Becca Jane St Clair

A lot has happened in the past month, including bumping my dose up to 7.5mg and our Summer holiday to Germany!

We decided to move me up to 7.5mg one week before our holiday, but the pharmacy didn’t have 7.5 in stock, so I was given instructions on how to get 7.5 out of a 5mg pen and picked up the new pen later in the week. At the same time as all of this was starting, I developed a UTI. UTIs are common in diabetics, and honestly I feel pretty lucky that I didn’t get one until now! I started feeling a little off and having that burning while you’re peeing sensation on a Friday. I had some UTI testing strips in my medicine cabinet (I had purchased them a few months ago) and it tested positive on Saturday morning. Fortunately, the pharmacist can issue antibiotics and I received a 3-day supply. After the 3 days, I re-tested and it still came back positive, so after contacting my GP, I was issued with a full week of antibiotics to take with me to Germany.

Antibiotics cause constipation. Mounjaro, even though the initial doses can cause diarrhoea, also can cause constipation*. Yeah, you can see where this is going! The entire time we were away, I was feeling just awful. Still had a good time, but oh man. When I returned from our trip, the situation just got worse and I was physically crying while trying to go….so I was prescribed a light laxative. After about 3 days, it’s sorted me out.

I also was having the sulphur/egg burps again while away. I didn’t know if it was due to the increase in dose, or if it was being away and not eating my usual foods, but it was pretty awful. These burps are not ordinary burps as I’ve stated before…they hurt. They leave my stomach in agony and again, it’s just not a pleasant experience. Especially considering how much better I was doing the previous month, it really upset me that I felt like I was taking a step backwards. Now that I’ve been home for over a week, the burps have calmed down, so I can only assumne it had something to do with my diet while I was away. This does seem a bit odd though as we do self catering and I was careful about not over indulging and in a few instances I wasn’t even very hungry. In fact, over the entire two-week trip, we only drank 1 bottle of wine, 1 bottle of sparkling wine, and 2 bottles of spritzers between the two of us. So even my holiday drinking was curbed a bit!

I’ve settled into a routine with testing my blood in the morning. I have a set of plastic drawers on a shelving unit in the kitchen that I use for all my medical things and I keep my monitor in it. So every morning when I walk into the kitchen, I put on the kettle and then test my blood. I write it down in my diary an then later transfer all the information into my journal. I know I could probably use an app, but there are some things I still want to do old school. My numbers are still all over. Sometimes in the morning it will be as high as 8 or 9, other mornings it will be in the 6.5-8 range. Time of day doesn’t seem to affect it and neither does drinking alcohol the night before. However I did notice when I accidentally ate some dried fruit about a half hour before testing, my number was over 9, and then once I waited a few hours and restested it was back down to 6.5.

At my monthly appointment with Fiona, we decided I would stay on 7.5 for another month, then increase it up to 10. We’re hopeful that 10 will be the correct dose going forward. Surprisingly, Fiona said she doesn’t need to see me in another month, so I’ve scheduled an appointment with her in 2 months, where we will do another blood draw to see where my HBA1c is at.

We have added Dapagliflozin to my daily routine. This is a diabetic medication that will protect my kidneys and liver. The downside is it makes you pee a lot and you have to drink a lot of water while on it or you will risk dehydration (and then…constipation again).

Oh, and in case you’re wondering about travelling with the Mounjaro pen…I will have a review post up about the cool case I used at some point!

Weight wise, I have gone down another kg. My measurements didn’t seem to move, but again, this isn’t the focus so I’m not overly concerned, though it is nice to almost be into the next stone bracket down. If I want to get down to my previous lowest weight, I have about 25lbs until I’m back to that weight. I don’t have a goal weight in mind though as right now I just want to focus on my health and getting my numbers into normal ranges.

*I know this sounds really bizarre, but basically, the first doses of Mounjaro alter your hormones and the way you digest food, which can cause initial diarrhoea for the first few months as your body adjusts. Then, as your body adjusts and the Mounjaro does its job by slowing down your digestive system it can cause the constipation.

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The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission.

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I am not a Doctor or Nurse and the information contained in this blog post is meant for information purposes only. Please consult your GP with any health related questions.

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Previous Posts about Mounjaro:
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes Week One
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes Week 2
Mounjaro For Type 2 Diabetes Week 3
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes Week 4
Mounjaro After One Month
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes Week 5 / Week 1 5mg
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes Week 6
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes Weeks 7&8
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes 2 Months On
Three Months of Mounjaro