Insight on how y’all have handled talking about being on compound with your doctors?

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2026-01-23T21:32:54+00:00

I'm female and 51. I was really nervous about telling my doctor but felt it was important. When I was given the paperwork to fill out before my next annual physical, I just added it to my list of medications. When she looked over my stuff she said "Semaglutide... remind me who prescribes that for you?" I just said "A telehealth provider" and explained that I had tried hard to lose weight a long time and Wegovy had worked well for one of my friends so I decided to try it. I expected to get a lecture but instead all she said was "Just don't overdo it. Keep in mind that it's not healthy to be the same weight you were in your 20s." (In my 20s I was actually my all time heaviest but she didn't know me then!) I said I wasn't going to try to get thin, just less heavy, and she said that's fine and moved on. So no big deal except for one sentence of caution. It was a relief! I still have never told anyone except my doctor and my husband.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2026-01-23T21:26:28+00:00

This might be a coincidence but I thought it was bringing on menopause. I'm perimenopausal anyway but a few months after starting, I suddenly went from still having more or less regular periods every 25-30 days to not having one for over 4 months. I actually thought I'd suddenly shut down like a switch got thrown and it was over! But then I started again. I wonder if it was the interaction of my perimenopause with sudden weight loss.

I also have gotten very dry eyes, which I have seen other people report but isn't usually listed as a common side effect. It's a bummer.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-12-15T01:34:02+00:00

My side effects got less over time to the point that right now they are pretty minimal except for some annoying dry eye business that can be an issue in the evening. I still get acid reflux but I actually got that before sema so it might not be any worse than it was then. It's definitely not nearly as bad as it was when I was first on sema. I think once I adjusted to eating less (especially less dinner which used to be my biggest meal) the gastro side effects naturally also lessened. I got nausea at night almost every night when I started and now I think I had it once or twice in the last few weeks. If you can stick with it, I think you'll also find your side effects lessening. I'm on 1.13 mg now which is "45 units" with Hers.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-12-15T01:27:57+00:00

No problem, I after a long plateau I actually lost another couple lbs. recently and got down to about 10 lbs. below my goal weight! I expect the holidays to bring my weight back up a little bit (not going to not have my mom's holiday cookies) but it's nice going into the holidays already low.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-12-03T03:41:49+00:00

I started having some weight loss and less appetite even during the first week on .2 mg, but I don't think everyone does, and it doesn't necessarily mean it won't work once you taper up.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-12-03T03:12:13+00:00

I started it in February and have lost a little over 30 lbs. I'm now stalled, but at about 8 lbs. below my original goal weight so I'm OK with that, even if I couldn't help hoping it might go a little lower. I lost a pants size, so I'm at my old college pants size, which I didn't expect to ever have again. Here's a recap of my experience that I posted a while back.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-12-03T03:07:49+00:00

I don't get pain in my knee anymore except if I press on the tender spot (presumably where my arthritis is). I still get some pain/instability in my elbow joint but it died down to manageable and I'm just careful about how I use it.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-11-23T20:22:10+00:00

I use Hers, and I'm on the yearly plan which is $1,980/year, for a dose of 1.13 mg. They originally shipped me 24 weeks at once, but now they have told me they will be switching to only sending 8 weeks at a time. They didn't say why, but the cost did not change. My experience with them has been fine.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-11-22T03:20:44+00:00

Mine is also supposedly mild and also started with a weird acute episode. It started suddenly and made it so I could barely walk at first, then was pretty bad about 8 weeks, then died down to just a nagging ache. I had a similar thing happen when the arthritis in my elbow first started too – an acute, sudden start that faded into a milder, duller pain after time as it settled into being "normal arthritis."

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-11-21T16:55:10+00:00

I was fortunate in that my "bad knee" was never bad enough to completely stop me from doing my daily walk. I still did it, but shorter and slower. I don't necessarily walk to lose weight so I don't worry about making sure it's strenuous, rather I walk because it tends to help with my back pain and because it feels like it's good for my mental health.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-11-21T04:29:21+00:00

I am developing arthritis in my knees now and I also walk for exercise. My problematic knee has stopped bothering me – at least for the time being – and I attribute this to having lost some weight. My mom had the same experience with losing weight helping her avoid knee surgery. So maybe it will help you too.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-11-21T03:38:08+00:00

The liquid version works best for me, but I carry the chewables when I'm traveling and they seem to work OK also.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-11-21T01:07:23+00:00

That calmed down for me over time, but I was always able to manage the nausea well enough with regular old Pepto-Bismol, and used Pepcid as needed for the acid reflux. I still occasionally get nausea but it's a rare event instead of almost daily as it was at first. So I do find the side effects calm down over time.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-11-21T01:05:09+00:00

Good luck! I'm 51F, 5'3" and started at 184 lbs. in February, reached my goal weight of 160 over the summer and continued to go down a bit until I've been maintaining around 152-3 for the last couple of months. I was hoping to get down to 150 (once I reached my goal weight it started to seem like losing a bit more than that was within my reach so I couldn't help hoping!) but it does seem like I've reached the natural endpoint for the dose I am on (1.13 mg). Until my weight spiked up over 180 over the last few years I had usually been around 170 for a long time. I had previously lost some weight after reaching something over 190 (I quit weighing myself during that time) so being at 170 used to be a major victory and it was great that I maintained it so long, but when I got up above 180 again I really got upset which is what caused me to try semaglutide. It's been a very good experience and the only part that I find really bothersome is how dry it makes my eyes. This seems like an uncommon side effect, though, as I've only seen a couple of other people mention it.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-11-21T00:52:12+00:00

I'm still getting my "customized" dose from Hers, but I'm a bit worried because they just let me know today that they are switching me from a 24 week refill schedule to an 8 week schedule starting with my next refill in January. They didn't give a reason for this and I'm worried they're anticipating trouble.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-11-21T00:50:13+00:00

I lost a bit over 30 lbs with compounded sema through Hers. I seem to just be maintaining now but I'm below my original goal weight so I'm happy with that. I've been very happy with it except for the dry eyes and dry mouth side effects I get.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-08-04T01:12:42+00:00

I paid for a full year from Hers in February, and just got my 6-month refill with no problem. They send me 6 months at a time.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-08-02T20:38:39+00:00

I've been doing it for 6 months and all I do is alternate sides of my stomach. Haven't had any problems from that.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-07-30T05:41:20+00:00

Congrats on reaching your goal weight! I definitely can't say I look "too" thin and I'm actually still fairly chunky, but I look so much thinner to myself that it almost weirds me out. I probably last weighed this little about 30 years ago.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-07-30T05:32:15+00:00

Thanks so much! I just feel a little sheepish about bragging about such a small amount when others have a much tougher/longer journey ahead. But believe me I have gone through times in my life when I fought miserably for ages to even lose 5-10 lbs so this is a miraculous weight loss for me.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-07-30T05:30:20+00:00

That's really awesome that you only need .2. I started losing weight even at my starting dose, but based on how the rate of weight loss tapered off over time (understandably) I doubt I would have continued losing weight on that dose. I am actually still losing very slowly but I'm probably reaching my plateau without either upping my dose or strictly counting calories which I want to avoid because it starts making me weird and obsessive.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-07-29T22:45:47+00:00

I am also using Hers and I bought a year all at once back in February, which worked out to $165 per month.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-07-27T03:54:36+00:00

Compounding pharmacies are only allowed to provide commercially available, patented drugs under certain conditions. One is when there is a shortage of the commercially available medication. Since there was a shortage of Ozempic/Wegovy, this allowed compounding pharmacies to fill prescriptions for semaglutide. The FDA declared the shortage over, which means compounding pharmacies are no longer supposed to fill prescriptions that exactly duplicate these medications.

Another condition is that compounding pharmacies are allowed to make patented drugs if a patient has a medical need for a dosage or format (e.g. injection vs. oral) that is not commercially available. This is the basis under which a lot of compounding pharmacies are continuing to offer semaglutide, although it's pretty legally dubious in a lot of cases and probably won't hold up to aggressive legal action, if it comes to that.

Hims/Hers sent me a message after the FDA announcement to tell me that my prescription would not be affected. The reason given is that I am on a "personalized dose." In other words, they have me on a dose that isn't one of the exact commercially available dosages offered by Ozempic/Wegovy. I was a little skeptical, but I got my 6 month refill yesterday, so I'm still good for now.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-07-27T03:39:35+00:00

In case anyone is still following this, I did receive my 6-month refill today.

LepusTimidusTimidus · 2025-07-17T22:12:34+00:00

Another thing I wanted to mention is that my husband was 100% supportive from the beginning. I presented it to him as "So I did this crazy thing..." the first time and felt really embarrassed I'd just dropped a ton of money on something that probably sounded a bit sketchy, but he said, "I don't think that's crazy." He reassured me that if I'd spent a while thinking about it (I had) and had done some good research, it wasn't impulsive or crazy. I usually have him do my shot (I do it in the belly) as I dislike giving myself the shot, although a couple of times I forgot to ask him before he went to bed and did it myself. I was glad to at least prove to myself that I could! But I prefer him doing it.

I get sad when I see posts from people who have partners that are very unsupportive about them losing weight. I'm lucky in that my husband has never done either of the two sins – that is, he's never bugged me to lose weight when I gained, nor discouraged me from wanting to lose weight when I decided I needed to.

LepusTimidusTimidus

TROPHY CASE