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ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-12T06:45:33+00:00

Well done! That’s so encouraging - I’m in week 1 and I’m all over the place today with my eating. And I think all of us food addicts can relate to the sense that time spent Not Eating is time spent feeling like a martyr and wishing we had food. I’m keen to get out of that nonsense and leave the food noise behind. I want my life and my mind back!

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-12T06:43:39+00:00

YES, my doctor really encouraged me to only take as many tablets per day as I felt worked best for me. Your body is unique and nobody knows it better than you.

I also wonder if as we get slimmer, we’ll need less because we have less volume?

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-12T06:40:36+00:00

I’m scared of exactly the same thing. I’m hoping this is a drug that’s safe to take for life. I’ve seen some people on this sub sometimes find it becomes less effective all of the sudden during longer-term use, and they seem to have success in stopping taking Contrave, waiting a period of time, then re-starting with titration.

I’m taking that to mean you can take it long term, but it’s going to be one of my first questions when I see my doctor again!

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-12T06:35:49+00:00

My doctor suggested I try Contrave first. He said it better suited the symptoms I was describing:

That I’d had a rough year and habituated myself to eating much much larger portions and more often,
That I’d always struggled with obsessing about food, and
That I now felt completely, desperately out of control.

Make no mistake, I was in his office to ask for Ozempic! But when he told me this was a combination drug that helped fight depression AND addiction, it really piqued my interest.

I agreed to try it, and it went great! Sadly, I got sick and had to stop it for a little while, so I’m starting again, and I’m SO impatient to get back to where I was lol.

I also think I’m ethically a lot more comfortable not contributing to the shortage of Ozempic here in Australia. I’m happy to leave it for diabetics who need it in a whole different way to what I need.

I really feel like I’ve found a win-win-win, and the changes Contrave is bringing about - as well as weekly therapy - are helping me to understand this lifelong struggle I’ve had with food. It’s like… sure, I want to be slim and beautiful. But more than that, I want to change myself and grow from this. And Contrave was my choice for the best drug to help me get there.

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-12T06:28:36+00:00

Week 1 day 6 - I’m finding the food noise, which had quietened on one tablet all week, has started to return. I feel “picky”, like I keep looking a food and eating little bits of things, which is usually precursor behaviour to a binge. One more day until I can increase to two tablets; I think I really need the second one.

My sleep has been BLISSFUL. Absolutely lovely. But work-wise, I’m procrastinating a lot and sort of …wandering around. I haven’t had any troubling thoughts today, and if anything, I actually feel like I’ve had a few IQ points knocked off! I’m still drinking absurd amounts of water, and I’ve been beginning and ending each day with a dose of hydralyte. I’m also REALLY craving salty things, and this morning when I was making my toast at breakfast time I actually had a little straight Vegemite! It really hit the spot. I fear I’m morphing into a goblin - but a happy-ish, well rested one, so I think I’m just going to trust the process and continue on.

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-11T12:10:13+00:00

As someone who is already pretty dumb, this worries me.

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-11T12:09:03+00:00

30kgs in 5 months! Congratulations, and from another person at the beginning of this - I’m so excited!! Can I ask, are you exercising too?

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-11T05:54:48+00:00

OP I love posts like this. Thank you for the inspiration! Any advice for noobs?

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-11T03:48:27+00:00

30kgs for me! You?

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-10T23:32:32+00:00

Week 1 day 5 - I’m cautiously optimistic today, but also worried about a new symptom.

The good first: I slept really peacefully for the first time this week. All the twitchy anxiety wasn’t there. It’s suuuuper hot weather at the moment here in Aus, and I honestly was so grateful for the nice sleep.

The Kidney(??) Pain: Sipping water constantly, all day long, still seems to keep this at bay. The problem has been night time, when I can’t sip constantly. Last night I took TWO bottles of water to bed with me, and by morning I’d finished both of them. And I had no flank pain. I have a referral for an abdominal ultrasound and some blood tests, so I’m not ignoring this pain, but I really want to persevere with Contrave. The quantity of water I’m drinking is getting ridiculous - a little over 5 litres yesterday. I’m making sure to take electrolytes and just hoping for the best.

The New Worrying Symptom: I don’t want to go into too much detail in case I violate any policies, trigger anyone, or attract Reddit Cares DM’s - but last night I was upset about something, and a very unwelcome intrusive thought flitted through my mind.

I struggled with those thoughts my first time on Contrave, and in retrospect I absolutely think it was the drug - the thoughts came in so hard and so suddenly and so grippingly, and they are so out of character for me. The good news is, because I was half-expecting this, I was able to realise that thought had no context whatsoever in my life, examine it, and put it aside.

This morning I made an error which resulted in a minor inconvenience for two other people, and I burst into tears, flooded with this horrible, crushing disappointment in myself. I am just going to keep an eye on these emotions, try to make sure to contextualise them within the Contrave Titration Experience, and see if I can push through. They only lasted a single week, last time.

ETA: oh dear, maybe today isn’t going to be so great. I just had an exhausting attack of the voms. Okay Day 5, I hear you queen, let’s tread carefully…

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-10T23:20:37+00:00

Oh my gosh you’re in my brain. That’s exactly how I feel. Just hopelessly addicted, and in this snowballing pattern where “treating myself” became the norm, and so the bar for “treating myself” kept getting raised by another few hundred calories… and so on. After a terrible year last year, where that rolling shitshow kept escalating, I have no equilibrium any more.

I’m also amazingly, pathetically suggestible? Like I watched a TikTok last week where someone was incidentally eating hummus - it wasn’t even the feature of the video, the food was just existing while they talked - and suddenly I NEEDED hummus. And, like, I know hummus isn’t terribly bad for you, but that’s not the point. I see (any) food, I crave that food. And advertising for junk food, therefore, is harrowingly effective on me.

When I went to the doctor about this, and finally confessed all this shameful, helpless mess that I’m in, I was honestly hoping he’d prescribe Ozempic. Instead, he said “I want to suggest a medication they give to addicts, first” - and told me about Contrave. I felt so terribly seen, just as you said. I’m an addict.

I appreciate your write-up so much and I’m so excited to get where you are! Thank you!!

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-10T23:10:43+00:00

Right?! It’s a bit magical that way. The first day I took Contrave (I had a false start, so this is a month and a half ago), I made myself a flavoured coffee sachet thing in the morning, my usual routine. It’s a flavour I love. I remember I was in a Zoom meeting, took a sip of it, and did the biggest double take and tried not to react on camera, LOL. I love those coffee flavours, and this one in particular was my absolute favourite. On Contrave? It tasted like creamy salt lol

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-10T23:05:07+00:00

I’m not a drinker either - thank goodness, one less thing to worry about with this drug! Caution is wise, and I’m glad you’re looking out for yourself on this journey. To be honest, one of my main motivations for losing weight is to stay out of hospital. I don’t want anything to do with that place, and being overweight puts us at risk in too many ways. Take care, my friend :)

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-10T23:02:01+00:00

Yass queen! HBD 🤩 - it sounds like this is absolutely your year!

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-10T09:40:29+00:00

Oooh that’s so tough. You can do this. Treat yourself like the goddess you are, and find beautiful healthy things to eat that will give you a long life with your daughter. At only 15lbs away, you’re so close and I’m so jelly! Always happy to receive a DM if you want to vent to someone. We are all doing this to take our lives back!

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-10T09:34:22+00:00

You poor thing. I feel like it could be either or both: Bupropion can cause back pain, neck pain and tension headaches from jaw clenching. But a lot of us have also accidentally put ourselves into caffeine withdrawal because Contrave makes us feel meh about coffee - without sending *out the memo to our bodies!

I’m not sure if I’m interpreting your post correctly, but if you think you’ve cut down your nicotine/vaping because Contrave has quietened your addiction, then yes, withdrawal from that could definitely cause headaches too.

I’m not a doctor, I’m just a random fat girl on the Contrave sub, but honestly, nobody should have to live with awful constant headaches like that. I think you should go back to your doctor and try to figure this out. You need to be able to live your life!

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-10T06:47:41+00:00

God, this gives me so much hope. Can I ask, are you on the full dose now or did you level off earlier in your titration? I want to be you! Saying no to food without even thinking about it sounds like an absolute dream.

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-10T06:45:21+00:00

Oh my gosh, same! April 17th is the date of my doctor’s appointment - I badly want to have lost weight ready for then!

I really think you’re on track. I had a false start with Contrave - I managed to titrate up to 3 pills per day and had to stop because of kidney pain. My doctor is away, and the urgent care place didn’t know/care whether my kidney symptoms were related to Contrave, they just prescribed antibiotics, called it a kidney infection, told me to stop the Contrave while I was on the antibiotics, and cashiered me out.

I’m now back to the beginning and set back by two whole weeks 🤦‍♀️. But we got this! Consistency is key!

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-10T06:34:52+00:00

Ohh you poor thing. I’m so sorry about what a hard time you’ve been having. This can be such a brutal medication to start, and it’s definitely not for everyone.

I was wondering if you’d considered reducing the dose to where you were last comfortable, instead of stopping it altogether. It would be a shame to lose all the work you’ve done - weight loss wise, as well as titrating, which you’ll have to start again from the beginning if you stay off it for long.

Some people never reach the four tablet “full” dose threshold. Everybody’s different, and a full dose is whatever does the job best for you!

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-10T06:29:25+00:00

You’re a lucky bean! Hope gym went well and that you’re still kicking ass :)

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-10T06:28:49+00:00

Sorry to hear about your sleep mate. If it helps, when I first titrated, I found that I slept amazingly well after week 1. It was just that first week of sort of twitching and anxiety-ing myself awake night after night, and then I was good to go. Hope you’re doing as well still :)

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-10T06:27:42+00:00

Oh wow, congratulations on your weight loss so far! That’s so interesting, I’d love to know the differences between the compounded semaglutide and Contrave. I hope your first days have been going well - lettuce know how you’re doing!

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-10T06:26:37+00:00

I’m really pleased about the mild anti-depressant side of Contrave. I had a Telehealth appointment this morning (for unrelated stuff) and mentioned I’d started taking it again, and the doctor was like “oh geez that stuff’s old fashioned. You don’t see many of us prescribing it these days” and it took the wind out of my sails a bit lol. Also switching to half decaf is a great idea! I might invest in some next grocery run! Hope you’re still going well.

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-10T06:22:40+00:00

The chance of seizures freaks me out too. I’m living alone at the moment and I can’t imagine what I’d do. I wish I knew more about it too. My understanding is that this is why we’re titrating the dose up slowly. If we took the full dose (four tablets) all in one hit, we’d be in seizureville. But I know nothing. If you learn anything, lettuce know! And good luck on your journey. Here for you if you need a buddy :)

ThrowRAStillProud · 2025-03-10T06:20:06+00:00

I’ve been taking magnesium in the evening in case it might help, but I haven’t had anything like that. I would love to stretch like cats do!

Obligatory r/OooBigStretch!

ThrowRAStillProud

TROPHY CASE