You Don’t Want Diabetes Even if You Are Slim
My BMI is perfect, I don’t need to lose more weight
As one of the ever-growing multitude of diabetics I’ve recently been advised to use, and therefore prescribed, Mounjaro (Mounjaro® and its delivery device base are registered trademarks owned or licensed by Eli Lilly and Company, its subsidiaries, or affiliates). This is the Tirzepatide drug aimed at T2 diabetics and it’s supposed to work in conjunction with insulin, which I also need to use.
It should only be injected as part of a regime, including exercise and a diet to help minimise blood glucose, essentially a case of managing carbohydrate intake.
My insulin is injected each evening before I retire to bed. I inject Mounjaro once a week, conveniently for me on a Sunday, also just before I go to bed.
I was warned that there are a lot of potential side effects with the use of Mounjaro, so I looked them up and immediately wished I hadn’t!
I had been told of the obvious thing to look for — the effect that so many overweight and obese people want from Mounjaro or Zepbound. The effect that both Tirzepatides have on the body. That is weight loss.
Weight loss is caused by the drug’s effect of depressing the appetite, leading to the patient not eating so much.
I can say that it most definitely worked on me. Unfortunately, I did not need to lose weight, in fact, my BMI was exactly where it should be, slap-bang in the middle of the green zone.
Yet, within a couple of months of regular Mounjaro injections I had lost a stone in weight. All because I was finding it difficult to eat the amount of food I was used to eating — which was not a lot, anyway.
I like to think I have a well-balanced diet without huge portions. 12st 4lbs (I think that’s 174 lbs US) was a good weight for a 6' 1" man. But 11st 4lbs? (158 lbs US) OK, but it's slipping to the lower end of the BMI green zone.
Things were becoming a little difficult to manage and, occasionally, embarrassing in that I was not eating all the food on my plate. Not to worry, there’s nothing wrong with that. Unless you start to hide the disposal of your meal in the waste bin from your wife.
Yes, I did do that — regularly — and I’m just a little ashamed of myself for telling her a few fibs.
“Lovely meal (it was), darling, thank you. I’ve eaten the lot (no, I didn’t) I could eat that again (no, I couldn’t)”
Or words along those lines.
Eventually, it started to become so bad that I would come up with excuses for not eating at all after, say, 7 pm. If forced to by some occasion such as friends over for dinner or a late return home after being out, I would feel physically sick because I felt so full of food.
Then there are the other side effects. The ones I wish I hadn’t found out about, the ones I’m anxiously looking for now I know about them.
I debated about putting a link to Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide website. As you can see, I haven’t. It is extremely comprehensive, as it should be but the section on potential side effects is several times longer than this article is going to be.
The information about hypoglycemia I expected, after all the whole point is for me to reduce my blood glucose count and I am aware of any dangerous symptoms associated with that anyway.
BUT…
- Pancreatitis
- Hypoglycemia (yep, there it is)
- Serious allergic reactions — face, lips, tongue and/or throat swelling. Rashes, rapid heart rate, fainting fits!
- Kidney problems, including failure
- Severe stomach problems
- Changes in vision
- Gallbladder problems
- Potential complications in requiring anaesthesia (OK, I’ve not got any operations planned — BUT WHAT IF I HAVE AN ACCIDENT!?)
All the above are, thankfully, the less common potential problems…
But, BUT…
The most common side effects of Mounjaro include nausea, diarrhea, decreased appetite, vomiting, constipation, indigestion, and stomach (abdominal) pain. These are not ALL the possible side effects of Mounjaro.
(quote taken from Lilly’s Tirzepatide website)
The website is highly responsible for giving as much information as it can regarding taking Mounjaro and one would be foolish not to read it in full — just in case!
And there’s me simply asking my diabetic nurse, ‘Is it OK?’
Thankfully, so far, it has been.
But…but ‘what if…?’
