So I just got my regular labs results today and for the first time ever my glucose was slightly elevated. Doc says to try and cut down on sugar, exercise, etc and in 6 months we will see where I'm at. Quick Google searching tells me I could be diagnosed as pre-diabetic if glucose levels are still up next time. I am a big guy and have been thinking wagovy would be good for me. But I don't want to be out the $500 or so a month. So I wentbto reddit and started looking for pre-diabetic info, etc Found this https://www.reddit.com/r/Ozempic/s/GeKy5QQ0w0 I'm starting to think maybe if I hold out the 6 months and drink a soda a couple hours before my blood is drawn I could almost guarantee a pre-diabetic diagnosis and get ozempic paid for by insurance. But I don't know the diagnosis of diabetic might be more difficult long term. What do yall think?
They will test your A1C which is a finger prick. It measures your blood sugar averages over the last 3 months also. That’s fucking wild to try and make yourself a diabetic to save $500 a month lol
Oh it's working for sure. I'm down 12lbs or so in 4 weeks and feel so much more in control of eating. Just no negative side effects.
So I'm on week 7 of Mounjaro 2.5 and have noticed mild injection site reactions two days after taking the shot, redness and being itchy after taking my last 2 injections. Then I woke up yesterday and went to the bathroom like a dozen times over the past 36 hours. I haven't really eaten anything today. I'm not sure if I caught a bug or my body is starting to reject the med. On the plus side, before starting this I was pre-diabetic and taking Metformin twice a day and my blood pressure routinely ran around 140-90. My last blood pressure was 117-78 and my last two sugar readings were 88 & 89 and that's only taking 1 Metformin maybe every third day. Oh and also down 25lbs.
Nah they'd do labs and draw blood to test a1c and other stuff before signing off on it. That or my doctor just orders extra tests to piss off insurance.
Were your labs today fasting, what was your blood glucose, and your A1c? Don’t feel like you need to answer any of these, but I’m just curious if you may already be technically eligible to be diagnosed with diabetes. Some providers will require a second lab draw to confirm the results before giving that diagnosis because there are significant implications if diabetes is on your medical record- not to mention the psychological impact some may feel. Depending on a few variables, there may not necessarily be a requirement for that second lab, especially if you’re considering ‘fudging’ the numbers anyway. (See what I did there!?) I’d consider the longer term implications of how a diabetes diagnosis may impact health and life insurance in the long term. Whatever you end up doing, take your doctor’s advice seriously for the next several months, eat right and exercise. Chugging 40 ounces of Mountain Dew will still “help” you get a high glucose, even if you’re otherwise living a healthy lifestyle until then.
you can get anti drug antibodies, usually on other drugs I’ve seen it say they don’t impact the efficacy, not sure about tirzepatide, but that could be why you are seeing injection site reactions
remember not to over eat and watch greasy/fatty foods, to drink lots of water and mix in a quest bar or some set of fiber , more side effects day after shot and also less effects day six and seven before next shot so “appetite control” might be harder depending on protein intake. Usually means you’re around 5.7 on your A1C which I was before Zepbound. Now I’m at 5.1. That number and my BMI was what got me covered by insurance. Congrats I’m on 10mg zepbound since 5 mg I get a quarter sized “rash” around my injection site the day after shot if I don’t inject perpendicular to my abdomen. Seems like reaction is worse when I grab some skin and I end up injecting at say 60 degrees instead of 90
do yourself a favor and calculate how much less you’re spending on food to help offset the cost also, download the Shotsy app which will track the estimated half life and you can get real time data on how your body reacts to extending shots to say 10 days on higher doses and/or side effects when you go from 4 mg in your body on day seven of 10 mg to 13 mg the next day after your shot. Will help you figure out what’s best for you in maintenance phase as well
IDK if it is placebo effect, but I legit can't finish my normal breakfast after my workout. It's nothing crazy, but ~550 calorie chia seed, fage, protein, fruit, ghost cereal
I thought you ended the weight loss deal around 200#s and ripped. Do you have diabetes? Just curious as I’m jumping around threads
I ended around 203 and now weight 250 again. I yo-yo like crazy, mainly due to stress throwing my life out of balance and then eat uncontrollably. I can have 3-5 good month stretches and that seems to be about my max. Sometimes a little longer.
Sounds like me verbatim. Just can't be consistent and I yo-yo a ton. Work and life stress just disrupt whatever habits I develop and until now I've never been able to just work it into the chaos.
Start the Ozempic next week. Just have to check with my psych Dr to make sure the shot is compatible with my current meds without any crazy side effects.
question for you both.... are you on one of these shots the whole time and it fluctuates that much, or are you getting weight down then stopping/cutting back the shot and able to maintain for a while until shit hits the fan? I guess I dont really know what the normal practice is. if your on a shot (thats not for diabetes I guess), when you reach a goal weight do you stop, or lower dosage, or what?
they are new to the shot to try to lose the weight again, then maintain and stabilize things. The yo-yoing was pre medication reading is hard
I took my first shot yesterday, so might not be able to fully answer this section. Typically I can string together a strong 3-5 months then life happens and I can't maintain. I love to eat bad food and glutton myself. From what I've read, you can scale back to a maintenance dose and I've seen ppl on tiktok talk about "micro dosing" GLP-1. So we'll see. Ideally I'd like to get to 185 or so then go on some maintenance.
My yo-yo dieting was always before getting on this, I'm only in the start of my 5th week now. I don't intend to be on it forever but haven't figured that part out yet. My hope is to hit my goal weight and then maintain it for long enough that I can taper off and maintain on my own. We'll see how that goes when the time comes I guess
Question for the guys that have been on it a while. Does it start wearing off or does your body get used to the medication and it not work as well? I'm pretty amazed how much the first shot has effected me. I'm struggling to get to 2k calories. Cravings to snack or get something sweet are completely gone. Got pizza last night and I couldn't eat more than 2 medium slices. I've eaten 1k calories so far today since 7am and have been out running errands, mowed the lawn for an hour, and wrapping up a workout. I need to eat some food post workout, but I have absolutely no desire.
Your body will adjust over time, you will plateau, and those are good points to titrate up, unless you are in a maintenance phase
What plateaus do you hit? In terms of weight loss b/c you start eating more calories or something do with the effects of the medication is no longer having. I get this is a bit circular as the latter leads to eating more
Yeah you naturally got plateaus in the weight loss. The appetite suppression eventually stops being as effective as you adjust, so you'll notice on day 4-5 a more normal appetite. That's, imo, a good time consider titrating. That's probably on top of normal weight loss plateaus as your body adjusts to weight loss that is very normal. These drugs are great at breaking those in my experience.
For anybody who is considering these meds but questions how they actually feel/work, here's an example. im currently at the airport and grabbed this for dinner. 2 months ago this would've been my appetizer before going back for my real meal and several more beers. now, i ate the food and got maybe half way through the beer and feel as full as I would've previously on an entire pizza. I don't feel "gross" full at all, but the desire to go back and graze the buffet is just gone. im not suddenly eating 600 calories a day or anything, but I'm also not eating 3,000 calories a day mindlessly. I eat whatever I want, just a small portion of everything
One thing I’ve struggled with is that I still get the same kinds of cravings as before, and my self control sucks. I end up eating smaller amounts overall still, but god damn I feel like shit when I’m already full from dinner and I see something I’m craving and stuff it into my stomach anyway. Stuff that was regular before, and I still had capacity for a lot more
Wears off around day 6 post shot where at least for me I have to make conscious decisions about mindful eating whereas days 1-5 I have the opposite. I try to make sure the weekend falls squarely in days 1-5.
Ok new symptom, curious if anybody has dealt with this. The last 3-4 days I've felt loopy a decent amount. The feeling when you stand up too fast. Not quite vertigo, not dizzy, but just a general floating feeling? Anybody else had that? I dont think it's from lack of calories because I'm not eating at some crazy deficit. This morning for example I woke up and had probably a 500-600 calorie breakfast and a coffee which would've been my normal even before. *edit, apparently low blood sugar, something I gotta watch on these
I’m considering switching from Mounjaro to Ozempic for the rest of the year until I can switch insurance and have Mounjaro covered. I’m going to Medellin in a couple of weeks and can buy Ozempic for about $160 for one month instead of the $550 out of pocket got Mounjaro. It will save me almost $1200 for the rest of the year. Has anyone made the switch from Tirzepatide to Semaglutide?
Yeah I thought so to but then I started experiencing itchiness all over my body but with no rash. I've had a history of my body having reactions to medications and this feels very similar. I skipped my injection yesterday and am going to figure out if it's worth continuing to take
No experience here, and it has been called out in the thread, but Tirzepatide is not just a GLP-1 but also a GIP agonist. I've heard from some friends that the side effects are less severe with Tirzepatide because of that but completely anecdotal. For $1200 i'd prob just deal with the side effects though.
This happens when I don't drink enough water and electrolytes. Can't stress enough how important it is to drink water and something like liquid IV. If you ate a salt heavy diet before and shock the system with reduced sodium on take, it impacts your blood pressure in these type of ways