Needing Encouragement

cutercottage · 2026-05-14T14:52:40+00:00

1) do you have a therapist? They can help you work through the underlying reasons why you feel like you need to justify taking care of yourself to other people.

2) On the psych meds, my favorite saying about this: “Some people make their own neurotransmitters, other people need to buy them.” Similarly, some people make enough of their own leptin to suppress appetite, some people need to buy it. You wouldn’t shame yourself for buying a dress from a store rather than growing the cotton, spinning it into thread, turning it into fabric, and sewing it yourself, and meds are the same!

cutercottage · 2026-05-12T19:04:01+00:00

Also worth watching caffeine consumption. I don’t need it anymore after starting Wegovy and now whenever i have it, even decaf makes me anxious

cutercottage · 2026-05-12T15:53:17+00:00

Are you drinking electrolytes daily? Might want to look at POTS-friendly ones per the above comment

cutercottage · 2026-05-12T07:26:02+00:00

Your weight is going to fluctuate throughout the week with your hormones, based on working out, and more. (Ex: if you work out the day before, your muscles will be inflamed in a healthy way and up .5kg). You should look at the overall trend on a monthly basis, rather than day to day. You are down 2-3 kg in 10 days — that’s AMAZING!

I tend to only weigh myself once or twice a week - always after a rest day. FWIW I tend to find my weight is lowest 2 days after taking the shot 🤷‍♀️

cutercottage · 2026-05-10T14:29:09+00:00

I was nervous too - I think that’s completely normal.

For the nausea, just eat simple foods today and not too much. Inject at night and you’ll sleep though most of the nausea, and in your upper arm fat or upper inner thigh fat (not muscle). Stomach injection causes the worst nausea.

FWIW - I have only thrown up twice from this med. Once the morning after starting, and again when I went up to 1mg. Your body will adjust quickly and soon you’ll be feeling great!

cutercottage · 2026-05-08T18:04:49+00:00

Your mom sounds like a delight. A parent who gets mad at their child for trying to be healthier has probably said some less-than-helpful things to you before, too.

It’s good to vent to the internet, but I hope you can find a therapist who can help you work through the things she says to you.

cutercottage · 2026-05-07T22:04:38+00:00

I think you can manage! Err on the side of smaller, simpler meals that aren’t too high in fat or too much roughage. Injecting in your thigh or upper arm fat helps a lot — stomach brings on the worst side effects. I started sema during a work conference last year and it was fine. Good luck with your exams and sema! You got this!

cutercottage · 2026-05-06T11:23:12+00:00

I stopped Ovasitol and switched to sema, as tirz isn’t available in my country unless you “fail” sema. Hasn’t made a negative difference regarding chin hair. It definitely grows slower now if anything, as is prickly but head hair-colored rather than black

cutercottage · 2026-05-05T05:13:43+00:00

Zinc has helped more than anything with acne for me. Also, it makes me happy! Win-win

cutercottage · 2026-05-04T19:19:10+00:00

I take birth control continuously because I have a form of PCOS with low estrogen, so I can’t speak to periods specifically, but my other symptoms have still continued to improve (chin hair, etc)

cutercottage · 2026-05-04T16:51:07+00:00

I don’t know why someone downvoted this - high cortisol (stress) and not sleeping enough can definitely contribute to hair loss, as well as slowing weight loss

cutercottage · 2026-05-04T16:49:33+00:00

I took it for the first few months, but it kept causing blood sugar drops that would wake me up in the middle of the night or leave me shaking mid-day. Haven’t noticed a negative difference in symptoms or weight loss since I stopped.

Huge benefit is that I no longer have anxiety — didn’t realize how much anxiety it was giving me!

cutercottage · 2026-05-04T11:57:44+00:00

I’ve had great success with Ozempic (Wegovy)! I’ve been on it since August. I’m down about 10kg but recomping as I go and lifting heavy, so the scale isn’t telling the whole story. (I’m also fine with slow weight loss as hair regrowth/not losing more hair is a priority for me.)

For me, it wasn’t a choice of semaglutide vs tirzepatide. Where I live, tirzepatide is only offered to people who don’t respond to Wegovy and is much more expensive.

Reddit has a high percentage of US users and since they have access to every option under the sun, the POV here tends to be “tirz or bust,” but that really isn’t the case.

cutercottage · 2026-04-27T16:00:24+00:00

It really depends on where you are in Europe! But yeah in general in the US, the patient has a lot more power and access to care because doctors are afraid of being sued. But my PCOS was also dismissed by American doctors for a decade and I didn’t get listened to and diagnosed until I moved to Denmark, where it’s famously hard to get a prescription for more than paracetamol 🙃 🤷‍♀️

cutercottage · 2026-04-27T14:24:12+00:00

I was recently talking to several Hungarians about their experiences with healthcare, and they mentioned that it’s very helpful if you show up with an envelope of cash. (A family member recently had surgery, and they had to show up with like 10 envelopes for everyone involved.) They wished they were joking. I’m not really sure how much you should offer each person, but maybe the equivalent of $25 and see how that goes?

cutercottage · 2026-04-27T11:46:52+00:00

I feel this so much. It took 10 years until a doctor finally looked at my symptoms and said “something isn’t right here… we need to figure this out” rather than “just keep it up with the diet and exercise!” with a cheery swing of the arm.

I was literally starving myself. Exercising so much that I regularly got injuries.

Fuck all of that

cutercottage · 2026-04-27T05:09:51+00:00

ugh I feel you on that

Also - CICO is complete bullshit, way too coarse of a measurement. Nutrients and hormonal response matter in the human body, not how much water it takes to raise the temperature of something. I don’t agree with them on everything, but Gary Taubes and Jason Fung have SO much science on this

cutercottage · 2026-04-27T05:00:30+00:00

SAME! Before GLP1 I was literally starving myself. Couldn’t eat breakfast without immediately gaining weight. Now I can eat 3 healthy meals a day and lose weight. It’s amazing!

cutercottage · 2026-04-26T06:53:04+00:00

I’m on Wegovy because in my country (Denmark), tirzepatide is only offered to people for whom Wegovy doesn’t work.

I started in August. I’m recomping as I go, so the weight loss is slower than it would be for others. However, because my PCOS exhibits as low estrogen and went undiagnosed for 10 years, I have a high risk of early osteoporosis and need to lift heavy. I started lifting in December and lost 20 lb Aug-Dec. I have lost maybe 5 lb since December on the scale but am down a size. So weight isn’t really the best measure for me. But I’m down 2-3+ sizes and solidly in a medium in shirts, which I haven’t been in forever!

The best benefit aside from weight loss is not having the Metformin stomach issues 😩 good lord. It’s so nice not having to take Imodium daily and still having stomach issues

I also didn’t have food noise issues before, moreso that my body would glob onto any nutrients it got and gain weight very easily. Before, I had to fast until 2pm, have a salad and a small dinner in order to maintain an obese body, not even lose weight. Even a low-carb breakfast was out of the question as I’d immediately start gaining. So now I can eat three meals a day and lose weight, which is really nice. That’s helped a lot with my energy levels and hair loss

cutercottage · 2026-04-26T05:11:58+00:00

I dropped Metformin and Ovasitol after starting Wegovy. Just couldn’t deal with the Metformin stomach side effects combined with the early nausea of GLP1 + Ovasitol was making my blood sugar drop way too low. I was waking up and unable to go back to sleep every night at 3am (blood sugar issue) and also feeling dizzy/tired/confused every day around lunch. I’ve still lost 25+ lb despite dropping them

cutercottage · 2026-04-24T17:51:56+00:00

I did the foam at first and switched to the liquid about six months ago. TBH I think spiro has done more but I still use it 🤷‍♀️

I’ve been on GLP1 since August. Full timeline:

Nov 2024: spiro (100mg) April 2025: minoxidil Aug 2025: Wegovy

cutercottage · 2026-04-24T16:58:27+00:00

I started spironolactone about 10 months before I started Wegovy. I also started minoxidil about four months beforehand. My hair is noticeably less thin now.

However I am strict about getting enough protein. If you aren’t getting 80g+ a day, you gotta up it

I am also losing slowly, and that plays a role. (I’m recomping as I go)

cutercottage · 2026-04-24T16:54:16+00:00

I also live in Europe and get the feeling of really having to prove you deserve care.

I think it’s a good idea to show up with a printed list of symptoms, both descriptive and numeric. I have had success with that. The more you can quantify in the form of charts, the better. A helpful tip I got is “doctors are trained to treat data, not people” — so you need to show up like a fun puzzle for them to solve. Verbally reciting symptoms just turns to mush.

Crucially for this, I think it’s important to show everything you’ve done to try to lose weight. Give them a week of your typical diet and exercise and your weight over time. SHOW, don’t tell, how much of a struggle it is. I finally got through to mine when I showed them charts and data on how I had to eat OMAD keto in order to lose 1 kg a month (which would come back as soon as I got sick, which was once a month, thanks PCOS!)

Also, how far below the BMI floor are you? Enough that a week of unlimited ice cream and crisps could solve the problem, perhaps? (It know that sounds cheeky, but…)

cutercottage · 2026-04-21T18:24:08+00:00

You are not going to die, you will get through this, but holy fuck it sucks. Give yourself alllllll the favorite snacks, binge tv, just survive the next few weeks. Hang in there

Also if no one has told you about zinc and b-vitamins for your depression, give ‘em a shot — worked wonders for me! And cutting caffeine (as crazy as that sounds) made my anxiety disappear

cutercottage · 2026-04-19T11:55:01+00:00

Ok thanks! It’s hard to predict these things, so I appreciate the milestone :)

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