An update on my weightless injection question

Tired of (and depressed by) my overweight status, last week I wrote on here about debating with myself as to whether or not to join the growing number of people choosing to inject themselves to shift the pounds. What I didn’t say a I mused on the topic is that I’m a person who is wary of even taking an aspirin, so the thought of willingly injecting myself with medication – which is not about directly saving my life- is somewhat foreign to me. Although I would counter my own argument by saying that being overweight is very likely bad for my health and particulary where I have stored much of it – around my belly – which causes an increase risk of stroke in women and since my mother had one of those I’m aware that I need to hammer home that health issue to my own brain. Prevention, as we all know, is better than cure.

I went into other thoughts and feelings I have on the matter in last week’s post (you can find it here : https://edwinaingschambers.substack.com/p/to-inject-or-not-to-inject-that-is ). Nor for a moment did I expect the deluge of messages I received about that essay – both on Substack and sliding into my Instagram DMs alongside whatsapps from friends. I had no idea that so many people I know are on one of these drugs – or that there’s one degree of separation between me and someone who is. On the whole, I must say, the messages were both encouraging and positive – turns out the drugs do work. A few cheerily wrote :‘What have you got to lose but weight?!’.  A fair point, though there were some cautionary tales too which I will come to later because I absolutely do not want to be blasé about this.

Things I discovered from the people I know (which I must point out for reasons of balance is not even close to being an official survey and comes with no expert medical backing or knowledge) include:

Ozempic seemed to cause more side-effects for my  contacts and most had a better time on Manjaro. One had used Wegovy and had a very positive experience with it stayed on a low dose as increasing it brought on bad side-effects, and lost 13kg in 3 months going form a size 16 to a 14. Another tried Saxenda which they described as ‘intense, expensive, and daily injections but really worth it’.  

The drugs do apparently seem to quiet the noise in your head about eating, quell the constant thoughts and the impulses to emotionally eat. One said: ‘It’s fascinating and I feel freed from the food/eating obsession. I feel like my brain is wired like a normal person’s now.’

Me many moons ago feeling self-conscious in a swimsuit and thinking I was the size of a house even though I don’t believe I actually was

Apparently in France is it not available as it’s felt not enough is known yet about any possible long term effects (I have not yet checked this with the country of France but my friend is a highly reliable sort).

Some friends have simply got the drugs from weightloss clinics – given their current weight and goal weight and the drugs were sent. But most said to me that this is not the smart way to do it. One particularly wise friend who has done her homework on the topic said you need to check things like thyroid, whether you might be pre-diabetic, and that it’s also crucial to keep monitoring liver function.  Of course, this can get expensive as much of this is private medicine but if you’re losing weight for health reasons it’s only sensible that you keep that health at the forefront of all of your decisions.

Someone sounded a major note of caution, however. Weightloss jabs, she said, have caused two people she knows to develop diabetes and someone else has developed kidney problems.

In the end, after reading all of the messages, my inclination it to try one of them (most likely Manjaro) – under proper medical supervision.  Although first I think it’s no bad idea to just reconnect with my own body a bit, so I’m going to look into trying Zoe to understand how my body reacts to food and be more aware of what I’m eating and when. This feels particularly poignant after spending most of the week in the countryside without transport so unable to get to a supermarket or grocery store which meant carefully planning my meals and eating only what was allocated for each one - and not being able to give into any temptation whilst walking past or popping out to the shops.  I’m aware I’ve definitely eaten less and been forced to be more controlled.  So I should try to replicate this approach once I’m back at home.

I’ve also been thinking of trying a course of Symprove post-Zoe to try and boost my gut health – another kind responder said she’d done this and recommended it as a pre-injection route. Then, if I still want to, I think I’ll go and see someone about the injection option. So a little bit mañana Manjaro – but possibly not for long….

I’ll keep writing about what I’m trying on here and please do jump in with any comments or advice.  I’ve really enjoyed hearing from everyone this week.