Mounjaro Weekly Rant: Post-Vacation Update

If you wondered where the weekly updates went, Jen and I have been on vacation for a few weeks, so I want to share my on-vacation performance with any interested readers. This post will focus on managing Mounjaro administration while on the road and dealing with dietary issues that are the bugaboo of diabetic vacationers. Additionally, I will mention a friend’s huge weight loss and diabetes improvement using Mounjaro.

Recapping where I was prior to vacation, my current Mounjaro dose is 5 mg I had been on 2.5 mg for eight weeks, and 5 mg for two weeks. I had reported average blood glucose of 100 mg/dL. My weight had stabilized with about a 30-pound overall loss, and my blood pressure was in the normal range after a drop in losartan dosage from 100 to 50 mg. My morning fasting glucose was averaging 91, and just before leaving, I noted an 83. Excellent progress! So, naturally, I was concerned about not maintaining that substantial progress on vacation.

Vacation Food Challenges

My wife and I decided on the OMAD strategy, meaning one meal a day. Of course, she, being a thyroid disaster, needed to modify that regimen to include some small snacks during the day. We were either on the road or doing activities, so the temptation to sit around and eat was minimal. The problem is, eating either restaurant or catered food every evening still presents a challenge for a diabetic trying to avoid carbs and the ultra-processed crap that got him there in the first place. (No, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes are not communicable diseases, as Big Pharma and their follow-the-money co-conspirators three-letter federal agencies would have you believe. They are chronic conditions resulting from the crap pushed at us by Big Fooda. But I digress).

We ate at restaurants frequently. We also enjoyed home cooking with friends in Pennsylvania for the several nights we stayed there. Then, at the three-day event we attended in New Hampshire we had two catered lunches and a dinner, all fortunately implemented to a higher and more healthful standard than all the prior such events I had attended. On those three days, I had two meals. At restaurants, I chose proteins and limited carbs to vegetables and occasionally, pasta. However, on our last night on the road, Jenny and I split a medium-sized pizza, my only quasi-decadent indulgence.

I felt no hunger during the day. Activities and the Mounjaro, keep the hunger bug at bay, although I must tell you that the hunger suppression on Mounjaro has abated after the first eight weeks, even though I increased the dose after that. I will discuss this with my doctor next week.

How I Dealt with Refrigeration of Mounjaro

I bought a little insulin cooler that operates on built-in rechargeable batteries, which enabled us to be on the road for nine or ten hours and keep the Mounjaro cool. I needed it to store only two pens, but it can accommodate three. What I found in my home testing was that humid air would condense inside the storage chamber, so I put the Mounjaro in a ziplock bag.

Here is a word of advice for those who buy this unit: fully charge the batteries each night, preferably using the plug-in charger that comes with it. I tried using the USB cord, but it took forever, either plugged into my laptop or an old multi-port charger I take along on road trips. (Later, I got a high-capacity multi-port charger, which worked fine). The battery will last a day on a full charge.

How cold will it keep the Mounjaro? At home, my test showed that it could achieve 2-3 degrees Celsius, which would be close to ideal. However, sitting in a hot car all day, the temperature would rise to 12-13, which is not bad, but not ideal for long-term storage. Note that Mounjaro can be stored at room temperature (up to 30 degrees Celsius) for up to twenty days, so no harm done. Just keep that battery charged, because a hot car can destroy your precious cargo!

An Unexpected Incidental Mounjaro Story

On our way to New Hampshire, we spent an evening and a night’s lodging with a friend in Connecticut who I hadn’t seen for a couple of years. Pulling into the driveway of his house, some guy came out of the garage to greet us. Jenny and I wondered who the hell it was, as we had never seen this guy before, but quickly, we realized that it was Fred. He had shed 115 pounds and looked like a different person.

I asked him to tell his story, which involved Mounjaro. He had gone to the doctor in January, found that he was seriously diabetic, and wound up on Mounjaro. He was quite sure he was going to die soon if he didn’t get his diabetes under control. On Mounjaro, his maximum dose was 10 mg, and his most serious complication was constipation. It takes a lot more than Mounjaro to lose that amount of weight, so hats off to Fred for his accomplishment and best wishes for him to keep his diabetes under control.

So, Give Me the Results, Already!

As one might expect, the compromises of vacation living and eating created a hitch in my progress with blood glucose. I tested only once a day on vacation, fasting, when I woke up. The average morning glucose for the past week was 111, and for the past two weeks (encompassing the entire vacation) was 108. I would give this my family’s maximum rating of “not too bad.”

As for my weight, well, what am I supposed to do on vacation, eat donuts and gain weight, like the gratuitous weight-loss bloggers say you should because you shouldn’t deny yourself the crap you crave? Like they think the best part of an enjoyable vacation is eating? OMG, eat whatever you want because you’re taking a wonder drug that lets you do whatever the hell you want? No, fatsos, this is not a paradigm for managing your metabolic syndrome. That mode of thinking is what got you there in the first place and it is why you will inevitably fail at any crash diet, drug induced or otherwise. Indulging your cravings will only make them stronger.

All that having been said — and said from experience, because I have been there and done that many times — I lost two pounds while on vacation. And no, I didn’t miss the donuts, which were laid out on the table each morning at the three-day event. My biggest indulgence was the macaroni salad, and a sparing proportion at that. And thus, I am pleased that the trip did not cause me to alter my thinking by going into “I’m on vacation, so who gives a shit?” mode.

Wrapping It Up

Back home now, I hope to resume my weekly updates. I will see my doctor next Wednesday, a real, live in-person visit with a real, live primary care physician. In other words, not a screen session with some TikTok doc hired to sell tirzepatide for the thinly disguised fat farm “telehealth clinic” that employs him. At that visit, I’ll discuss Mounjaro dosage. As I had noted, paradoxically, when I switched to 5 mg from 2.5, not only did the appetite suppression abate, but also the side-effects decreased, namely constipation. Does this mean the drug is performing because my “system” has accommodated it? Would it be appropriate to go to 7.5 mg?

Thanks for reading my Mounjaro updates. Please, if I can answer any questions, let me know. And for those of you who have asked me why I do not make YouTube videos, I’ll tell you why: 1) it is too much work, 2) I am too old and ugly to put my face on video, and 3) I am too politically incorrect for YouTube. I don’t care about “monetization”, just sharing experiences with interested diabetics. Finally, the gratuitous weight-loss crowd who are just fat without complications would run me out of town for refuting their fundamental assertion that obesity is a disease to be treated by drugs sold by profit-oriented compounding pharmacies and their telehealth clinic collaborators.

UPDATE: I tested positive for COVID-19 upon my return, so I’ll be chilling out for a while. I’ll let you know how I am doing in next Monday’s update.