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.

No I cant understand it. My blood pressure before I lost practically half my body weight was 210 systolic. I could have had a life altering stroke at any moment. I was diabetic risking losing my legs.
Id already had a hip replacement very young because of the strain on my joints.
Now Im completely healthy and dont need to take any medication. Diabetes completely in remission.
I would have put up with 2 years of diarrhoea and vomiting to get the weight off.
As it happened I had no symptoms.

Not really, no

Thank you to each and every one of you that took time to reply.
I'm so unhappy with my weight. I am just over 19 stone, 5.8" tall. I am constantly thinking about my size and weight which has crept up over the last 8-10 years. Its the 1st thing I think of in the morning and last thing I think of at night and along with the food noise I am at breaking point.
In my mind I want to try treatment so that when I lose a few stones I will hope full be able to be more active and hopefully that will also help with the weight loss.
I think I was hoping that people here would say that the nausea isn't that bad and after a couple of weeks you adjust and don't notice it anymore.
I am going to bite the bullet and order. I have spoken to my GP and there's not a snowflake in hells chance of getting it on the NHS as I live in what's considered an "affluent area" although I my self am not affluent .
I know loads of people who use it with only minimum side effects.
I am hoping I wont be bothered by the side effects.
I am going to order hopefully today or tomorrow.
Thank you for all your relies they are really appreciated.

For me, it was not just “ a bit of nausea “ that made me stop using Mounjaro, it was losing two days every week through violent diarrhoea when I was unable to leave the house.

I got the injections through my local pharmacy so had a 1 to 1 conversation at the shop every four weeks when I bought my next supply. That meant I had advise about increasing the dose or staying the same to adjust but eventually after 12 weeks, i decided to stop taking it. The pharmacist said that the other brands of WLIs had similar side effects so it was likely that I would have the same problems.

I’m just about to see make an appointment to see the pharmacist again to see if the new tablets that are coming soon might cause me to have diarrhoea as well.

I’m same height as you op. Over 18 months I lost 52 kilos on Mounjaro. BMI went from 41 to 24. I’m 58 & a healthy weight for the first time in decades.

im now maintaining.

my side effect was feeling of cold, but that is totally manageable & heat waves are enjoyable now.

just had bloods done - all my readings are in the green, and there is an improvement in everything they tested for compared to pre MJ results.

Right and one of the benefits of avoiding the stomach is less digestive SE. I’m merely pointing out that you sound like an absolute idiot telling everyone else to stop talking positively about one kind of medication as we are supposedly pressuring her, and here you are discussing another type of medication that have absolutely no understanding of, you’re doing the exact same thing but with even more ignorance.

I have lost nearly 4 stone and I feel great. I didn't realise how much I struggled with stairs and walking up hills until I didn't any more. I had some indigestion in the early days but I never felt sick or anything like that. I lose weight very slowly and could never stick to a diet because I just couldn't see any results, mj gave me confidence that the weight would come off I just needed to keep going. I am about to start reducing my dose and start the maintenance phase, which for me will be short because I can't afford to stay on mounjoro long term. Based on my experience I would encourage anyone who is very obese to try mounjoro, its a wonder drug imo.

I’m glad you’re going to go for it. It has changed my life beyond recognition. I had fear of side effects too but apart from constipation and some gastro upsets when I went up a dose I’ve been fine.

my pen sat in my fridge for ages before I worked up the courage to take it. Now my only regret is not starting sooner.

Nobody said that some people don't get severe side effects but it's rare, and you won't know unless you try! Being so fearful of something that is highly unlikely to happen that you don't do something which is highly likely to improve your life isn't logical.

Try it. If it doesn't suit you, stop!

This thread couldn’t have come at a better time!
I'm about to start on MJ, have an appt with the nurse in 2 weeks to go through all the info and apparently she will probably do my 1st injection.
I picked up the prescription yesterday from the pharmacy and now just counting down the days.
Im really scared but know I have to at least try it- I'm nearly 20 stone and at 5’3 I’m a ticking time bomb. I’ve actually got it on the NHS as my diabetes is getting bad and I’ve spent the last 3 years trying all the other treatments for it with little success and lots of bad side effects.

I know lots of people who have taken MJ I don’t know anyone who has had side effects.

Use this time while you wait for your appointment to start eating foods that won’t aggravate your stomach and will set you up for success.

Mounjaro works in several ways:

1. increases the amount of insulin you produce in response to high glucose
2. increase your bodies sensitivity to the insulin it has
3. reduces the amount of glucose produced by your liver
4. slows your digestion which allows more time for glucose to be processed and leaves you feeling full for longer

Ways you can help

• increase protein and good fats
• increase fibre and water, helps keep your digestion moving and prevent constipation. Psyllium husk can be helpful if you struggle getting it through diet.
• Start looking for resistance/weight exercises you will be able to do. You don’t need to go to the gym or go hard, there are home workouts, seated exercises and you build over time, but it’s important to keep your muscles from wasting.
• avoid greasy, heavily spiced, highly acid foods at least till you know how you’ll react to the MJ, especially in the couple of days before your first dose, the last thing you want is to slow down your digestion while you have a belly full of spicy curry.
• water, water, water. It’s ridiculous how much difference it makes to weight loss, if I have a bad week for keeping hydrated I see it on the scales every time.

Glad you're screwing your courage up OP, and @PaigeMacalso.

Lots of us have never had any nausea at all, I'm not sure nausea is even the majority. Personally I used to feel a bit bloated the morning after injection when I was losing, currently maintaining on a lower dose and it's no longer an issue. I drink a lot of water anyway, and was really militant about that following advice on here, and I suspect that's part of why it's been so easy.

You know the best thing about not being obese any more? The hellishness of the heatwave this week was mitigated just a little. That's not to say it was fun, but it was more fun at 24 BMI than it would've been with my pre MJ one! Just think, the next time we have horribly hot weather you could be significantly lighter.

Ive don it. Sent off photo and ID. I actually feel better now Ive dont that than I did before. Hopefully this time next week I will be taking my 1st dose.

*Done not dont

Presumably you could figure out for yourself that a once a week dose of medication will be higher than the comparable daily dose as you take the whole week’s dose in one go. The daily dose will merely seem higher as a high percentage will be broken down before it enters the bloodstream.

The reason I packed in the pill question was simply because, unless you’re a pharmacist, translating a jab to daily dose pill would be hard to be precise.

Nonetheless, the principle remains that if concerned about side effects, a small dose pill would be preferable to a larger dose jab as, as you can stop taking a pill if the side effects are unpleasant, whereas once the jab is in you can’t get it out again.

What sounds ‘idiotic’ to me is your claim I have told people to “to stop talking positively about one kind of medication” when, if you read my posts more carefully I never said anything of the sort.

Well done OP! You won't regret trying it.

It’s an incredible drug in that it actually does something to your brain, removing addictive behaviour. I didn’t feel deprived eating less or not snacking, I was happy. It was just so easy.

@InfoSecInTheCity Thanks for the tips, I love a currry so would probably have treated myself the night before jab day🤪
@AWomanOfWealthAndTaste thankyou also for the support
@VimtoPrincess good luck! Let us know how you get on

I will be so careful about what i eat and drink ... I drink quite a lot of pepsi max so that will have to go. I enjoy a takeaway once a week but that will have to go too 😆
I will join the July new starter thread when I start xx

I know people can get quite worked up about diet drinks and cola drinks and therefore doubly so for DIET COLA drinks. 😜

But you're in this for the long haul so don't get rid entirely of things you enjoy. Just moderate. Ok, don't trough a litre a day but I still have a can of diet coke here and there and quite honestly you'd have to prise the stuff out of my cold dead hands to make me give it up entirely. Especially nicely iced on holiday or in the recent nutty weather.

I probably would avoid the takeaway initially until you figure out how your body's responding ot the MJ and if there are food triggers for side effects etc like @InfoSecInTheCity says. But long term, again, you start to figure out what things work in terms of calories, what are the healthier options so you can still get some kind of delivery/takeaway treat occasionally.

I used to drink about 1.5-2 litres of Pepsi Max a day and knew I couldn't do that while on Mounjaro. I forced myself to swap (changed to squash as just can't drink enough plain water) and did not let myself drink anything carbonated for 6 months - after that I tried a small glass of Pepsi Max and couldn't even manage a mouthful as it just felt and tasted vile. If you can hold yourself to account even just for a month, you won't want to drink it anymore.

I didn’t stop drinking Pepsi Max! I also had no side effects at all apart from losing 95 pounds!

I can’t go on WLI as I’m a type 1 diabetic. I’d definitely put up with a bit of discomfort to lose weight! Just give it a go. If you have severe side effects you can stop.