and start to work better but we will see.
I can’t offer any advice but wanted to let you know I’m experiencing similar to you.

Thank you 💖 it’s nice to have a supportive and understanding comment.

Yes I won't sugar coat it, I felt awful. I moved upto 15mg as most of my doses wore off after 7-8 weeks, apart from 2.5mg that worked for 2 weeks and 5mg that wore off after 5 weeks. With 10mg I would get all week suppression and it resolved my high blood sugar symptoms but even that wore off after 8 weeks, such a shame then 12.5 did the same. But 15mg was a different kettle of fish, from the first dose I was so suppressed and had zero energy and basically was a zombie for a month, worked but as soon as I got home just laid on the couch. I could only eat 700-900 cals a day, lost 6lbs that month despite barely moving. Had no energy to even go out on weekend! I felt so low mentally too like depressed. My hair shed like crazy, it was so upsetting. Luckily I had no GI symptoms thankfully because i ate clean and stopped when i felt full rather than force myself. I kept taking it because I thought I would tolerate it, like most of the doses that were strong for a week or 2 soon settled but after 5 weeks on it, it never settled so I had to drop down, but then everything was too strong. I believe my insulin sensitivity increased and with a smaller body, I didn't need such a high dose anymore. So I understand the caution with moving up but 7.5mg will build up so hopefully will get stronger over the weeks for you.

I totally understand where you are coming from OP. I also query when people say the impact doesn’t wear off - if you compare to painkillers people definitely get used to them and they have less of an effect. I have stayed on 7.5 too long because of the cost - and now worried that I have left it too late and even 10 is going to be a challenge, but that is an hypothetical worry . Some people have researched taking every 5 days - you could see if that makes a difference?

Sugar definitely creates sugar cravings.

But could it also be a phase of your menstrual cycle? I now notice quite pronounced differences in my appetite, which I didn’t feel before MJ or in the first months I was taking it.

I found that after some Christmas indulgence, I started craving sugar and salty snacks (am on 5mg). I also thought MJ wasn’t working any more. Like some PPs have said, I made myself cut back on sugar and salt, and after a week or so, the cravings weren’t really there any more.