I heard about that but i guess this is the last option I would try. Doing sports is much better
Assuming this is a troll, but it reminds me of the very unhelpful nutritionist I saw who recommended adding more vegetables to my diet. WOW I would never have thought of that???
My insurance doesn't cover injections but I want to talk to my doctor to see if they can appeal it. I have been overweight my whole life and like others, it's become an obsession of bad foods, weighing foods, eating one million pounds of fat free ground turkey cause WW allows it, etc. So unhealthy. I am trying to be more body positive, but I would still prefer to at least be where I was a few years ago (pre-pandemic/pre-toddler).
I currently take wellbutrin + naltrexone pills which is what Contrave pills consist of but taking them separately means my insurance covers. At first they kept my cravings at bay but I have only lost 12 lbs and I feel like they are losing effectiveness.
My sister had gastric bypass surgery but was gaining weight back. She now gets Wegovy injections and says they help her cravings tremendously.
Post by picksthemusic on Jul 13, 2023 12:09:30 GMT -5
Okay - in an effort to not feed the troll, I will say that I just got a notification from my pharmacy that my Mounjaro rx was covered and it's only going to cost me $20! And it's ready for pickup. LOL
I will go get it, but I'm not going to start it until next Friday since I'll be travelling this weekend. I want to be able to stay home and make sure I can monitor for side effects and stuff.
GAH this is nerve wracking and exciting at the same time! It's hard to imagine what I might look like in the next few months if this works.
Okay - in an effort to not feed the troll, I will say that I just got a notification from my pharmacy that my Mounjaro rx was covered and it's only going to cost me $20! And it's ready for pickup. LOL
I will go get it, but I'm not going to start it until next Friday since I'll be travelling this weekend. I want to be able to stay home and make sure I can monitor for side effects and stuff.
GAH this is nerve wracking and exciting at the same time! It's hard to imagine what I might look like in the next few months if this works.
I weighed myself this morning and have lost 16lbs over 12 injections. 5% of my starting weight 🎉 I am aiming for 10% and then go from there. My knees already feel better.
Feet/knee issues make exercise really painful so hopefully that will improve so I can move more.
Not going to lie, I wish I could qualify. But I do not. I could stand to lose 20% of my body weight though.
I'm curious what the future will bring for these medicines. They seem to be game changing. They are already working on an oral version. I wonder if given 10 years, it will be more available in general. And hopefully then all the side effects will be more well understood as well.
Post by karinothing on Jul 13, 2023 13:37:20 GMT -5
mcmel, hmm. Your dr was willing to write the RX though right? I do wonder if my Dr would be willing too. I guess there is no harm in asking, but she has never mentioned anything about my weight or anything so I doubt she will, i am only 15lbs away from a normal BMI.
noodleoo, I did see they were working on an oral version, which is pretty cool! Yeah I do think it is an interesting area of medicine. Excited to see what comes out of it.
I spent the morning calling a bunch of Walgreens and other pharmacies in the area to see if they had the Wegovy .25 in stock, and none of them did. One pharmacist told me the manufacturer wasn’t even going to be making more .25, .5, or 1.00 until September. I definitely don’t want to jump to 1.7, so I messaged my doc to see about going through a compound pharmacy so I don’t have to get off for two months and have to start all over. My BFF gets it compounded through my doc, so I think it’ll work out. Should be about $100/month.
mcmel, hmm. Your dr was willing to write the RX though right? I do wonder if my Dr would be willing too. I guess there is no harm in asking, but she has never mentioned anything about my weight or anything so I doubt she will, i am only 15lbs away from a normal BMI.
noodleoo, I did see they were working on an oral version, which is pretty cool! Yeah I do think it is an interesting area of medicine. Excited to see what comes out of it.
I’m going through a weight loss clinic because my normal PCP doesn’t generally write these scripts from my understanding.
True. I also think anything that has a relationship to food becomes a far more complex problem. We need food to live, but when that relationship becomes an issue for a variety of reasons, it can be really, really hard to get the right balance. I am including myself in this. For me, the psychological and emotional part is where the biggest challenge lies.
Yes, that is definitely part of it. The interesting thing for me being on these drugs has been learning that no amount of self discipline would have ever overcome the hormonal and metabolic issues I have. I know this isn’t universal and is just my experience.
Overweight people are so often looked at like they just have no self control, as if it’s a willpower issue. Like they’re just lazy. Naturally thin people aren’t more emotionally stable or have more self control - they have properly functioning metabolic systems.
Completely agree. I still wonder about the nodules around my thyroid, if they are fucking with things because otherwise, my thyroid function looks normal. A person is always far more complex and the human body is incredibly complex. I do think, in my case, I can recognize that I have a hard time sticking to routines I think my ADHD plays a role in that or if I get into a routine I can be thrown off easily. And my depression plays a huge role in my weight.
Right now I am just trying to focus on how I want my life to be going forward; the goals I am setting for myself with school, getting a new job, doing the hard work on learning to love myself, and creating healthy routines. I am actually going to be trying a new program called BOdyslims that several people I know have had great success with and feel pretty optimistic about it. I love that a huge component is a the mental part (less about self-control and more about how you feel about yourself in general I think). I just know I need to do something. That I do not like how I feel and something has to change.
I spent the morning calling a bunch of Walgreens and other pharmacies in the area to see if they had the Wegovy .25 in stock, and none of them did. One pharmacist told me the manufacturer wasn’t even going to be making more .25, .5, or 1.00 until September. I definitely don’t want to jump to 1.7, so I messaged my doc to see about going through a compound pharmacy so I don’t have to get off for two months and have to start all over. My BFF gets it compounded through my doc, so I think it’ll work out. Should be about $100/month.
There are click calculators to determine how many clicks to get to a certain dose, if your doctor is willing to write for you to start 1.7. I wanted to go from 0.5 to 0.75 and my endo agreed, but it had to be written as 1.0.
I spent the morning calling a bunch of Walgreens and other pharmacies in the area to see if they had the Wegovy .25 in stock, and none of them did. One pharmacist told me the manufacturer wasn’t even going to be making more .25, .5, or 1.00 until September. I definitely don’t want to jump to 1.7, so I messaged my doc to see about going through a compound pharmacy so I don’t have to get off for two months and have to start all over. My BFF gets it compounded through my doc, so I think it’ll work out. Should be about $100/month.
There are click calculators to determine how many clicks to get to a certain dose, if your doctor is willing to write for you to start 1.7. I wanted to go from 0.5 to 0.75 and my endo agreed, but it had to be written as 1.0.
Interesting. I’m not sure I understand how this works, though. My shots have been single use injectors, and I don’t know how I would tell how much I had used? They click when it starts and once again during. Are those the clicks you mean, so I’d wait until the second click and would just stop the shot and save it?
mcmel, hmm. Your dr was willing to write the RX though right? I do wonder if my Dr would be willing too. I guess there is no harm in asking, but she has never mentioned anything about my weight or anything so I doubt she will, i am only 15lbs away from a normal BMI.
noodleoo, I did see they were working on an oral version, which is pretty cool! Yeah I do think it is an interesting area of medicine. Excited to see what comes out of it.
I’m going through a weight loss clinic because my normal PCP doesn’t generally write these scripts from my understanding.
Are you willing to share the name of your clinic, or how you found it?
Yes, that is definitely part of it. The interesting thing for me being on these drugs has been learning that no amount of self discipline would have ever overcome the hormonal and metabolic issues I have. I know this isn’t universal and is just my experience.
Overweight people are so often looked at like they just have no self control, as if it’s a willpower issue. Like they’re just lazy. Naturally thin people aren’t more emotionally stable or have more self control - they have properly functioning metabolic systems.
Completely agree. I still wonder about the nodules around my thyroid, if they are fucking with things because otherwise, my thyroid function looks normal. A person is always far more complex and the human body is incredibly complex. I do think, in my case, I can recognize that I have a hard time sticking to routines I think my ADHD plays a role in that or if I get into a routine I can be thrown off easily. And my depression plays a huge role in my weight.
Right now I am just trying to focus on how I want my life to be going forward; the goals I am setting for myself with school, getting a new job, doing the hard work on learning to love myself, and creating healthy routines. I am actually going to be trying a new program called BOdyslims that several people I know have had great success with and feel pretty optimistic about it. I love that a huge component is a the mental part (less about self-control and more about how you feel about yourself in general I think). I just know I need to do something. That I do not like how I feel and something has to change.
I agree, people are so complex and everything is intertwined. We’re all a work in progress (on all levels). I hope that you’re able to find some solutions to feel better.
I’m going through a weight loss clinic because my normal PCP doesn’t generally write these scripts from my understanding.
Are you willing to share the name of your clinic, or how you found it?
It’s local to my county so I’d rather not say publicly but I can DM you if you’d like to know. I found it bc my friend got the sleeve done at the same weight loss clinic a few months ago.
It appears to be a fairly common thing- weight loss clinics using compounding pharmacies to get around the restrictions.
There are click calculators to determine how many clicks to get to a certain dose, if your doctor is willing to write for you to start 1.7. I wanted to go from 0.5 to 0.75 and my endo agreed, but it had to be written as 1.0.
Interesting. I’m not sure I understand how this works, though. My shots have been single use injectors, and I don’t know how I would tell how much I had used? They click when it starts and once again during. Are those the clicks you mean, so I’d wait until the second click and would just stop the shot and save it?
Wegovy doesn’t have clicks because they are single use pens. They must be on Ozempic or Saxenda, which is a multi use pen that you change the needle every time. This isn’t an option with Wegovy.
Please, please, please do not try to use partial doses and even worse reuse pens. Reusing a needle is not safe.
Interesting. I’m not sure I understand how this works, though. My shots have been single use injectors, and I don’t know how I would tell how much I had used? They click when it starts and once again during. Are those the clicks you mean, so I’d wait until the second click and would just stop the shot and save it?
Wegovy doesn’t have clicks because they are single use pens. They must be on Ozempic or Saxenda, which is a multi use pen that you change the needle every time. This isn’t an option with Wegovy.
Please, please, please do not try to use partial doses and even worse reuse pens. Reusing a needle is not safe.
Gotcha. I figured that. My husband is on Ozempic and he can adjust his dose.
I did google but I guess my questions are for how this works with insurance or savings cards. I imagine the compounding pharmacies would be more expensive?
I’m on week 5 of Ozempic .25 dose. I’ve lost about 8 lbs. had a couple of bad days with side effects but overall I feel good. My stomach has gotten so much smaller. I’m prediabetic (had GD during both pregnancies) and started metformin after the twins were born. I’ve been on a strict nutrition and weight lifting plan for 6 months and was only able to lose about 5 lbs. I really think I struggle with insulin resistance. Ozempic seems to be a good fit for me and it’s covered by my insurance.
I did google but I guess my questions are for how this works with insurance or savings cards. I imagine the compounding pharmacies would be more expensive?
It doesn’t work with insurance. If you don’t have insurance coverage, this is a good way to find your medicine regularly through a compound pharmacy. I don’t think they take coupons. It is just all out of pocket. I believe I pay $450/month for meds.
I did google but I guess my questions are for how this works with insurance or savings cards. I imagine the compounding pharmacies would be more expensive?
This probably isn't helpful regarding WL meds because I haven't used a compounding pharmacy for that. But they are just like a regular pharmacy, but can do more individualized meds. They still go through insurance and you need an Rx; savings cards should also work. We use a compounding pharmacy for one of my daughter's skin meds because it's not available through CVS etc.
I'd advise people considering going the compounding route to try to order the actual drug from a Canadian pharmacy first due to possible issues noted in this FDA release:
Not going to lie, I wish I could qualify. But I do not. I could stand to lose 20% of my body weight though.
you can try going through Sequence (online health provider). My friends and I did that and they barely asked any questions. We had to submit bloodwork but none of us had any pre-existing conditions or "problems" other than high BMI. Insurance might be your bigger obstacle.
I use Alpha, another online provider. They are okay if you don't need any special attention, but on the few occasions when I have actually wanted/needed something specific, communication has been very difficult. I hope to switch to an in-person provider soon but haven't discussed with my PCP yet.
Also, for anyone whose Mounjaro coupon has recently expired, I just had my pharmacy run the new one through and it came out to be around $450. Still obviously expensive, but much better than $1000+. Hoping I'll just pay this for a few months until Mounjaro is either approved for weight loss and added to formularies, or until the Wegovy shortage is under control and I can make the switch.
I did google but I guess my questions are for how this works with insurance or savings cards. I imagine the compounding pharmacies would be more expensive?
This probably isn't helpful regarding WL meds because I haven't used a compounding pharmacy for that. But they are just like a regular pharmacy, but can do more individualized meds. They still go through insurance and you need an Rx; savings cards should also work. We use a compounding pharmacy for one of my daughter's skin meds because it's not available through CVS etc.
I'd advise people considering going the compounding route to try to order the actual drug from a Canadian pharmacy first due to possible issues noted in this FDA release: