Do you stick strictly to Mounjaro instructions?

[Woo383040]

I have been on MJ since December 2024. I took my first golden dose this morning having been generally quite risk adverse and sticking to the rules. I’m curious to know what other people do, and whether they stick strictly to the instructions, or have any other ways to increase the cost efficiency of their pens.

No I don't. I have always used the golden dose as it's called and I will make a pen last a lot longer. I have a bit of a stock at the moment as I'm only on 5 but coming down to 2.5 and have a 5/7.5 and 10 pen to use. The 10 alone will last weeks as I will only draw 2.5 a week, so that alone will last me a good few months. Of course, I did my research before doing it this way, but for me it's been brilliant and I feel secure that I have probably the rest of the year on MJ without having to buy any more.

Not at all. Always used the last of the pen and as I’m maintaining I’m only using thirty clicks of a 5mg pen to have a 2.5mg dose. Working well so far.

It makes me feel a bit daft, that I’ve thrown so much Mounjaro away. I did already use every last drop that I could get out with a click. And as I’m now coming down the doses I’ve stayed on a 7.5mg pen, even though I’m only taking out 4.25mg, as I can see that it is so much cheaper. My concern is I’m going to start building up a stock pile of pens because of the requirement to order them every 6 weeks. Does anybody have a solution for this?

No, I don’t follow the guidelines. I have done smaller doses by counting clicks and I have used the leftover medication for an extra dose on every pen after the first three pens once I’d got my head around it and was on a stable dose level.

I am more cautious about using the pen beyond the 30 day limit, and haven’t had to so far. I would go beyond by a week or two, but I’m not sure I would use a pen for several months due to taking a lower dose from a high strength pen.

How would you get the remainder out once you've had the 4 doses?

@caringcarer there are two ways you can try. One is to force the pen mechanism to turn which breaks the internal locking mechanism. Some people can manage that by hand, the times I tried that I had to use pliers. Once the internal locking mechanism is broken, you can then turn the pen to the 1 position and use it as normal. However, I have had the whole inside of the pen break when doing this which meant that the plunger wouldn’t move down and it was unusable. So, now I buy 1ml syringes and extract the medication through the red seal.

Do you have a link for these syringes?

You can get them from lots of online pharmacies, you need 1ml syringes with a needle that is 4 to 8mm in length and with a gauge of 30g or 32g. Ones like these for example:

https://ukmedi.co.uk/products/fms-micro-syringe-32g-8mm-1ml-fms-fms-32g-10ml-ukmedi-co-uk

I wouldn’t buy from Amazon as they are not permitted to sell them as sterile and for human use, so better to use an actual pharmacy supplier.

I did "click count" to give myself 3.75ml when moving from 2.5 to 5 as I had bad stomach issues when first taking it. But I've never done it since.

There is no way I would mess around with syringes trying to extract an additional dose, as I think it's risky. But that's easy for me to say as I have an NHS prescription. My stance might change if I was paying £200 per pen!

At the start yes, as I couldn’t bring myself to use a syringe needle, but I got over that after about 6 months and started using the golden dose.

now two years later and maintaning for the last year no, I will use the golden dose, I also will nudge up sometimes ie after a 2 week holiday to drop the couple of pounds I may have gained, and take say 6.5 from a 5 pen, and I have a couple of 10mg pens I will use for the 10 weeks, taking 5mg from,

I always use a sterile wipe. All round the pen, before and after use,

right now as I have a few pens in stock, I am buying 5mg pens, as both my husband and I maintaning on it, I buy one a month, he stopped his prescription, and we just are running down the pens, then when I have say 3 left, I will move to buying ten mg, and using syringes for both of us to take 5mg each a week out of it.

so I’m much more relaxed now than I was when I first started.

I started in June 24 and my feeling towards risk have changed over time based on increased experience, staying on lower doses which don't give strong suppression which I assume (perhaps wrongly) reduces some risks, and having minimal/no side effects to worry about, I now feel comfortable with

• Click counting to reduce dose down (although I personally wouldn't try tiny volumes of medication such as 0.1ml for 2.5mg from a 15mg)
• Using over 30 days when stored in fridge (have done up to 8 weeks since the Voy announcement where they prescribe off label for 6 weeks; don't think I will go further at this stage)
• Use excess liquid (while it is still there!)

I do not feel comfortable with

• Injecting more often on a regular basis

I would never

• Buy/obtain from an unregulated source
• Buy syringes from anywhere other than a UK pharmacy
• Inject anywhere other than the instruction
• Break pen, remove dose knob and use makeshift plunger method to deliver an unmeasured dose

There are probably more..........each to their own risk assessments.

Genuine question, why would you think it’s risky, it’s just using it as a vial?

No I don’t. I’ve always used the extra liquid and I short dose pens. I am currently on 14/15 doses of a 7.5mg pen (I only take 2.5mg) and have a 7.5mg and 10mg pen in the fridge. This wasn’t totally intentional. I started in mid July and stocked up using bundles before the price hike with no idea that coming up to 9 months later I would still be on 2.5mg. That said, given I have noticed no impact on efficacy I plan to build my way up from 2.5mg to the higher dose pens when I have to start ordering again.

These are the syringes I got: https://ukmedi.co.uk/products/fms-micro-syringe-32g-8mm-1ml-fms-fms-32g-10ml-ukmedi-co-uk?variant=53484951077243

The only thing I would have done differently is not buy 50 of them for free postage and got some 0.5ml instead which would make it easier to extract from higher dose pens.

I don’t mess around with syringes. I’m very careful, just as I am when handling the pen and the pen needles. The risks are minimal and easily mitigated against, which is why I have decided to take those risks myself. Each person has to decide that for themselves though.

One of the main risks is not understanding about the difference between volume of medication in ml and strength of the medication in mg, as you need to understand how much medication is in the syringe and what dose that represents. If you aren’t confident with those units of measure and with the (simple) maths involved then it’s probably not a good idea to risk it.

Nope. Ive used a pen for 10 weeks before, I've used every bit of left over liquid "golden dose" . Ive done some every 5 days. Ive gone 9 days before.
Im not wasting any, even if I stayed on same strength for the next pen, I have 1 week a bit stronger as I use it all..

I use SHD medical for syringes, they do 8mm and 12mm lengths, if I get rhe 12mm I just put the needle in half way. They're only around £5 incl delivered for 10 syringes and very fast delivery. I've done the extra dose from my first pen and even extracted smaller doses making a pen last 10 weeks at most. I do use alcohol wipes and store all my pens in the fridge. I'm an nhs worker so quite comfortable with using syringes. I've tried the hard twist method too which can work also but occasionally the plunger hasn't worked but I have plenty of sterile syringes so it's easy enough to use them.

Thank you everyone for sharing. My feelings towards risk have also changed over time as I’ve got more comfortable with injecting Mounjaro and the whole routine, and when you’re paying a large sum for a pen you do think about cost and wastage. That said for me, it’s definitely been worth it.

@Wildgoat I guess because I would worry about the risk of infection.

I use every single drop from the pen, and have done since the start. I'm also using my stash of 7.5 and 10mg pens that I bought before the price hike, but have never needed to go beyond 5mg, so my pens are lasting longer than the 30 days. I think many people are bending the rules now as it's so expensive

But if you use it like a vial then it’s a sterile needle you use to pierce it?

@AnnaQuayRules I’m unsure why there would be any higher infection risk than attaching a pen needle to the pen? You would use a sterile syringe with a sterile needle to pierce the red seal which you would wipe with a swab like you do anyway. So no additional risks.

Nope, not from day one 😆 Started on 1.25mg twice a week, always used the golden dose, and now I’m taking lower doses from higher dose pens, so some pens last months.

I’m sticking to
the instructions. But I’m newish to
it. It’s working so I’m not rocking the boat. Luckily I can afford it.

I have been on Mounjaro since Jan 2025. At first I was very careful, although I have always taken the golden dose.

Now I am maintaining with 5mg a week from a 15mg pen. So I am extending the life significantly. I am very careful about cleaning and keep the pen in the fridge all the time.

I’m another who uses the golden dose and takes a smaller amount from the pen. Currently 5mg from a 7.5 pen.

You do end up building up a surplus but I figure it will all get used in the end. I order from Medicine Marketplace who allow orders every 7 weeks.