Trulicity Vs Ozempic

As part of my post for For Your Health community over on Dreamwidth, I updated all of the my weight loss figures going back to September. I also did a couple of charts that showed the weight loss I have experienced on both Trulicity and Ozempic. I’m in a weird head space so I’m not going to try to do a numbers comparison at the moment – the scales creeping upwards have me feeling some type of way and I don’t think it would be helpful – but I decided it made sense to post them here for when I am in a better frame of mind.

So, here is the loss on Trulicity which is basically the end of September to the end of December, which is roughly twelve weeks.

Weight Loss on Trulicity

The following chart is my weight loss whilst taking Ozempic, so basically January through to now.

Weight Loss on Ozempic

It’s probably not a fair comparison because I have been on Ozempic longer and have had more ups and downs emotionally than during the Trulicity period. But maybe it will help as I go through June, trying not to panic and worrying about whether I should be titrating up or not.

The Tattoos That Weren't & Side Effects

SW ⟫ CW ⟫ GW

207.7 ⟫ 191 ⟫ 186.93

Ozempic ⟫ 0.5 mg

Yesterday I was meant to go for my birthday tattoos – the ones I was meant to get on my birthday but had to postpone because I went down with a bug. I thought the bug was done with me, but apparently not.

I was up, dressed, eyebrows in place and they looked pretty good, and feeling fine in a new dress Just before we decided to order the uber, I thought I should go to the bathroom. Bearing in mind the night before I had had soup and bread rolls for dinner, as well as about four Ferrero Roche, I thought things were fine.

This wasn’t the worst bathroom incident I’ve had since being on Trulicity/Ozempic but it did take me completely by surprise. Basically, everything I ate the night before was coming out the bottom end and then I threw up the toast I had for breakfast at the same time. By the time I was able to stagger out of the bathroom, Stripes had already cancelled my tattoo appointment (I sent £30 to apologise for the late notice/waste of time because I value my tattoo artist and didn’t want her to think I was taking the piss cancelling two weeks in a row). I felt grey, light-headed, empty stomached and generally as weak as a newborn kitten.

I spent the rest of the day tucked up in bed, and managed to keep down/in soup and bread rolls and that was pretty much it for the day. I tried to drink more water but had/have to be careful as sometimes cold water hits my empty stomach and makes me want to throw up.

I am now scared to plan anything because I cannot imagine what would have happened if we had already been at the tattoo shop when this happened. I’m not fast enough on my crutches to get to a strange bathroom and I certainly don’t want to have an accident/puke in public. I found myself musing before I got to sleep whether or not this meant that I couldn’t go out until I had lost a LOT more weight.

This also made me think that all of the people saying taking semaglutide is the easy way out have no clue what they are talking about. I felt like I was being wrung out using my stomach, with everything coming out of both ends and it was a horrible, horrible feeling. I’m half tempted to read through everything I’ve written since November to see just how much these side effects are taking over my life but what good would it do? I’m still not going to come off of them – losing weight is worth the discomfort and sickness. I just need to lower my expectations of what I’m capable of doing,

And book any new tattoos for the day after my injection when I have pretty much zero inclination to eat and should therefore not have these results/side effects.

Saturday morning and I’m too scared to eat toast and have a generally rumbly feeling in my stomach that precedes an incident. I guess whether it’s a lurgy or just the Ozempic, it’s not finished with me yet.

January 2024 Round Up

SW ⟫ CW ⟫ GW

207.7 ⟫ 195.7 ⟫ 186.93

Drug Plan:⟫ Ozempic 0.5 mg

Another month over and time for a bit of a round-up. The constipation issue is still causing problems – I did manage to ‘go’ but was disappointed as I still feel rough as balls and over-full. I am also still struggling with cravings for sweet things, generally eating stuff that I haven’t eaten for quite some time and way too much of it.

I guess it could be stress – stuff always going on in my head whether it’s about what’s happened in the recent past, something I’m dreading for the future, or simply my brain doing weird and wonderful things. I just wish I could have remained in that Trulicity head-space. I wonder if maybe I’m psyching myself out? I took my second Ozempic injection today – definitely did it correctly as there was the teeniest, tiniest spot of blood at the injection site, so I guess that’s reassuring inasmuch as I appear to be doing that correctly.

I’ve asked Stripes to empty the fridge in my room of all the little treats I’d stashed in there – hopefully that will stop any late night snacking or at least make me think about it properly first rather than giving in to impulse.

I’m also considering taking some photographs. The thought actually makes me feel more than a little sick, but one of the best ways to see results is to take photos that you can compare things to. Maybe I’m feeling nauseous at the thought in case these turn into yet another set of photos of when I started something that I failed to finish? On the other hand, it would be really cool if I could see myself develop Ozempic face? I have seen some really cool progress photos that other people have posted that demonstrate this so clearly and would love to see if that happens for me.

I’m trying to be more positive – both in my head and out loud – but I’m not sure how well I’m doing at that. There is a lot of negative self-talk in my head that I struggle to block out, and now that I’ve done a week of Ozempic and seen no weight loss, the little voice is having a field day telling me that I might as well give up, that it’s obvious Ozempic isn’t going to work for me, that I’m just being lazy and should eat less, do more (those words should be tattooed onto the forehead of every Doctor in my life who’s told me it’s that simple and I should be able to do it so that they can SEE them every single day, the same way they live rent-free in my head).

Positives:

⟫ I made it through week one of Ozempic with minimal side effects;

⟫ Although the scales haven’t moved downwards, they haven’t moved upwards either;

⟫ I’m grateful that my GP was willing to prescribe Ozempic and give me the opportunity to continue on this journey with its’ assistance;

⟫ I recognise the temptation of the things I chose to put into my fridge and am taking action to remove that temptation;

⟫ my nails are growing strong!

Moving in to February, I need to show more gratitude, be more aware of the things I say in my head, and make better food/snack choices – I have my birthday to celebrate but apart from that, I can’t think of any big ‘social’ events that require food-thought/preparation. Overall, January has gone well and I am grateful for that.

Nearly a week on Ozempic...

SW ⟫ CW ⟫ GW

207.7 ⟫ 195.2 ⟫ 186.93

Drug Plan:⟫ Ozempic 0.5 mg

How the heck do I tell if this is working? I followed the injection instructions and was pretty sure I was feeling something but after a few more days I’m really not sure. There’s been some mild irritation of the injection site, but the ‘feelings’ I am used to after injecting Trulicity are absent.

I’ve been struggling with feeling so hungry all the time! Actually, I shouldn’t say all the time as that’s not accurate. I’m sleeping better (thank you Big Narstie Moroccan Peaches!) and when I wake up, I do feel like I’ve had some sleep, but I’m generally not hungry first thing in the morning so I drink iced water.

That hasn’t changed much, but as soon as I’ve had breakfast – whether it be toast or a flapjack – I am rampaging hungry! I’ve been having my main meal so early – like anytime from 4 pm – and then for the rest of the day, I want to snack on things constantly. I am going to bed early (for me) like anything from 10.30 pm to just after midnight, so the out of control eating thing is probably around 12 hours max. But I wasn’t struggling like this when I was on Trulicity.

The scales aren’t moving – not up or down, but I am up from my lowest low which I think was 191 kg. I guess this could be the transition and also that I’m on a relatively low dose of Ozempic. I believe the therapeutic dose is from 1mg upwards and I’m on half of that.

I’m also suffering from constipation so feel bloated and sluggish. I’ve taken Dulcolax twice with little results. I’m almost tempted to have one of the VLCD shakes I have on hand as they often lead to stomach upset. Sounds awful to admit that I’d rather have the world falling out of my butt at the moment than struggle for much longer like this. I just feel like I have a bowling ball in my stomach constantly, and I can’t relax because I’m constantly waiting for the diarrhoea to start.

I know this isn’t a short term thing and I need to manage my expectations. My body is probably confused and I know I’m stressed with stuff that’s going on. Trust the process but keep an eye on things I guess. Now I need to try to find a relatively comfortable way to sit/lie with this poop bowling ball causing me so much grief!

SKM vs the Scales - the beginning.....

Start Weight in November 2023: 207.7 kg 457.9 lbs 32 st 7 lbs

Current Weight in January 2024: 194.4 kg 428.5 lbs 30 st 6 lbs

There’s possibly some rounding up or down, but to be honest I can’t seem to make my brain ‘math’ at the moment as I haven’t really slept, so those will do as the starting figures for the blog.

Why start now? Well, today marks ten weeks of being on Trulicity for my T2D and weight loss. I would be more than happy to keep going into week 11, but unfortunately Trulicity is out of stock for the foreseeable future. So here I am on injection day, with no injection.

I have a telephone appointmnent with the doctor’s surgery tomorrow morning and I have no idea what to expect. I have seen talk of Rybelsus which is in tablet form, Mounjaro, Zepbound – but literally until I have this phone call I have no idea what the doctor is going to suggest.

And I am bricking myself. I have lost weight in the past – I lost over seven stone doing the Cambridge Diet, as well as other VLCDs over the years. I’ve also done Slimming World and Weight Watchers. Each and every time I’ve failed. Some of it was willpower, some life circumstances, some just crummy luck. But without fail, the weight has come back plus some until I was super morbidly obese.

I followed the Weight Management programme for my area to quality for weight loss surgery on the NHS. I’ve done all of that successfully, but between qualifying and having the phone call with my prospective surgeon, life once again got away from me. I put on 10 kg over the course of 18 months and the surgeon warned me that if I hadn’t got back down to 193kg by the time of my surgery (or at least maintained) then it might not happen.

I had tried Trulicity with limited success, mainly caused by difficulties obtaining it. I would manage two weeks worth of injections only to find that the pharmacy were out of stock so I had to begin again at the lowest dose. At one stage, I made it up to 3mg but again, supply issues meant that I was injecting two of the 1.5mg each week and this wasn’t sustainable because there simply weren’t the pens available on the NHS.

This time, I had am amazing Endochrinology nurse (I’ll call her Violet) who convinced me that getting my diabetes numbers down would only be a good thing for the surgery and that I should give Trulicity another try. So, November 2023, I started. I already had enough pens for six weeks – two weeks on 1.5mg, 2 weeks on 3mg and then up to 4.5mg.

The difference was pretty much immediate. I suffered from a number of side effects: nausea, chronic fatigue, vomiting and constipation. But I wasn’t hungry – the noise in my head that was always on about food, what I’d just eaten, what I wanted to eat, what food I saw on the TV – it was just gone. And with it gone, as well as false hunger pangs, I was absolutely fine eating a small breakfast and a dinner. I was full (often overfull) from the smallest meals and felt amazing. And the scales! The scales were dropping at an amazing rate – I put new batteries in to be sure that I was getting an accurate reading! It was working.

I read a few things that gave me food for thought (pun intended). Like how for years, many fat people had been made to feel like failures and pariahs because they couldn’t control their eating (or wouldn’t control their eating), how weight loss was simply calories in, calories out and how it showed a lack of commitment to being healthy and fit to remain fat. Like it was something that people aim for rather than fight against. Like so many fat people haven’t tried every single diet out there (including all of the frankly ridiculous/dangerous ones) and failed each time.

Semaglutide and its’ ability to help people lose weight is revolutionary. And of course, that means it can (and is) being monetized. There are people paying hundreds per month to buy what they hope is the real thing on the black market. People taking ‘compounds’ and hoping that they’re safe but willing to take the risk in order to lose the weight. Which is kinda horrifying actually.

So here I am, Monday 22nd January 2024, hoping that the doctor is going to pull a rabbit out of their hat tomorrow and make it possible for me to continue this journey with this help. And it’s not an exaggeration to say that I am terrified about trying to continue to do this without this help. Because if I manage to lose another chunk of weight but put it all back on, I can’t imagine how impossible life could be weighing more than I did at the start of November.