Becca Jane St Clair

The past six months have been life changing. In September 2025, I was admitted to the hospital for an emergency abscess excision. While in hospital, they naturally, took blood and the results prior to the surgery indicated that my HBA1c was 103. This was BAD. Very VERY bad. But I had no idea that the Metformin was no longer working for me. The only thing I knew was that a few times per week, I would get sick shortly after taking the Metformin and I had no idea if I had actually managed to keep the medication in me or not. I hadn’t really made the correlation between the Metformin and the being sick, as I have a pretty rough stomach to begin with and food intolerances that creep up on me, so honestly being sick is just something I’ve got used to over the years as you never know when something I’m allergic or intolerant to will accidentally be in something, or if I don’t see the item in the ingredients the first two times. Well, apparently this was a sign that my body just was not tolerating Metformin.

As I mentioned in my first post about Mounjaro, I was dealing with a bad Hidradenitis Suppurativa flair in my groin near the surgery site (Still dealing with it almost a year later, but that’s for another post!). The wound care nurse I had been seeing put in a request for my GP to evaluate me and I was instantly told to make an appointment immediately. The appointment turned out to be with the diabetic nurse.

After discussing what was going on with the Metformin, and of course, my 103 result back in September, her recommended course of action was to start Mounjaro. I will admit, I was on the fence about it. All I really knew about it was that it was a diabetic drug FIRST, but then people discovered it helped with weight loss and it was expensive without a NHS prescription. So I was worried about going on Mounjaro more for the social stigma around it as well as availability if people were buying it up off prescription. But all of my questions were answered, my fears assuaged and I started my first dose in March.

I was on 2.5mg for one month, 5mg for one, 7.5 for two, and I’ve been on 10mg for the past two months and will remain on 10mg. Because….

My HBA1c was 42. After six months. After two, it had already lowered down to 65. 42 is “pre-diabetic” if you aren’t diagnosed with diabetes. Now, my history with T2 is actually interesting. I was diagnosed in March 2012 after having bloodwork done for unrelated reasons — however, I also have PCOS, which can cause insulin resistance as well. I was diagnosed with a glucose test that they no longer use and I was told about 10 years ago that if I had been tested for diabetes for the first time THEN, I wouldn’t have been diagnosed based on the numbers I had at the time. However, the diagnoses was there and I managed for many years just on Metformin, still not knowing for sure if I was actually diabetic or if it was just the PCOS. I had many years of my blood results being in the “non-diabetic” range after my diagnosis….until about five years ago when things started to go up and up. But 42 is actually lower than what my HBA1c was when I was originally diagnosed (it was 50)!

So I’ll be on Mounjaro for the foreseeable future. It’s working, and I honestly prefer the once a week jab to pills anyway, even though I am also on a pill (dapagliflozin)

So what symptoms have I been dealing with over the past six months? Initially, I had diarrhea and very bad Sulphur burps. The diarrhea lasted for the first couple months, and the burps lasted a bit longer. I experienced extreme coldness in April and May, but since then we’ve been in a heatwave in the UK so if I was feeling cool, it was actually a good thing! It will be interesting to see if I get extremely cold as we enter autumn and winter. The diarrhea calmed down in time for constipation to settle in. Initially, it got to the point where I was crying trying to use the toilet. Fortunately, this has been remedied by Lactulose. I have learned that I need to take it a few times per week in order to keep myself from getting constipated. I also have tried to increase my water intake and I eat dried prunes regularly. I also added Psyllium to my morning Weetabix or porridge…when I actually remember.

My eating habits have changed too. I have had fast food twice since March – both times were while travelling when it couldn’t be avoided. We had takeaway three or four times (twice while we had a guest for 5 weeks). Prior to starting Mounjaro? Fast food or takeaway was probably at least twice/month. If I was in town it wasn’t unknown for me to grab a burger. Now, I eat a sandwich at M&S or I get Subway if I’m in town.

I still eat out at pubs, but I pick carefully. Some pubs are great and will swap chips out for salad or even air fry the chips instead of deep frying. I generally stick to gammon or salmon as my food choices. Even when we were at Beamish, and there was the coal fired chippy, I stuck to my better choices and had a hot sandwich in the tea shop instead.

Cooking at home has improved, too. I monthly meal plan for my husband and I because his schedule means he is only home for meals 15 days out of most months, and it’s easier for me to plan those 15 days in one go and then I fill in with what I want to do for myself when he’s at work — and I’ve got better at actually cooking for myself when I’m alone, too. So many days when Tim was at work I would just eat a bowl of cereal, toast, etc. But now I actually cook food — and I make lots of leftovers.

My appetite has gone down to the point that some days I struggle to eat anything. Some mornings I can make my usual breakfast – 2 weetabix, (thawed) frozen berries, and greek yogurt and I’ll only eat 2/3 of it. Or I’ll make a sandwich for Lunch and leave a few bites behind. I have learned not to feel bad if I don’t finish the food on my plate and if it’s enough to save, I’ll save it for later. Sometimes I will pick at a plate for hours just as and when I feel the need to eat.

Sweets – particularly the tangy/sour ones – are still a weakness for me. I was never a big chocolate eater even before I was diagnosed 14 years ago so chocolate has never been an issue. I don’t use sugar in my tea, but I do enjoy a dollop of honey on occasion. I can still have this and eat the occasional handful of Nerd Clusters or Percy Pig Phizzy Tails.

As far as carbs go…I haven’t eliminated them. I did do low-carb after I was first diagnosed in 2012, and I did lose a bit of weight while doing it…but I also was miserable. Some people are fine going low carb and if it works for you – great! But I really like being able to occasionally have pasta and I like sandwiches. I did start making bread in the breadmachine again, which while not reducing carbs, does reduce the amount of sugar and other stuff that goes into commercial bread.

What other differences have I noticed? I’ve lost 4KG since starting and around 10 inches off my body overall. A friend of mine in May told me that my forearms looked thinner. He commented that he knew it was an odd thing to notice, but considering I have a tattoo on my forearm and I barely wear sleeves, it was something noticeable. I also noticed the other day that my thighs aren’t swishing against each other as badly when I walk and run. I went from wearing XL to L in some clothing — even down to M for a skirt from Primark! Some of my favourite dresses that were purchased as XXL are getting too big and I’m going to have to find a seamstress to pay to size them down at some point as the designs are no longer available.

Overall, I’m extremely happy with my journey so far. I’m thrilled my A1c is lowered, and I’m taking the weight loss as a bonus.

In terms of updating my blog…I’m not sure I will have much to say monthly, but I will keep everyone updated at least at the one year mark and possibly if I have any interim things related to Mounjaro to discuss.

You can read all my previous posts about Mounjaro here:https://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/mounjaro-for-type-2/

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