Ozempic - for those of us a few months in - Part 2

[Peridot1]

Just spotted the other thread had filled up so started I new one.

@Howtonamechange As @SerenadeOfTheSchoolRun says, the .25 pen holds 2mg in total. I posted all of the patient info sheets with the info on in the group a while ago. The 0.25 and 0.5 pens actially hold the same amount.

@SerenadeOfTheSchoolRun I did the same. Works out at £280 for the equivalent of a 1mg pen so not horrendous in comparison. They also seem to let you order more than 1, so will tide me over for a while.

I think I'd rather suck up the price for the knowledge I've got a months supply, at least!

Yep, I got 6 0.25 and 1 0.5 out of my 0.25 pen - Juniper say there is extra to allow for mistakes and you should throw it away after 4 0.25 doses (well they would say that wouldn't that...)

Oh great shout on doing that. I’ve got another 3 weeks of my current pen and if I can’t get another 1mg it’s good to know that’s an option.

Quickmeds increased prices to £274 for 0.5 and 1mg pen

I just noticed that on quickmeds 😒

And right angled just did the same

Quickmeds website went slow so I thought they might have stock in - saw the price rise but no stock

They've got 0.5mg but not 1mg

It seems like the shortages are getting worse. Even noticed some places are out of stock for tablets

I didn't even see 0.5mg @nebulae
It does seem to be getting harder to find

I have 2 1mg pens bought before the ridiculous price rises. In view of the shortages and the cost, I am going to start weaning myself off Ozempic and try to finish the loss on my own. I only take 0.75 a week and I'm actually needing to eat more to fuel my weight training so I'll get another 3 months out of 2 pens or more if I start to taper the dose.

It's not ideal but even if I am fortunate enough to be able to afford £275, I don't want to pay it. I've made radical changes to my diet and lifestyle so I think (scared as I am) I am going to have to go for it. I didn't want to be on it forever. I'll try and lose as much as possible while I have some and if the situation changes in that time then I will of course reconsider.

I'm really glad that I started when there was no publicity about it and it was easily available and not insanely expensive. I'll stick around of course.

I can see the 0.5 on Quickmeds now, but that would make it nearly £600 a month, which is too much
£300 a month is bad enough, but I'm really worried about my blood sugar levels if I stop taking it.

We had a message from Juniper today to say they've doubled resources to source it and the 1.0 pens are hardest to obtain.

@Athena51 same here. Currently weaning off at 0.5 a week, I was making my 1mg last 8 weeks. I have 1 0.5 dose left, and wondering if I should stop after this last one. I am at my goal weight and going to the gym and eating healthy. I can afford it but find it hard to justify the expense. I did want to wean off for a longer period though. I have a 0.5 pen in my basket, I will leave it here and decide by next week.

I’m going to taper down too. Was on 1.5 and took 1mg this week. Definitely feeling hungrier though. So need to make a plan. DH hates me “dieting” as it sent me doolally in the past. I think I will try IF initially. I am always hungry in the mornings though so I think I will steadily delay my breakfast and aim for two meals a day.

I have to say I am astonished that the manufacturer hasn’t managed to increase production at this stage. There were shortages late last year. And Australia had none early this year. From what I was told they stopped producing Ozempic to ramp up production of Wegovy but then realised they weren’t going to be able to keep up with demand for either so had to ramp up production of Ozempic again. My neighbour is a pharmacist and she says she is constantly being asked if they have Ozempic.

I saw this coming after the last shortage. I have just calculated I have 40 x doses at 0.5 as I’ve been buying extra over the last few months when I can. I also get it on NHS prescription as im diabetic. I usually take 0.75 but my HBA1C has been amazing for months now so hoping 0.5 will be sufficient to maintain that and my weight loss. Hopefully keep me going until stock improves again!

Came on to talk about the massive price increases today.

I think it’s a sign for me to come off it now. I’ve lost 2 stone which I’m so so happy about. But something (and I suspect Ozempic) is making me absolutely exhausted. The kind of exhausted where I sleep 9 hours at night and still want a nap the next day. So hopefully cutting out Ozempic will improve that.

I’ll still obsessively refresh websites though to see if I can get 1mg! I’d pay up to £250ish but no more than that.

@Athena51 I’m doing the same. I only have 7lbs left til my goal weight/bmi 25, I want to lose an extra few KG to give me some breathing room for weight fluctuations but I’m confident I can do this minus ozempic.

It’s been brilliant losing 37lbs since January, and it helped get me over the mental block I had around moving weight, but I’m going to continue tracking my food intake and keeping an eye on my weight. I could scrape together £300 per month, but I really don’t want to, I would feel like it’s a huge waste of money I’d rather spend elsewhere!

I’m so glad I got started on ozempic in December 2022 before the prices blew up.

Same here so grateful to have been on it since last November. I have never felt so good, but I have to admit I am very scared to get off it. Although I have healthier habits, I would be devastated to put it back on. But I cannot justify spending that much.

I have never moved beyond the 0.5 pen, will be week 15 on Friday and I plan to stick to 0.5 till the end of this pen. If I then can't source any I'll stop and see how I do without it, at this level of shortage I can't bring myself to keep buying it when there are people who are prescribed it for diabetes who can't get hold of it either.

I have found it helpful but a hopeful that I'll be able to continue as I've been tracking calories throughout and logging all my food on Myfitness pal so I'll keep doing that.

My GP would be happy to prescribe Ozempic for my diabetes if it were not for the shortage. Although I have sourced a .25 (NHS) supply which would satisfy my initial prescription, they won't give me a prescription (although I fulfil the NICE criteria) as they are not confident that I would be able to get future prescriptions. I've said that I would be happy to take responsibility for sourcing, but that's not good enough. In the meantime my HbA1c is soaring (due to medication) and unless I take (more) tablets, there's nothing I can do about it.

I wish the manufacturers would pull their fingers out!

Just a quick check in from me:

Start date 1 May (9 weeks)
Start weight 17st 3lbs
Current weight 16st 1lb
Total loss 16lbs

No real side effects beyond some mild constipation and a bloated, slightly sick feeling if I overdo the sugar and carbs.

Hilarious! I couldn't be happier that my rings are too big. I've moved a particularly lose eternity ring from my fourth finger to my middle finger and will wait until my weight loss settles to get it resized.

Good Luck to everyone who is tapering now or deciding to come off Ozempic due to the current high prices.

It's all very well some people saying they could stick with Ozempic for life because it's no different from an asthmatic (for example) having an inhaler for life. But it's very different on price. I have asthma and the inhalers only cost the price of a prescription and as I live in England, my prescriptions will be free from the age of 60.

Until Wegovy is available on prescription as a weight loss tool, I don't see how many people can tolerate these price increases, let alone think about taking it for life.