Toyman!
Toyman! MegaDork
4/10/24 10:47 a.m.

Visited the Dr this morning about my latest blood work. My A1c is officially in the type 2 diabetes realm. The doctor is suggesting a Tirzepatide for two reasons. One to get my A1C back to normal and the other to help reduce my weight. 

Does anyone have experience with Tirzepatide? Specifically Mounjaro.

Looking for the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

Ranger50
Ranger50 MegaDork
4/10/24 11:27 a.m.

Took medspa wegovy, still a glp1 inhibitor, before doc placed me in glipizide because of financial reasons. Definitely killed a lot of unwarranted hunger. Even killed off my beer consumption to at most 3-4 a day every few days from nearly daily.  Dropped 30# in a week initially but have stayed the same weight since. Biggest problems I had were the nausea fixed with zofran odt. You'll only poop once maybe twice a week at most. Might get some belly pain from it since it kills gut motility. Make sure to drink your water.

Ranger50
Ranger50 MegaDork
4/11/24 8:02 a.m.

Almost forgot, start at the lowest dose and progress up as directed by manufacturer. There have been instances where providers just put you on a dose thinking you can start there and stay. You will end up with severe side effects and make you quit the medicine. Since it's an injectable, you bypass the liver which would normally help with regulation.

Mndsm
Mndsm MegaDork
4/11/24 8:09 a.m.

This is the same class of stuff as Wegovy and whatever...right? 

 

K- been there done that. Never was specifically on it for the beetus, was pre-diabetic and definitely obese. Decided I wanted to tie my own shoes again, so I made a call. Doc offered wegovy. I figured if it was good enough for Oprah it was good enough for me. 

Let me tell you, it's been.... a ride. I'm just past a year. I've lost.... a third of my body weight. The side effects were UGLY at first. I would venture a guess that if you've got any sort of gastro issues now, they're gonna double. I had them previous and they were a well known quanity.... this did not help even a lil bit. That's the bad news. 

 

The GOOD news is once that all settled down and we ramped up my dosages and got everything in order, it's been really easy to maintain. Once a week, fire and forget, minimal downsides. I eat less, and it's really given me a chance to review what I eat, and cut a lot of unhealthy E36 M3 out of my diet- which I believe to be the biggest part of the weight loss. Gave myself the breathing room, yknow? Now, my a1c is in line, my cholesterol is way down, my heart doctor is as confused as I am, it's wins all around. 

RevRico
RevRico MegaDork
4/11/24 8:19 a.m.

I don't have first hand experience, but I've been seeing a lot of posting locally about Mounjaro being hard to find at pharmacies as it's a newer or popular drug now. Maybe mention that to your docs to see if they can do some of the leg work tracking it down or give you more than one cycle at a time so you aren't on and off of it while the stores wait on restocks.

Toyman!
Toyman! MegaDork
4/11/24 8:37 a.m.

In reply to Mndsm :

Wegovy is a semaglutide, Mounjaro is a tirzepatide.

The googles says "Tirzepatide is a dual agonist that targets both the GLP-1 and glucagon receptors, while Semaglutide is a single GLP-1 receptor agonist." 

I'm not sure what the difference is beyond that. The tirzepatide is supposed to work better for weight loss. Like 30+% weight loss.

They are starting me at the lowest dose for a month. Then up a level every month until the Doc thinks it's doing what it needs to do. 

As for gastro issues, I don't have any beyond frequent heartburn from being fat and overeating. I keep a bottle of Tums within arm's reach at all times. 

It will probably take a month or so before the insurance company makes a decision, so we shall see how it goes. 

 

Mndsm
Mndsm MegaDork
4/11/24 8:54 a.m.

Ah. I read GLP1 and skipped the rest. 

CrustyRedXpress
CrustyRedXpress Dork
4/11/24 8:57 a.m.

Nothing to add but glad you're going on medication for this. 

A friend got on some sort of GLP1 med last year and dropped from 240 to 200 in about 6 months. As a lay person these drugs seem amazing.

Ranger50
Ranger50 MegaDork
4/11/24 9:02 a.m.

In reply to Toyman! :

I suggest getting a Pepcid/Nexium otc for the heartburn. My heartburn, from excessive nsaid use because I've beat myself up over the years, was ramped up significantly. So much so, if I take 40mg of Pepcid a day, it largely goes away.

I know the 15mg mounjaro is the one that's hard to get right now. Overall it's been the auto injector cartridges causing the shortages vs the medicine.

Toyman!
Toyman! MegaDork
4/11/24 9:13 a.m.

In reply to CrustyRedXpress :

As a layperson who has tried to lose weight unsuccessfully, I'm super hopeful. I have been fairly successful at not gaining but losing has been a struggle.

30% weightloss would take me from 360 pounds down to 252 pounds. That would be enough to make a grown man cry. 

 

Dusterbd13-michael
Dusterbd13-michael MegaDork
4/11/24 9:15 a.m.
Toyman! said:

In reply to CrustyRedXpress :

As a layperson who has tried to lose weight unsuccessfully, I'm super hopeful. I have been fairly successful at not gaining but losing has been a struggle.

30% weightloss would take me from 360 pounds down to 252 pounds. That would be enough to make a grown man cry. 

 

I'm right there with you sir. I've been doing everything I can trying to lose weight and get my diabetes under control. I've managed to lose 10 lb, and at 5.6 and 260 I'm really struggling. I really hope this works out for you and that insurance approves it.

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