Would you stay on the jabs for life if you didn’t have to pay?

[PuzzledObserver]

Just that, really.

When you reach your goal weight (maybe you already have) would you want to get off GLP-1’s even if you didn’t have to pay? To put it another way - do you feel there is any benefit in NOT taking them, other than saving money. Assuming you’re currently paying privately, of course.

I have been at target for over a year. I’ll carry on taking Mounjaro indefinitely, despite the cost. Maintaining my lower weight and lower blood sugar is crucial for my health, as I was pre-diabetic. I also feel much better with lower inflammation. I certainly don’t feel there’s any plus to not taking the medication.

I have recently changed from mounjaro to wegovi tablets.

The difference is noticeable.

Firstly cost, 1/3rd of the price of the mounjaro.

Secondly all the horrendous side effects have completely disappeared, thank god.
I would want to remain on wegovi beyond goal BMI to prevent weight related health issues and inevitable weight gain.
If on prescription, great, if not, I would find the money because it’s an investment in my future health.

I’m split dosing, it’s costing me around £80 a month. I might stop at some point but not soon. The cost isn’t a lot of money for me.

I am happy to continue taking them for life if needed. I don’t see any benefit to me at the moment of stopping taking an effective medication that’s doing what I need it to do.

Absolutely. I’ll stay on even with paying. Most pf us will put the weight back on without them

I’ll be staying on them for life even though I do have to pay for them. I came off, gained half the weight back and it’s been a real struggle to lose again now I’m back on them. I’m really upset that I came off them at all for the sake of a few hundred pounds.

I’ve been sitting about 7kg above goal weight for a looooong time now, and I should think that’s largely psychological. I’ve never stopped as a friend of mine who felt brilliant on the jabs stopped and was then too thin to go back onto them. I am just not ready to come off them; I am 99% certain I would be one of the regainers, and although I do get some side effects if I’m not careful, mostly I feel my health is immensely better at this weight. The crunch point will definitely come when my income drops in 3 years, but I’m hoping by then it will be clearer how to do this in a less expensive form.

I absolutely would! I’m on 15mg and have zero side effects. Appetite suppression could be better. I need to lose another stone but I’m consuming too many calories to lose weight, so am just maintaining.
What dose do most people stay on to maintain, do you know? 15mg is too expensive not to lose weight, but it’s my own fault for being complacent. I know the alternative - ie to come off it - means regaining (I know what I’m like).

Well that’s pretty overwhelming agreement!

@Gardenflowering thats interesting - do you mind saying how much you’re currently paying? It’s just I’d heard that when the WeGovy tablets came out, there was disappointment because they were not much cheaper than the jab.

I have been at goal weight for about ten months. I’m not intending to ever stop, whether I have to pay or not.

From the Surmount trial

"After achieving clinically meaningful weight reduction during a 36-week tirzepatide lead-in treatment period, adults with obesity or overweight who continued treatment with maximum tolerated dose tirzepatide for an additional 52 weeks demonstrated superior weight maintenance and continued weight reduction compared to those who switched to placebo."

I am never coming off it. I know I would regain it all back and more.

What they all said.

I just finished a book called Weightless by Dr Rocio Salas-Whalen, who uses GLP-1’s to treat obesity. She says 95% of her patients stay on it after reaching their goal weight,

Yes from me. An ozempic pen lasts me 7 weeks or so on a maintenance dose and the price is subsidised where I live so costs nothing really. I want it in my life because I am impulsive and addictive and I think it suppresses me ever so slightly all round. And I am too old to change now. I had a gastric sleeve and lost about 50kg and do crave sugar now which I never used to and this helps. I am 60kg down now and recently bought 2 x 30kg bags of animal feed and realised what a burden my heart and skeleton had before. This is infinitely healthier and it is sad so many people judge weight loss help more than obesity.

I will pay the same price for the rest of my days if needed. If my income drops and circumstances change, and I have to live on a tight budget then so be it, I'll sacrifice other things and prioritise this.

Loved this book.

Wish everyone would read it, if only for the chapter on maintenance. So many people thinking this is a quick one-off fix.

Yes I would. Forever.

I have been at goal weight for more than a year, am paying and not planning to stop any time soon.

Can I ask where you have got the tablets from? I’ve been turned away from multiply pharmacies saying I don’t meet the criteria

My NHS metabolic diseases consultant has said that I will either need to stay on glp-1 injections or consider having bariatric surgery. I'm not keen on surgery so will continue with injections when my NHS prescription finishes.

People take biologics for prolonged periods precisely because the medications don't just put them into remission from autoimmune disease, it keeps them in remission from autoimmune disease.

GLP-1 medication is showing great results in working alongside biologic medications with a combination of intrinsic inflammation reduction and from weight loss - there is no benefit to discontinuation, whatever pseudomoralistic 'well, they've got to stop sometime and then they'll put it all back on again and more because they cheated' claptrap may be spouted.

I will probably stay on for a long time / forever.

however I pay for it and at 15mg - I really struggle.

I have lost 130lb and have about 30 left to go.

in about a year I plan to tirate down very very slowly

Can anybody explain how they have titrated down? Almost at goal on 15mg having lost eight stones. I know I’ll need the support if Mounjaro but so much conflicting advice on reducing. Is this where micro dosing comes in?

Chemists for you.
Im still in the “obese” part of BMI with around 8lbs to go to “healthy “.