My Mounjaro Journey Week 18 - End of a Challenge

 Hello

It's nearly the end of May which means my sponsored walk is coming to an end.  In fact,  I've actually completed it with a day to spare. It's been tough going trying to fit it into my daily life.  I've literally had about 2 days where I haven't walked at all.  On the plus side, I've discovered some open spaces in my local area that I didn't know existed. I'm planning on having a good polish & hoover through on Sunday because I'm really behind on the housework.  Unfortunately, my husband's allergic to furniture polish, washing up liquid, cooking utensils and hoovering so the poor lamb isn't much help.  

It hasn't been a great week though.  I took Tuesday off and planned to take one of my grandchildren to the pictures and I was looking forward to a nice walk in the countryside with my husband in the afternoon.  What actually happened was that a massive traffic jam put paid to any chance of getting to the cinema on time and torrential rain and wind put paid to my walk.  I ended up in McDonalds, which wasn't anywhere near as entertaining as Lilo and Stich, but I did treat myself to a chocolate milkshake. 

There are more and more people signing up to Mounjaro and the SheMed community is growing all the time.  Some have only just started and there's been some pretty strange posts about the jab.  One person posted that she still had a mostly full pen, one new one and had just received a message from SheMed saying she was due a new pen.  It turned out she'd been injecting herself with the priming dose.  Another left the needle cap on and lost the entire dose down her leg.  The strangest one by far, though, was someone who didn't prime the needle properly and when she injected herself, the rubber seal on the top of the pen inflated like a balloon with the medication.  And these aren't isolated cases. 

With all this in mind, I thought it might be worth talking about prepping the pen.  It seems really obvious now but I never really understood why the pen had to be primed but, put simply, it's to ensure that the needle is fitted correctly and that it's pierced the rubber seal on the top of the pen. If it hasn't then the pen will jam and you won't be able to inject. If you experience the pen jamming, the best thing to do is change the needle. You might have to do this a few times but it will work eventually.  If you're really unlucky and your pen has a dodgy seal, you can buy syringes and draw the medication out.  There are YouTube videos that explain how.

Fitting the needle is quite straight forward. After removing the protective seal, push the cap straight down onto the top of the pen and twist it clockwise until it stops. Once you've fitted the needle, remove the cap and you will see another cap over the needle. Remove the needle cap, twist the bottom of the pen for 2 to 3 clicks, then hold the needle up to the light, push the injection button in and watch to see if any medication squirts out of the needle. If it does, you're good to go.

Injecting can be tricky at first.  I had a couple of mishaps at the start and actually managed to bend the needle on one occasion.  I rotate between my tummy, thighs and arms.  I can't do my arms by myself so I drag my husband into it.  Despite claiming to be a big tough geezer, he's really squeamish about doing it and has to be cajoled into it.  

Once the pen is primed, twist the injection button until the number '1' appears in the dosage window; this will take a lot of clicks so just keep going. The best way to inject is to pick your spot, jab and push the extended injection button in slowly and smoothly.  Once it's fully down, count to five and pull it out.  Job done.

I've just received details of my new prescription and I'm being kept on 7.5mg. I'm happy with this as I'm losing really well on it.  I haven't had much in the way of side effects apart from a couple of episodes of nausea.  I've felt a bit constipated but nothing major.  The suppression is a high but I'm still managing to eat three meals a day.

This weeks stats are: 

Weight  - 13st 11lbs
Mounjaro dose - 7.5mg
BMI - 36.5
Total loss - 2 stone 4lbs
Walked 100 miles - 0 to go

I went for a health check today.  I was weighed, had blood taken and had my blood pressure checked.  My blood pressure has come down massively since I've lost weight which I'm thrilled about.  I'll let you know the blood results when I get them.

Bye x

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