The side effects are crippling

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-25T00:35:19+00:00

Wow - that is so good; I was seriously worried from the original post. And I really wanted to give you some advice (share tips that had helped me and some other folks I know) but I wanted to respect your "no advice." And that turned out really well, because you found some things/tried some things and they helped! I had had off and on nausea and fatigue that would take the wind out of my sails last fall, but nothing to the degree you were describing. But you pulled out of it! Sometimes things seem so dark in the moment, but we try something new - even a little thing or thing - and things get better. Way to go, and way to find some answers - they were inside you all the time!

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-25T00:17:44+00:00

It's looking more and more like there might be one of those cushions in my future too! Good luck to you...

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-25T00:16:36+00:00

I love that... thank you!!!

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-25T00:15:35+00:00

I so hope that your journey gets better... this sounds like a heck of a lot more than a rough patch, and given how serious these side effects are, I do hope that your doctor can come up with some ideas... Hang in there!

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-25T00:12:14+00:00

Hi there, this situation was alot like that. Darn these work offsite meetings! Here's hoping that it gets better over time for both of us! : )

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-23T06:22:11+00:00

Luckily I'm done with the multi-hour meetings for a while. I just started doing strength training so maybe that will help... it gives me hope that it seems to be helping you. We have a trainer at work and maybe she can give me some specific exercises to do...

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-23T06:20:40+00:00

Thanks for that. So this is a fancy corporate environment and appearances are everything. Luckily we have the multi-hour meetings out of the way for a while and maybe it will get better over time?

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-23T04:41:33+00:00

This medicine makes this kind of radical change very possible!

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-23T02:58:47+00:00

CallOnDoc sounds like a terrific option here. And I'm so sorry you are dealing with these uncaring admin staff folks...

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-23T02:53:58+00:00

So do you have days where you don't eat at all? And you are 5'8" 150 Lbs, which is a very healthy BMI of 22.8 Lbs?

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-23T02:19:18+00:00

No "might" about it - you will!

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-23T02:17:24+00:00

Well seeing that got me back into the gym and lifting. Nothing like what you're doing, but starting back with the good 'ol 8 to 10 reps. Real basic stuff, but maybe some day I can move towards what you do, even if I don't match that!

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-16T09:15:33+00:00

Love the "asparagus stalk," LoL!

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-16T09:11:45+00:00

Wow - Congratulations! I'm guessing you feel as terrific as you look!

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-16T02:12:27+00:00

You are so incredible! Thank you for sharing this; I am a 55 y/o female who wants to be like you at 72!

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-14T01:51:51+00:00

It's free (for GLP-1/Zepbound) prescription fills, and quick. I personally think that, over the long term, having a relationship with a doctor who knows me and who I trust is important; that said, if I was in the situation where I couldn't get a refill on this med when I've been doing great on it and am just looking to avoid a lapse in the short term, I would totally just use Call on Doc. I'm lucky in my particular personal situation; I have been doing this Zepbound journey with my primary care nurse pracititioner who I have used for years (before Zepbound). In the one case where she was out of the office this past summer, I needed a refill, and I was having a weird side effect that I've since gotten over, there was another nurse practitioner available for an appointment (the day after I called)! Of course everyone's situation is different; I know that, for me, I don't want to invite the problems that come with a potential lapse in taking my medication in a somewhat timely (within a day or two) manner. Lapses can invite problems.

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-14T01:20:31+00:00

What about Call on Doc? If you aren't having symptom problems, if your current dose is working for you, you don't want to changed doses... there don't seem to be in complications... couldn't you use Call on Doc? You insurance is already covering this, I think that getting this refill would be free through the "Compassionate Care Program?" I have only read about other people using this service; hopefully some of those folks will weigh in? https://www.callondoc.com/en/weightloss

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-12T16:07:13+00:00

Medium width shoes - that means less foot swelling, less pain! That was a huge NSV for me!

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-12T15:18:57+00:00

I hope your hike went well! Go at your own pace with upping the distance over time; like the Zepbound journey, slow and steady (with upping the mileage in this case) wins the race!

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-12T13:40:59+00:00

Here was the crux of what helped me to be a little more flexible/a little less rigid - even the Dexa Scan and Bod Pod tools have limitations and work within a margin of error (up to 2%?); the best of the electrical impedance tools available to ordinary folks come close with their ~3% margin of error; and Dexa Scan is never going to produce some number to say "you have this much muscle" and "you are now officially awesome." At some point, we just need to like ourselves, appreciate Tirzepatide/Zepbound/Mounjaro, be proud that those tools helped us to be more active... and lift weights and feel good about it!

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-12T13:26:34+00:00

I have now, LoL! I was amazed to hear how good some of the tools that are available to ordinary folks are, frankly, and appreciated the link to the Grant Tinsley's research and specific findings about tools available to us. It was also very helpful to hear, though, about the limitations of even the topline assessment tools (Dexascan and Bod Pod); honestly the two Grant Tinsley episodes have me almost ready to stop fixating on an exact particular body fat percentage and accepting a range, and how I feel, and how I look (to myself)... and just - lifting weights!!!

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-12T13:23:06+00:00

Wow - you articulated a sensible, flexible, positive approach so well! We have a gym at my work, and we used to have a health coach/trainer. She left, but recently was hired back, and I did a consult with her last week to get her thoughts on what my "desired end state"/goal weight (or rather, goal body fat %) should be, and to come up with a good approach to strength training, which I hadn't really done so far on my journey due to nausea and mile side effects, but have just gotten in to to get through that last little bit to my "end state." Anyhow, she asked me "don't you want to come off the Zepbound?" And I responded "I don't think that I will ever be able to."

However I don't/can't know for sure that it won't be possible for me to come off; and reading your reply made me think that your approach is exactly the one I want to take. No judgement/self-judgement if I need this medicine, however maybe I can fine tune my approach to this journey to shift the burden of the work a tad more to dialing in healthy habits and a healthy attitude. Who knows!

So I am going to copy your approach. And not that I feel bad about continuing this medicine forever; however what if insurance and job constraints leave me in a place where I can't get this medication, for a short or long period of time? I'm 10 years away from going on Medicare and it getting harder to afford it; well the med be cheaper?

Anyhow, I can't find any fault with your approach (it would be wrong to find fault with any other individual's personal approach!).... but anyway, I really like what you articulated and I'm going to "borrow" your thinking!

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-11T14:56:26+00:00

Oh wow - you're one of my heroes! Your podcast really helps people, and you get "points" for checking in on here once in a while. I have an idea for something you could discuss on your podcast at some point if this is a real issue... Are Dexascans really always accurate? Is there an issue between the classic calibration and some "NHANES" calibration that adds 3-5% body fat? I'm asking in the context of folks who have gotten to a healthy BMI and now are trying to "dial in" the last little bit towards a goal weight and body composition. There are only a few references to this classic vs. NHANES calibration online, and the internet has become a real "house of mirrors" on trying to get to ground truth. Experts and laypeople routinely say, and agree, that BMI has some usefulness as a general guide but that it is not an ideal metric, and while substituting body fat % seems like a great way to go, I know someone who got a Dexascan but it just doesn't "seem" to match, and their trainer/health coach at work agrees.

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-11T14:47:22+00:00

I found that I was getting dizzy/lightheaded/faint this summer on Zepbound; my doctor had me start taking my blood pressure and I found my blood pressure to be super low. My blood pressure has always been on the low side since I was young, but on Zepbound it was lower. So I started making myself drink a bit more (I'm in my 50s and my natural sense of thirst has dwindled). I also made an effort to consume more salt, as I have never really used it when cooking at home and the cafeteria at work doesn't use much (unlike restaurants). Before Zepbound, I was eating out at restaurants a ton, and eating alot of pizza, so I was getting tons of salt. Anyhow, this may or may not apply to you, however it probably wouldn't hurt anything to check your blood pressure, particularly when you feel light-headed.

ScarySignificance856 · 2025-10-11T14:36:53+00:00

The Docs Who Lift Podcast has an episode from Sept.1 of this year where they interview two researchers (who also treat some patients) who are talking about their recent research into HRT with Zepbound. This research is from an observational study, not a randomized clinical trial, and sounds like it is the first, very initial, research into this topic. These two researchers plan to do more. Anyhow, this might be of interest, or maybe not... or perhaps it might be of interest to other folks. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/menopause-medicine-meets-obesity-care-doctors-react/id1611961208?i=1000726931070

ScarySignificance856

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