What is it like to get a weight loss injection?

What’s it like to take a course of these weight loss jabs? Journalist Miranda Levy has recently written about her own experience in The Daily Telegraph. Following a bout of weight gain due to antidepressants she took some years ago, Miranda became increasingly interested in getting back in shape. So she decided to explore weight loss injections with the agent Mounjaro, which also goes by the name Tirzepatide. Like other injected weight-loss agents, it’s only available on a paid-for, private basis. And it’s pricey. Her experience was also not altogether positive…

Miranda - I'm a health journalist. I've been following the genesis of the GLP agonist drugs, although they've now developed one stage further, haven't they? I thought, well, that's interesting, but not for me. Oprah Winfrey's doing it, come on, it's going to be another flash in the pan scam. But, increasingly, following the literature, the studies being published, and also talking to doctors in my family, my brother's a professor in endocrinology and was starting to say, 'You know what? Actually, these drugs could be really good for you.' We've had colleagues who've been on them, they've done wonders for these colleagues. They've lost X amount of weight and this could be a good thing for you to try.

Chris - What was it like? When you get that jab, then what happens next?

Miranda - So I turned up, there was a very charming young doctor, handsome, very disarming. He did the injection, it was fine. I'm not particularly squeamish about things like that. Then he said, great, here's the box, here are the anti sickness pills in case you need them. That'll be an extra 20 quid. I said, okay. And then he said, 'I'm going to weigh you now.' And I thought, that's a bit weird. Maybe you should have done that beforehand. But fine. And off I went and I was really excited. I thought, I'm doing something about this. I feel like a bit of a medical pioneer. I'm going to write about this. It's going to be amazing. Then, I got home and I looked at the box and I rang my brother and my sister-in-law to tell them. I said, I've got my 7.5's, and my sister-in-law went '7.5? That's a bit high. The guidelines are normally to start at 2.5 milligrams.' So, in other words, that's three times the recommended dose. I went, 'really?' And sure enough, I'd been given three times the recommended dose, and 12 hours later I started to know about it.

Chris - In what way? What was it like?

Miranda - I probably started to feel a bit queasy before going to bed, but I had more or less a normal dinner. I woke up, went to have some breakfast, just made myself a piece of toast and jam and a cup of tea. I just could barely look at the toast. There's one thing to say you lose your appetite, but I could hardly put any in my mouth. I made myself eat two bites. I couldn't even drink my tea. I had a sip of tea. If anyone listening has ever been pregnant, it felt very much like morning sickness. But as the day went on, it didn't get better, it got worse. I could hardly eat a thing for a week and was really, really nauseous.

Chris - So it just made you feel so bad. I suppose, in that respect, it was probably helping to lose some weight, wasn't it? Because you just weren't eating anything. But it's not terribly compatible with having an active life or doing work if you feel starving hungry and sick all the time.

Miranda - It was intolerable, really. It's a little bit frightening, you know? It's not like you've had food poisoning or you've been on a car journey and you feel a bit sick and then it's over. It went on for days and days and days. As I also wrote in the article, I very quickly got back to the clinic and told them this was going on because it wasn't acceptable to me, now that I had more facts at my disposal and I'd been given too much.

Chris - Were they receptive to you going back to the original plan that you'd hatched with them, which was, well, we'll cut the dose down then?

Miranda - The short answer to that is no. I got back in touch with them on the Friday, so I'd had the jab on the Thursday, so it was by Friday afternoon. I rang the clinic, sent them an email as well, and they say the doctor is on leave. He's not back till Tuesday. We're closed till Tuesday. I had to cope with the whole weekend of feeling like this. Tuesday afternoon, I rang and emailed and was stonewalled. Finally, the receptionist answered. I had no reason to be angry at that point, really. I just said, 'look, actually this plan isn't working. I realised I'm on three times the normal dose? I'd like to go back to the 2.5, please, as we discussed. The receptionist hedged and hummed and mumbled. And then she said, 'well, I'm not sure we could get that for you.' And I said, 'what do you mean?' She said, 'I'm not sure the pharmacist can get the 2.5.' And I said, 'right, I'm coming to the clinic. I'd like to talk to the doctor face to face, please.' I just jumped in my car and went there and they said, 'no, you are misreading the papers.' They were very patronising. They said, 'you've read that this is the starting dose for type two diabetes. This is weight loss. There've been X clinical trials that show you that's not the starting dose for weight loss.' You know? I felt a bit steamrolled really. I didn't want to start a screaming row while I was there. So I said, 'look, whatever the studies say, I would like to go back to 2.5 please, because this is not working for me.' They basically said, 'no.' And I said, 'what do you mean no?' And they said, 'it won't work for you. We won't do that.' I said, 'what? You won't do it?' And they said, 'we won't do that.' And I said, 'well, in that case, this isn't the treatment for me and this isn't the clinic for me.' And they looked very, very surprised at that.

Chris - Is it still not the treatment for you? Have you gone elsewhere or have you tried other treatments, or have you decided this is just not going to work for you, taking these sorts of drugs?

Miranda - Good question. For now, I'm trying something else. I left with a quite dim view of the clinic, but I'd lost four pounds in a week. So once I started to feel better again, I thought, this is great. I want to continue this. So since then, I've decided to really go for it with diet and exercise because, interestingly, I found this inspiring and a springboard. It's working. But maybe if it's not working enough, at some point in the new year, I might go back to Mounjaro, armed with this knowledge and how to do it safely.

Chris - So your take home message for anyone who's listening to you is, go into this with your eyes open, make sure you know what you are getting into and be prepared for the fact that it might not work for you. It might be pretty horrendous. It is not a simple walk in the park and you may have to change things.

Miranda - Yes. Be informed. Know what the starting dose should be. Have informed consent. Stand your ground. Know when to say no. Know when to ask questions. And also do expect some side effects because there are some side effects, but they generally are not nearly as severe as mine and they don't last as long.