“I started Ozempic last night” THREAD FOUR

[HermioneWeasley]

Can’t believe we’re on thread 4

welcome back to previous posters, and welcome to those who are new or interested.

a few of us have been on Ozempic with a range of experiences for a few months now, so if you’re interested in how it goes in the early days, the earlier threads might be a good place to start.

I’ve been on it for about 6 months now and have lost around 20lbs. It has been effortless. I used to be ravenously hungry all the time, and now I’m not. I had very mild side effects at first (just some nausea), but none now.

most of us have referral codes for various providers, so if you are starting, do ask on the thread and someone will PM you.

I think some of the adverts on ozempics own page dont help. There is a chatty info video with 2 women in a kitchen and the one who demonstrates doing her injection looks like "could do with dropping a dress size" not obese.

Is that advert not aimed at people with type2 diabetes?

Maybe but surely most people with type 2 diabetes are obese at the point they are considering Ozempic. Since obesity is a main contributory factor in a person developing type 2 diabetes.

@TooMuchCoffeee
If I'm being really honest, I do think I've cut the cost of my shopping. I don't eat loads of takeaways etc, but probably way too many carby sugary snacks. Maybe at least £20 extra per week on that type of food. Though I have a 15 year old son and I still seem to spend a lot for him! But that £20 is solely my own savings 😳
I'm single, so when my son isn't around I'm now more likely to just eat up some leftovers or whatever veg are lurking in the fridge. Whereas I would have had a ready meal and a dessert before.

Took my first dose yesterday morning @ 8.15am. I have had no side effects other than felt a little nauseous just before I fell asleep last night.

I did a 5 day egg fast in preparation mainly to do a sugar detox and to give me a good kick start. I lost a whopping 11lb.

I am going to continue following low carb 16/8 eating plan aiming for 1200 calories a day and attempt to get my steps up to around 12000 a day.
We
I've just done my monthly "big" shop at Tesco this morning and wasn't remotely interested in any "goodies" whatsoever. I bought DH and DS's Easter eggs and really was not even tempted to sneak one for myself without even thinking about it. 🫣🤣🤣
I've only had a bullet proof coffee so far today and don't feel hungry at all. Making a chicken roast for dinner, I won't have potatoes, carrots, yorkies or gravy but will have broccoli, cabbage and sprouts will see how it goes. I'm not going to weigh in until next Saturday.🥰🥰

SW 12/03/23 20st 8lb
CW 18/03/23 19st 11lb
GW 9st 7lbs

@Twiglets1 - I think you can have Type 2 diabetes and not be obese. Overweight yes but not necessarily obese. Quite a few of the Type 2s I know wouldn’t be considered obese. Current general thinking is that being overweight leads to insulin resistance and obesity and then type two diabetes. However in The Obesity Code by Dr Jason Fung he says that for some the insulin resistance may come first. So insulin resistance leading to being overweight and then obesity and diabetes. I think that may be what happed with me. Thankfully I discovered Ozempic so will hopefully have warded off the diabetes and I’m no longer obese.

I thought most people with type 2 diabetes were obese. The ones I know certainly are but I take your point this won’t not be true for everyone.

Type two diabetes is predominantly a disease triggered by being overweight/ obese. But not always.
Weight Accounts for around 80-85% of cases. But there are still people who are a healthy weight who develop type 2 diabetes , outcomes for those people are generally worse.
Also people from certain ethnic groups are much more prone to developing type two diabetes and are at risk at much lower weights ( BMI) than other ethnic groups.
Carrying a lot of weight around your middle is another risk factor ( this may be the part involving insulin resistance) which is why we are told to take a waist measurement when we started on ozempic to see if we can reduce that measurement.
It is an awful disease and eventually affects most body systems .
Apart from having horrible complications it is also economically disastrous in terms of treatment and interventions.
So if we can prevent this in any way we can which we are all trying to do we are not only helping ourselves but also helping to not drain resources.
So glad and thankful of the ongoing support and advice here and I think most people are really motivated by improving their health.

My aunt is extremely slim but still developed type 2 diabetes. I’m admittedly overweight and have developed it, but double cause as family history (including said aunt) as well as my weight.

asked my GP who said they are only licensed to prescribe for those with bmi over 40.

I’ve emailed manual as the various codes people have given are overridden by the site offer of 35% off that seems to add automatically despite it initially saying you have a 50% off discount if you follow a link from someone on here

Sorry, also can’t see on the website as to how long the pen from Manual lasts as says once a week but not how many weekly doses / total amount in each pen?

I know several slim people with diabetes type 2.

Having said that the people buying on these sites are unlikely to be diabetics who aren't overweight. There are other diabetes drugs that can be prescribed if needed by an nhs GP and not cost this amount. The predominant customers these companies are targeting are overweight women so I agree the images of slimmish women are problematic.

My GP is currently refusing to prescribe me anything other than metformin, despite that fact it has given me such bad insomnia that I’m lucky to get10-15 mins sleep a night; she disputes that it’s the metformin 😠So if I want it then looks like going to have to cut spending somewhere else (food is only thing I spend on these days!!) so I can try and afford it orivately

Shame the discount codes aren't working 😕 People have said the pens last longer than 4 weeks, as there is more in than the stated dose.

Wegovy advertising might feature obese people as it's a weight loss drug.

Assuming you are starting on the recommended dose of 0.25mg you will get at least 6 weeks out of the pen, maybe longer. I can’t remember exactly how much the first pen has in it but it lasts 6 weeks out of the fridge. I think some people do 4 weeks at 0.25 then 2 weeks at 0.5 out of the first pen.

I got my first pen today and injected 1/2 an hour ago.

I bought from Daily Chemist and I wasn't really that impressed. It took a full week to be delivered, and the box had no information leaflet in it (although I was able to find it online). I paid £169 plus postage so I think at the higher end compared to some of the prices I've seen on here.

I'm very taken with the idea of the European prescription but my only barrier is working out how I would actually get it filled when away. Is it something that chemists in Europe keep in stock as standard, or do they need to order it in?

I agree a separate thread for discount codes is a great idea.

Ozempic-Discount Codes http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weightlosss_chat/4767007-ozempic-discount-codes

@ZiggZagg @MuMuMuuuum @themuminator thanks! Yes forgot about takeaways/eating out! I was purely thinking of the extra crisps/chocolate/biscuits I buy every week but takeaways and wine, those savings would at least make the monthly injection cost easier to swallow (pardon the pun!).

Morning- weigh in update.

Two weeks ago I weighed 16st. I started ozempic later that week. I've now taken my first two injections.

Today I weighed in at 15st 5lbs. 9lbs off in two weeks! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

Just to reiterate my other post, this hasn't been difficult at all, I haven't been hungry. I'm so pleased.

WeKnowFrogsGoShaLaLaLaLa
That's amazing 👏 Have you had many side effects?
Yesterday was day 2 for me and I was so thirsty, I've never drank so much water! Still, I had another good day eating healthy.

fantastic!!!

I just have to wait til my mild hangover subsides before starting today 😬

Thirst was my biggest side effect. I spoke to my GP who recommended diorylte and one sachet fixed the extreme thirst - still need to keep on top of the fluids though.

Well done @WeKnowFrogsGoShaLaLaLaLa! Great result.

@Rosie219 - someone else reported that and spoke to her GP who advised taking some Dioralyte or similar. It sounds like you might need to rehydrate.

Cross posts @WeKnowFrogsGoShaLaLaLaLa! I knew it happened to someone.

I am four days into my first jab and I just wanted to share something I’ve realised.

On the advice of previous posters I have been tracking the calories of what I eat each day on Nutracheck.

Well, turns out that I was previously eating much more than I thought I was. For example, the other day I estimated I’d eaten about 700-800 calories but in fact it was closer to 1800. Yesterday I didn’t think my Sunday lunch was too much - added up it was 1200 calories!

I do think that Oz has reduced my appetite, especially with the evening munchies. I am definitely eating less than I used to and I’m reaching for the sweet stuff in the evening much less. But what’s astonished (and scared) me is that me eating less has still worked out to an average of 1,875 calories per day over the past four days. It has really opened my eyes as to how much I must have been eating.