You got a box of Zepbound - now what?
Crossposting from Reddit's /r/zepbound sub.
I have worked on this over time in the Mounjaro sub but thought I would post it as it might help a few people.
These are not set rules, but rather a guide that has been found helpful by myself and others. In the early stages of taking the drug, the following steps may prove to be helpful:
Taking the Medicine
- Wait several weeks after picking up the prescription prior to starting. This will give you buffer for supply shortages in the future. These are very real and very impactful so while not required this is highly recommended.
- Go buy the OTC meds listed below in the side effects. These are for just in case they are needed.
- Store your pens in the box and keep inside your refrigerator. Remember vibration, light, extreme cold or heat above 80 degrees Fahrenheit will reduce the effectiveness of your drug.
- Read the booklet inside the box before you do anything. Seriously read it!
- Be intentional about selecting your shot day. For example, doing it on a Friday means experiencing maximum effect over the weekend when tendency to indulge is typically high Re: selecting injection day. Or, you may wish to inject on a Wednesday or Thursday if you experience side effects for a day or two after injection. (so, by the weekend, you’re feeling great and hunger suppression is still strong enough to counter any temptation to over-indulge) Make a choice that works for your life.
- If you need to move your shot day you may do so as long as you don’t take two doses in under 4 days or more than 14 days apart. Under 4 may result in too much medicine in your system. Over 14 days and Eli Lilly recommends starting over from 2.5mg. Either way consult your doctor prior for either scenario.
- Select an injection site location and be sure to rotate between several locations. The injection is hardly noticeable but if you let the pen come to room temp for 30 minutes prior to the shot you will not get a burning sensation from the cold.
- If the pen malfunctions or you have any issues / questions post injection then call Eli Lilly ASAP. Number on the box! KEEP THE PEN. Don’t discard as Eli Lilly may offer to exchange the pen.
- Process a refill as soon as you use pen #3 in each box. Note: If you have a prescription that allows for a 3 month supply then get all 3 months. This will help you manage through potential shortages.
Lifestyle Changes
- Drinking 32oz of water three times a day helps regulate digestion.
- Incorporating lean meats and green vegetables in meals provided essential nutrients and fiber while protein helps alleviate tiredness, and vegetables regulated constipation.
- It’s advisable to minimize fat, sugar, and carbs during this period for better results.
- Purge your house of highly processed or sugary foods, and avoid artificial sweeteners as they interfere with the medicine’s glucagon impact.
- Pick a weigh-in day and maintain regularity. Don’t be surprised or discouraged by stalls that occasionally last weeks or even a month as they are normal. Aim for slow, healthy weight loss of around 2 pounds per week.
- Track calories and macros using an app of your choice. Use this journey to change the way you eat, learn about your nutritional needs, and focus on eating healthier, decreasing the loss of lean muscle mass.
- Get into a fitness routine or some sort. This does not have to be drastic are rigorous but again success with Mounjaro is about changing your lifestyle and health trajectory of which weight loss is just one key metric.
As Your Journey Progresses
- Be ready to titrate up but not too eagerly. One does not have to get to 15mg unless their doctor advises otherwise. Work with your doctor to find the correct dosage, and avoid rushing to the top. This also helps keep weight loss in the 2lb range, preventing loose skin, hair loss, and other side effects of rapid weight loss.
- Start planning for what life looks like at the end of the weight loss journey. This process is called maintenance, and it is vital to keep sight of what happens afterward. It’s essential to avoid being a statistic and gaining back 80% of the lost weight.
- Regularly test your fasting Glucose, A1C, blood pressure, heart rate and cholesterol panel. This may be needed in the future to support insurance claims or future PAs.
Managing Side Effects:
- Taking Pepto as needed may help reduce (sulfur) burps. This may turn you tongue black which is normal.
- Taking a Pepcid Complete as needed may help alleviate heartburn.
- Taking Imodium as need for for diarrhea.
- Taking stool softeners as needed aids with constipation early.
Note: Some people have no side effects and some people have a lot. Each person is different. If you don’t have indigestion, don’t the med but have it on hand. Some people have diarrhea instead of constipation, so be prepared but see if you have a side effect before assuming you will have it and taking another medication. Don’t be afraid of side effects or giving shots or any of the other fear thoughts that are stopping you from opening that box and changing your life. You got this!
Have additional issues or questions about Mounjaro, please head to:
Mounjaro Website
Could be. I had an immediate response to it - I injected on a Tuesday evening, and was uninterested in food the following morning, which lasted for the following week.
That said, I'm using terzepatide rather than semaglutide.
All of the programming languages I can think of apply operator precedence as noted in the first reply. That's the only standard I ever learned, and I've never seen any ambiguity in that.
I have been meditating more-or-less daily for > 10 years. It is a very useful practice, depending on your goals. It's good to ask yourself why you want to meditate, so you can tell if it's working or not. It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem if you don't know what other people get out of it, though, so here are a few things that I have been aiming for, and how well it worked for me.
Nibbana / Cessation
Many practitioners have spoken of a mental state where thoughts cease, and time seems to pass in an instant. It is supposed to be a transformative experience according to most traditions. You are a wiser, calmer and more caring person from that point forward.
I was seeking this for a long time, and I say it's bullshit. (Or maybe just not possible without becoming a monk & practicing all day every day, which is the same thing when someone tells you it's posslble to get there in 30-60 minutes per day.)
Feel happier / less anxious
Anxiety and depression are things a lot of people with ADHD feel. I have found that daily practice really does help with this. Breath meditation improved my mood and gave me a bit more peace, but a "metta" style (I mostly follow a practice called TWIM) works really well for me.
Make better decisions
You wouldn't think that this would come from just sitting there focusing on your breath (or in the case of metta/TWIM, on a warm, happy feeling), but it does for me. I think that the reason I tend to eat better, exercise more, etc, come from a better understanding of my own mind. There is so much noise in most people's minds (and probably more than average in our ADHD minds), that sitting down to meditate feels like your brain suddenly went into overdrive & you can't focus on anything. The truth is that meditation lets you notice that your mind is always like this. Realizing this (the constant state of distraction) helps me trust my gut reactions less, and rely on logic more.
Improve your focus
Meditation helped me build more focus. Even though you can't really keep your attention on the meditation object for more than a few seconds at a time, constantly (and gently - it takes a long time to learn to be more gentle) directing it back over & over again "builds that muscle". Meaning, I'm able to redirect my attention like non-ADHD people seem to, more of the time.
Caveats
Maybe I can save you a bit of struggle, or maybe you need to suffer through it yourself. In any case, here is some additional advice, if you want to pursue this:
- Don't worry about the mystical parts of meditation, unless you find that motivating. It can be purely secular & still be effective (and maybe even "spiritual").
- Don't try to follow the standard advice for duration. I'd suggest starting VERY small / slow. Just 1-5m per day. If you haven't meditated, it will seem like you're trying to herd cats with even that much time, at first. I was doing 45-60m/day for over a year, and it was unpleasant. I do 15-30m per day now (most days, 15-20), and I get a lot more benefit from it because it's relaxing.
- Do follow the advice on frequency. This is something best done every day. Put it on your calendar until it's a habit.
- Smile while you do it. You don't have to put on a huge grin (though I often do - it just feels natural now).
- Don't worry if you forget a day, or a week, or a month. It will still be available to you if/when you come back to it.
- Get a random reminder timer (I use an android one called "Randomly Remind Me") to ping you a few times per day, and do a mini meditation. I find that I can get MUCH calmer with just 3 slow breaths or a reminder to do "6 R's" (see TWIM, above) for 30 sec.
Good luck!
I used to get that, long before I was diagnosed, though. I woke up many times thinking that an earthquake was happening. (I live in Michigan, so this is quite unlikely.)
Still no idea why, but it hasn't happened in several years.
Where to get resin/rosin carts, or other options to try?
I find that distillate doesn't do much for me, and I'd like an option that is more discrete & convenient than smoking or vaping flower. Distillate does have an effect, but I find that it mostly just makes me feel clumsy and sleepy. Little to none of the euphoria that I get from flower.
A bit of reading online says that live resin carts might be a good option, but that real ones will be 45-65% THC and > 15% terpenes. The best they had at my local dispensary (Joyology in Lake Orion) was 80% THC, .13% CBD and < 7% terps. That sounds a lot more like distillate than live resin. (I'm no expert - this is just what I've read - please correct me if it's out of date or nonsense.) I guess I'll try it later this week & see.
Does anyone know of a place that carries the real thing? (I'm on the north side of the metro Detroit area.) Or another type of cart worth trying for when smoking/vaping flower isn't practical?
My favorite is actually Meds Cafe in Rogers City. It's a small shop, they have a really solid selection. I think there are a lot of growers up there, because not at all hard to find interesting and fresh bud. That said, I don't have a ton of experience with a lot of different dispensaries. I've been to maybe half a dozen total.
My go-to is Joyology in Auburn hills. They are decent, their prices seem only slightly higher than a little up north shop. Most importantly, they are close to my house. 🙂
Yes. Just sandwich it between layers of flower.
Really? I haven't used chrome on a phone in... I'm not sure how long. Since pre-pandemic, anyway.
That said, I spend a lot of time on a laptop, so maybe I just don't use as many sites through the mobile browser. I DO sometimes use Edge or Brave on my laptop because sites don't work. It isn't so much the browser is broken as the sites, though.
Apologies for the link without a preview. I'm trying to figure out how to attach images, but I think the instance I joined has an issue with pasting them directly in, so I'm trying different options.
A friend in need...
Posted in r/PoliticalHumor by u/silasisgolden • 1,094 points and 30 comments
Where to buy pipe tobacco? One place I have found...
(@[email protected], let me know if you have a problem with posting links to vendors in here. Since this isn't Reddit, I figure it's fine as long as it isn't for self-promotion, but let me know and I'll remove it and/or just add search terms instead of linking directly.)
I prefer to buy at a brick & mortar store so I can support local businesses, but I haven't found one with much selection locally (yet). I'm in the metro Detroit area (Michigan, USA), and there is a local chain called "Wild Bill's Tobacco" that has a few Ashton blends that I like, but their selection is only around 10 blends total, half of which are bulk.
SmokingPipes.com has a very large selection, and I have already put in my second order there. I'm finding that I'm partial to Virgina blends, but it's still early days on my pipe journey, so I haven't purchased anything larger than 100g (3.5oz) yet.
Note that they also have a large selection of pipes there. I picked up one by Erik Nording for < $50 that I really like, though you can spend a LOT more. (They have a filter so you can filter out the really high-priced ones.)
Thanks for starting this community. I came here with the intention of doing the same thing. :-)
I found this forum a week or so ago, and I've been posting there. I'm not suggesting that people abandon this community and go there, but it's worth searching for newbie questions and topics.
More to the point, I'd love to see people reference topics there as a conversation-starter. I'd like to bring that part of the conversation into the fediverse, rather than a place owned by (and contingent upon the success of) a business.
Last night I was puffing on some "Bengal Slices" while reading "Dark State" by @[email protected]. Strong and complex, I'm new enough to smoking pipes that I won't try to describe it further.
I find that sweeter blends like Virginias don't pair all that well with beer - a sweeter beverage (for me, diet ginger ales) or a whiskey work well with that.
Beer seems to work pretty well with more in-your-face English blends.
Take all of this with a grain of salt, though - I have been a cigar smoker for decades, but I didn't smoke a pipe for > 10 years until a few weeks ago. :-)
I'm thinking that a lot of my cigar pairing will work well with a pipe, though.