FRIGHTENED OF WEIGHT LOSS INJECTONS

[VimtoPrincess]

I have a BMI of 40 and I have to do something about my weight but I find it difficult to lose weight post menopause and just cant get my head in the right space. I've decided to try Mounjaro through Medexpress but I only think about all the side effects. I am not affraid of injecting, I've done that through two pregnancies. Please help with any advice to make this journey easier.

Side effects are a walk in the park compared to pregnancy. You will be fine.

you will feel wonderful as you lose weight and have so much more energy.

I’ve lost 5 stone.

My side effects were to be a bit burpy.

sometimes if I didn’t eat enough or drink enough water I would feel weak and get a headache

once or twice I got a touch of the runs

these all happened between 5 mg and 10mg

ive been on 15 mg for several months with no side effects

in addition to losing the weight i am
also in remission for diabetes and high blood pressure

Do you think the medication actually caused the panic attack? Rather than your psychological response to the fear of the medication?

No fear of the injection, I thought it was the answer to my prayers but I do have hypersensitivity to adrenaline (if I need an injection at the dentist they have to use the stuff without adrenaline in it and when I tried the Keto diet I also got panic attacks). I have read online other people say they got an anxious feeling when on it. I'm not sure what the connection is to adrenaline using a weight loss drug, I would be interested to know.

I do and thank you.

I get frustrated that the scaremongering in the press has people scared of the tiny risk of pancreatitis when the very real risks of obesity are nowhere near as marginal.

Also a thread with this title is going to attract the anecdotal scare stories. Mounjaro can cause palpitations. I'd forgotten I'd had that once or twice at night in the first week, but it was no worse than peri once caused. If those then turn into a full blown panic attack, that's more than likely down to the reaction of the individual to the initial palpitations.

No-one should ever push or persuade someone to take a medication it’s totally unethical.

If you’re concerned OP, you don’t have to take it, irrespective of the goading here.

I’ve seen recently there’s a Wegovy pill coming out at some point. That would enable you to trial a very small dose, check for side effects, and have much more control.

No one is goading the OP to take medication that she doesn’t want to.

I am not sure that the Wegovy tablets would enable anyone to take a very small dose. That would be very much easier with the Mounjaro injection pen, as you can dial it to do a smaller dose. 0.06ml or 1 of the tiny click markers if you really wanted to do a tiny dose of 0.04mg from the starting 2.5mg dose pen. I don’t think you could accurately break up a tablet to give you a smaller dose.

You won’t know whether you’ll have any side effects until you take it unfortunately, the decision you need to make is whether the risk of possible side effects is worth the possible benefit of successfully losing weight.

I didn’t really have a choice, I had uncontrolled T2 diabetes and insulin , metformin and a very low carb diet were not bringing me into normal glucose levels so Mounjaro was the next step. For me it was a miracle. No side effects, lost 10 stone and sugar levels were normal within 3 months and I was able to come off the insulin and the metformin.

But my journey isn’t necessarily yours and no one can make this decision for you.

@InfoSecInTheCity have you had a C Pep test? With that history you could well have late onset T1/ MODY/LADA, and currently be in the honeymoon period

The OP said she's already decided to try MJ through Med Express and wants advice how to make the journey easier.

As @SilenceInside said nobody is goading. But marginal risks of rare side effects need to be put in context of the very real, non-rare risks of obesity.

Lol you realise you are also trying to persuade someone to take medication in the second half of your post right? One you don’t even have direct experience of.

Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t think she should take it all if she doesn’t want to.

I was merely suggesting a different format that has a much lower dose.

@Aluna the dosage for the tablets is different but not lower. The starting dose for the tablets is 1.5mg which is higher than the injection at 0.25mg. That’s to account for the tablet being digested so that the amount of active medication that makes it into your bloodstream is similar to the smaller injection dose.

Right, I get that the thread title, capitalised as it is, doesn't help. But if you read the OPs post she's not saying she doesn't want to take them. She's saying she does but is struggling with the fear of side effects. Which is different.

Well that’s no use then.

A ‘different format’ (same drug) that you have absolutely no understanding of, you don’t see the irony AT ALL do you?

Do stop being a goady just because OP is afraid of taking something you think she should.

I’ve had exactly this conundrum with a completely different type of medication found I tolerated the pill better than a jab. The stomach's digestive acids and enzymes break down medication before it enters the bloodstream, whereas an injection is absorbed directly into the body's tissues.

The Wegovy tablets are formulated so that sufficient of the active ingredient isn’t broken down before it can enter the bloodstream. That’s also why you need to fast for 8 hours before taking it and only take a small amount of water with it, then nothing else at all for at least 30 mins.

It’s 1 in 100 now. bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/semaglutide/#side-effects

Where in that link does it say 1 in 100 develop pancreatitis? I couldn't see that

@Miyagi99 that’s a link about Wegovy (semaglutide) and the OP has Mounjaro. And also agree with @RoseField1that it doesn’t specify 1 in 100.

OPs BMI already puts her at higher risk of pancreatitis than the healthy weight population. Research shows that for every increase of 5 in BMI, your risk of developing acute pancreatitis jumps by about 18%. Research shows that individuals with a high BMI are nearly three times more likely to develop severe acute pancreatitis compared to normal-weight individuals.

GLP‑1 medications can temporarily increase gallstone risk during rapid weight loss, which can briefly raise pancreatitis risk in some people. However being high BMI puts OP at increased risk for as long as she has obesity.

No. The category ‘Uncommon’ in relation to side effects of medication, means that it Affects between 1 in 1,000 and 1 in 100 people (0.1% to 1%).

You also need to take into consideration the difference between causation and correlation, the demographic of WLI users is obese people. Obese people are more likely to get gallstones and pancreatitis, obese women even more so.

I had acute pancreatitis several years ago caused by a massive gallstone completely obstructing my bile duct and causing my gallbladder to go necrotic. Ended up 8n emergency surgery. I was not taking WLIs, I was obese but had lost several stones due to healthy eating and increased exercise.

the fun thing about gallstones is that your risk increases if you gain weight, it also increases if you are obese and then lose weight. So you’re buggered either way!

I was nervous to start too. But so glad I did. Now a year on and 5 stone lighter. Actually enjoy wearing nice clothes now and this heat wave has been SO much easier than it would have been.

Anyway - my top tips if you’re anxious about side effects.

1. for 12-24 hours before your first jab eat light and clean. Digestion slows down pretty quickly and you will get much less nauseous if you’re not full of heavy/greasy food.
2. don’t convince yourself you’re going to feel bad. I’d say over half of ‘side effects’ are in people’s heads.
3. if you eat sensibly you will have hardly any gastrointestinal issues. So that alone is good motivation to eat better.

Husband and I both use Mounjaro and have lost over 12 stone between us. To say it’s transformed our lives is an understatement. It’s genuinely been amazing and zero side effects. Go for it !!

Oh come on! You really can’t understand why someone would be nervous about taking it?