Should I increase from 2.5mg to 5mg Mounjaro?

[UhOhRatPoo]

Hi. I know that this question will have been asked within lots of the longer threads but I can’t find a reliable way to search them so I hope some kind person with experience will help me in this new thread.

It’s a simple question really- should I increase my dose to 5mg?

I’m on my third 2.5mg pen having started at 81kg and now down to 76.

I’ve had no digestive side effects but I do wake up most mornings feeling a bit nauseous. It subsides after I’ve been up for a while but it means I can’t stomach breakfast first thing.

I am finding I am never hungry for lunch but do force myself to eat and feel better after I have done. Usually hungry for dinner and still enjoy a beer or a couple of glasses of wine with meal at weekends. Still eating chocolate/desserts in the evening but in smaller portions.

I’d say maybe the appetite suppression is diminishing a little bit but hard to tell. I don’t enjoy not feeling hungry as I am enjoying food less and it reminds me of how you feel when you are unwell and “off your food”. But I am determined to reach a healthy BMI.

Is it worth going up to 5, with the risk of nausea and diarrhoea or is this status quo on 2.5 good enough? I’d like to be 65kg by Christmas. But I can’t afford time off work and school runs etc if I get bad diarrhoea.

Its really a decision for you to make. It sounds like you still have some good suppression? Might be better to have a small breakfast and cut out some of alcohol/sweet treats. Side effects are generally reported to be worse with higher fat or greasy food so if you are still eating those when you go up to 5mg it might be a factor? I went to 3.3mg before doing 5 as I thought going straight to 5 was effectively a double dose. This worked well for 6 weeks then I did 5mg. My current pen is 7.5 and I am at target so going back to 5 after this pen has finished.

Try it and if it makes you unwell then use the 5mg pen as a 2.5 one by taking half doses or maybe 3.5

Thanks both. I do appreciate that it’s my decision so just looking for people’s experiences I guess.

I think what I am wondering is, based on how I describe the 2.5mg is affecting me, what would be better about the 5?
For example, @TheBrickCritic makes the sensible point that I could just add willpower to the 2.5mg dose to cut out the wine and chocolate.

Am I right in thinking that maybe the time to go up to 5 is just when the 2.5 stops giving me any appetite suppression at all? Which would be not right now.

For me the key question is, are you losing weight? If so then I wouldn't risk going up as you will likely get more suppression than it sounds like you want and also more side effects.

Since moving to 5 I can hardly eat on day 1-3. I find some orange juice helps with the nausea so maybe low blood sugar.

In hindsight I wish I’d gone to 3.75mg first rather than straight from 2.5 to 5mg as I was so sick and had the most horrible stomach ache for days.

Yes- the key question is, are you happy with the pace of weight loss? I went up to 5 after 1 month on 2.5. I feel permanent slight nausea. Have gone off all sweet food- including fruit/ yoghurt etc. Find it hard to eat until the evening and feel quite shaky/ jelly legs so perhaps not eating enough and drinking more water might help. think I went up too soon. I wish there was an official intermediate 3.3 dose but understand I could do it for myself by fewer clicks.

Well, presumably you can lose weight faster, and feel more nauseous, or you can lose weight more slowly and feel better. Your call.

Agree, surely the most important question is whether you're currently losing and what rate.

Personally I only moved up once- at goal now- and did some time at 3.75 in the middle. Didn't have much in the way of side effects anyway, but I didn't notice any increase when moving up.

That’s not how it works.

Well that’s the dilemma you seemed to present. Keep going up the doses then if you don’t think that’s what will happen I guess.

Thanks to everyone who shared experience and suggestions. I actually ordered the 5mg then got cold feet so posted here. I’ve just seen that it has already been dispatched (within about 2 hours of ordering!) so that’s the decision made now. I think I will follow the recommendation to use the 5mg pen to do 3.75 mg doses, not an option I had previously considered.

Do you actually use Mounjaro or are you just here to make snarky comments?

I just don’t get how you think it works. You say you know how it works, so what is the question? Your issue seem to be side-effects, so why go up a dose if you’re worried about them and still losing weight? Best to be cautious, but if you think otherwise and want to go fasterthat’s up to you of course.

Please go and do something more productive with your day.

If you go up the dose I would be cautious with fatty foods day before you take and Day 2 to 3 of the medication as that will help prevent side effects. As the higher dose kicks in you may find you dont fancy chocolate etc anyway. I am sure you will be fine as you ha e been on 2.5mg for a while.

I would only be going up to 3.75 and not doubling to 5mg OP after my own experience just yesterday.

I've only had 4x 2.5mg and had the golden dose left to use. It was maybe 3.8mg so thought it was a good opportunity to go up a bit but not double. OMG- I felt dreadful all day with diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, stomach ache and thought I might even have food poisoning. I'm feeling much better today, but not 100%.

If you up the dose, I'd make sure its not a day you need to do anything just in case you react like I did.

You can take smaller doses from your 5mg pen so maybe try 3.75mg as a halfway? I dunno I stayed on 2.5mg for a year before slowly moving to 5mg. I like to feel hunger though that’s quite normal. For me the decision is based on whether or not I’m able to stick within a calorie deficit whilst eating a healthy balanced diet - you haven’t really given any indication of how you are approaching that?

I’ve checked the log from my scales and I’ve only lost 1.5kg in the last month. I mostly eat Asian and Italian food, hadn’t been counting calories, just cutting out snacks and reducing portion sizes. I have definitely noticed the portion sizes creeping up again.

You need to put in more work than that if you want to succeed long term.

What do you mean? I’m eating less than I used to, balanced meals from cuisines with lots of vegetables and I’ve cut out snacks.

I used to eat a lot of buttered toast and lumps of cheese between meals. MJ has stopped that.

I do agree that I should try to cut out alcohol altogether.

I agree with @completelylostagain

If you seriously want to lose the weight and (more crucially) keep it off, you need to put more thought into a longer term plan rather than hoping a higher dose will do the hard work for you and offer a quick fix.

You mention you’ve already noticed increased portion sizes whilst being on MJ. What habits are you willing to change long term?

I agree with others that moving slowly up the doses makes sense to limit the risk of unwanted side effects, but I’d also urge you to have a forward plan so that you don’t end up re-starting MJ a year after reaching your goal.

There’s anecdotal evidence from lots of posters on here that it’s less effective the second time around.

I only did one 2.5 pen before moving up to 5. Am now on my second 5 and have lost 7.2kg. As I said previously I really struggle to eat the first few days after injection - this was one of your concerns. I also had significant loose stool ( I wouldn’t have called it diarrhoea) after the second 5 Jab. However everyone’s experience is different. You’ve ordered the pen now so try it and see, you can always count clicks and use it to inject 2.5 if the side effects are too much for you.

i started off on 1200 calories, but finding I don’t need to count so meticulously now as I am naturally not eating as much as before. Certain things are really off putting now although sadly not wine.

I may as well not bother with MJ at all on that analysis @KrazyKatty.

Track your calories op. It definitely helps