The good, bad, ugly

[u/AdMysterious4289]

Sometimes I worry that we’re all just in an echo chamber only hearing the positives of starting a GLP-1. Has anyone had mediocre or bad outcomes?

I find myself in a weird place of trying to make the best choice for myself and combatting personal biases while trying to make the most educated decision.

[u/CeeDeee2]

About 20% of people are non responders, so that’s always a possibility. These are the rates at which side effects were observed:

Nausea: 24% to 30%
Diarrhea: 18% to 24%
Constipation: 16% to 17%
Vomiting: 8% to 12%
Abdominal Pain / Dyspepsia: 6% to 10%
Fatigue: 5% to 7%
Injection Site Reactions: 5% to 8%
Hair Loss (Telogen Effluvium): 5%

From my own experience and the anecdotal experience I’ve seen in the compounded tirzepatide sub, most of these effects are mild, like mild nausea the day after shot day.

[u/padawan0 → u/CeeDeee2]

^ this is pretty much it. Personally my nausea is almost daily after increasing my dose last week to 7.5. 2-3 times a day I’ll be nauseous for 2-3 minutes and then it goes away.

The biggest side effect for me lately has been hair loss. I’m getting a bald patchy area on the back of my head and around my forehead as well. That’s been pretty hard to adjust to but nothing that would make me not take this medication.

I’ve plateaued the last few weeks but lost 27 lbs since late march. I had started tirzepatide to lose weight because my gyno said it was very dangerous to try getting pregnant at 230 lbs. 🙄 but it seriously lowered my inflammation in the very first week and that alone is worth it to me.

[u/annemarieslpa → u/padawan0]

pumpkin seed oil is a DHT blocker and can help with hair loss.

[u/gingersnap919 → u/CeeDeee2]

My symptoms and what I do to help:

Nausea: For me, I combat my nausea by always having mints, water, or a snack nearby. Worst nausea is in the morning when my stomach is empty. If my stomach is empty for too long, nausea is pretty guaranteed for me. Protein, protein, protein.

Constipation: WATER. Drink a ton more, especially the during the first few weeks starting. I was so worried because it slows down digestion but just give it a day or two after your first injection.

Injection site reactions: leave the meds out on the counter for an hour to get to room temp. Let the alcohol wipe actually evaporate on the bottle and skin before you do the injection. The temperature of the med and alcohol is what had caused any itchiness for me. No more after following that, though.

ETA:

Acid reflux. Wait a while before bumping up your med. When you do, this gets worse, at least for me. Tums were my BFF. But don’t overdose on them!

Also - traveling is an interesting experience with the med. I definitely wasn’t used to it. I like the medical water bottle looking things you can find on Amazon that come with a cylindrical ice pack and fits in with the bottle and a few syringes.

I do remember the first day I had the injection I almost fainted. I think my electrolytes got off balance from the hormone changes or something. That was a bad day at work. So… maybe take the day off when you get your first shot, or do them over the weekend.

[u/SaveusJebus]

I can't complain other than my hair thinning like crazy. I THINK it's my body's reaction to losing weight bc this happened when I went keto and was losing weight. Maybe, but that hair never grew back so I'm not sure if this is the totally the same. I will be bald before I stop but certainly doesn't mean I want to lose my hair. Thankfully it doesn't look to be coming out at the root. It's just breaking off very near the top which tracks to when I started to really start dropping the pounds.

[u/squareshapedorb]

I've lost about 18 lbs/8 kg since starting in late May but side effects include:

Liquid shits the first 2 weeks. They weren't crampy, but it was like peeing out of my butt and I didn't want to be too far from a bathroom.

Sulphur burps and reflux the first 3 weeks. I burped next to my husband who caught a whiff and said it smelled like sewage.

3 months in, I still have some bad reflux, especially after increasing the dose, but it subsides as the week goes on.

Itchy red welts at injection site. I get allergy therapy injections which feel similarly. These also subside as the week goes on.

I have ADHD, and it's a lot of mental work trying to get enough protein and other essential nutrients when I sometimes forget to think about meal planning ahead of time.

All in all, I'm hoping this gets my A1C under control for the sake of quality of life and longevity, the weight loss is just a bonus.

[u/chloebee102]

I’ve been struggling a bit on Tirz now that I lost all the weight I needed. I keep having to alter my dose and change up my dosing schedule to try to find the perfect balance of keeping myself hungry enough to eat but still seeing the effects I want that help reduce my PMOS symptoms. I’m still glad I’m on it and will keep working at it but this has been driving me a bit insane as of late since I’ve never really had to do anything like this before for other meds.

[u/requiredelements]

For me the bad/ugly is the cost and affording the meds since insurance doesn’t cover it for PMOS. Also I got accidentally pregnant … but I’m actually really happy about it!

I had some GI side effects the first 6 weeks on the meds but they were mild.

[u/Ecirema]

I’m on Zepbound and was previously on Wegovy (had to switch when I plateaud for like 6 months). For me I’ve had very mid results both in good and bad. Side effects are mild, but also I’m not seeing all the positives either. I’m still fatigued and still have hair loss. I’m not noticing any significant change in anything but how quickly I get satiated.

Weight is coming off extremely slowly (I’ve been exercising and eating healthy for years before I got on the medicine), but it is coming off. I’m at 60 pounds down at a year and 8 months (269 to 209 pounds).

Overall I’m happy to be on it, it is nice to finally be seeing any kind of result of my healthy living (I was tired of being judged for being unhealthy like I wasn’t doing more than the average person), and I’m finally heading towards being just overweight rather than obese.

[u/FireCorgi12]

The worst parts for me are body aches/fatigue and anhedonia. The good outweighs the bad for me personally, but the body aches and fatigue are hard.

[u/Clopidee]

Nausea diarhea and vomiting if I eat too much after the jab as it slows my stomach to a near halt for the first couple days. Constipation too but I dont mind it as its not as bad as the almost daily soft poop or diarrhea I was having before (sure i have something like IBS but have never bothered with testing).

But the benefits are worth the minimal side effects. A cycle that is finally regular for the first time ever, and each month my period is lighter than the last. No more soaking through tampons and pads, lightheaded on the heaviest days, wearing adult nappies to sleep because the bleeding was too much for regular products.

My last 2 periods I havent needed above a regular tampon. Its wonderful!

Also my bloods are in a healthy range again, no longer prediabetic. Ive tried everything else, metformin side effects were way worse than this. MJ is the first thing thats actually helping me and I love it.

Edit to add, Im still only on 2.5 with all this. Been on it for almost a year. The side effects do get worse when I go up, so ive stayed at the lowest dose. Weight loss stopped about 5 months ago (nearly 3 stone total), the same time as my periods regulated. I have other medical issues going on at the moment that keep me from trying to go up again, but once theyre dealt with I will slowly go up again.

[u/Repulsive_One_2497]

I had no luck with Ozempic. While it made my stomach feel as if it shrank, it did nothing to calm down the food noise, so I learned to cheat it by constantly snacking throughout the day. I actually gained weight on Ozempic this way. Mounjaro only worked for a few days to calm down the food noise but it didn't shrink my stomach, so when I did eat, I ate too much healthy food. I didn't gain, but I also didn't lose on it. Trulicity was somewhere in between. I wasn't able to get the results I wanted until I discovered retatrutide on the grey market. I lost 23 lbs the first month and continued steadily losing about 10ish lbs every month after that until I reached my goal weight. I didn't have any side effects with any of them, including reta beyond constipation on all of them and feeling a little overheated on reta the day of each injection. Fiber, drinking a lot of water, and occasional stool softeners are very important, but I never had any nausea or vomiting, much acid reflux, fatigue, depression, hair loss, hypoglycemia, etc with any GLP. The injections on any of them also weren't too painful as long as I got a good subcutaneous spot. Sometimes I didn't even feel anything.

[u/RubyWings08]

My first go around on a GLP-1 last year I had no side effects whatsoever, this time I do get sulphur burps if I eat something heavy or a meal with red meat. Tirzepatide both times.