Two months ago my doc put me on a new injectable med: Mounjaro. I had never heard of it before, but doc was very excited about it. She said it was a new and really good diabetes med and it had a weight loss side effect. I had heard that before - when I went on Januvia, I was told exactly those things and the only place I lost weight was my wallet. There was another injectable as well, I can't remember the name or be bothered to look it up. All it did was drain my wallet and give me diarrhea. Supposedly this one would be different. Well, I'm always up for shenanigans, so, why not?
My first shock was: insurance paid for it without a peep! I knew this had to be an expensive med, but they didn't say a word. Later, a pharmacy glitch revealed I was correct, this med is $1200 a month!
A couple of weeks after starting this med, and already seeing a few pounds down, I went to see my doc again. We discussed my meds overall. I felt like I had long been battling a particular med: Atenolol. Back when my health went to shit, I had been prescribed Atenolol for heart palpations and high blood pressure. This was around 2007. I also weighed 517 pounds and my sleep apnea was completely untreated. Well, a lot has changed in sixteen years - that isn't me anymore. Further, in 2016, I went off all my meds and lost 50 or 60 pounds across like 18 months without trying. When I went back on the meds, the weight all came back with a few pounds extra. You see, Atenolol have weight gain side effect. The doc looked at my blood pressure, which is controlled, my weight, under 400 and we decided to ween me off Atenolol.
In the two months I have been on Mounjaro and now off Atenolol, I have gone from 399 to 360.
Right?!?!
Now, there are some caveats. I also, after having some teeth extracted, having a cellulitis flare up and spending a weekend in the ER (that's a whole other blog post!) - I lost 16 pounds in four days. Since that weekend, I've also been eating like crap and have put several pound back on. But - that weight loss is nothing to sneeze at.
Now... for the bad news...
I just recently found out that Mounjaro is the perfect drug - for the pharmaceutical company, Lilly. It turns out, and I'm a little disappointed in my doc for not telling me this up front, I will be on this drug for the rest of my life. Apparently, when people go off Mounjaro, they put the weight back on. There had to be a catch, right?
I'm still hoping that maybe, once I get to my target weight, I can be active enough that we can ween me off the drug and that I can keep the weight off. I don't know if that's even remotely possible. I do know, for a fact, that 360 feels way better than 517. I also know that 160 pounds to my goal weight seems far more attainable than 300. If keeping the weight off means staying on a ridiculously expensive drug for the rest of my life, well, maybe I will.
