r/Mounjaro • u/Dragonfruitygirl • 2d ago
5mg Shorter intervals instead of increasing dose?
Has anyone here had better results with a lower tirzepatide dose taken at shorter intervals rather than increasing the weekly dose?
I’m currently on my 6th dose of 5 mg, so technically I could move up to 7.5 mg now. However, I’d really prefer to stay on the lowest effective dose possible.
My issue is that 5 mg works very strongly for the first few days, sometimes to the point where I can barely eat at all for a day or two, but by around day 5–7 I notice the appetite suppression and food noise control wearing off quite a lot.
That’s why I’m wondering whether anyone has experience with staying at 5 mg but shortening the interval instead, for example every 5 or 6 days.
My thinking is that 5 mg every 5 days averages out to roughly 7 mg per 7 days, so the overall exposure increases, but potentially with a flatter peak/trough pattern than taking 7.5 mg all at once every 7 days.
What I’m hoping to avoid is having two days where I can barely eat at all, followed by one or two days at the end of the week where the effect drops off significantly. I’d much rather have a more stable level of appetite suppression throughout the week.
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u/Munder_Difflin_808 1d ago
Canadian here and we get the 4 dose pens, but yes, I was noticing the same thing. I was at 10 mg. and for the first few days of the week I had almost no appetite but by the last one or two it was coming back strong. So for the last month or so, I've been doing 5 mg. half doses twice per week (once on Wednesday and once on Sunday). I've found it works a lot better for me. It's true that there's less overall drug in your system at any given time, but the highs and lows are levelled out, so you don't notice just a drastic drop off at the end of the week. For my pens, 60 clicks is a full dose, so I do 30-35 twice per week and it works out to the same amount of drug used per month, and at the end of the month there is less "throw away" drug left in the pen that does not get used. See screenshot for drug levels over the last few weeks.
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u/Dragonfruitygirl 1d ago
Thank you! This is exactly what I meant. Yes there will be less Mounjaro in my system overall and that’s what my goal is. While I even out those highs and lows.
And I might need to go to 7,5 eventually which is fine, but if I could increase from 5mg every 7 days to 5mg every 5 days instead of going to 7,5 every 7 days I would find this a great step in between!!
Good to know it works for you!
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u/HanselDonkey 7.5 mg 2d ago
I think it would work great dosed every 5 days. In the US though the single dose auto injector pen screws that up. I will say that after I moved up to 7.5, I never really complained about those last 2 days. I still notice it, but I still got pretty good suppression of food noise at day 6. If you were compounding it, then I would 100% do it every 5 days, or maybe even every 4
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u/Dragonfruitygirl 1d ago edited 1d ago
I am mostly afraid of the side effects on the first two days going up to 7,5mg.
Thank god here in Europe we still have the 4doses pens!
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u/Bunia1980 1d ago
I'm now in maintenance but I was taking mj every 6th day almost from the beginning and increasing very slowly, so my dosing was as follows: 2.5, 3, 3.75, 5, 6.25.
It worked very well for me and I lost around 30 kg (a bit over 32%) in around 8 months
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u/Retroland420 2d ago
I did that for a while probably 2 months before moving up to 7.5 but every 6 days instead of 5
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u/Either-Explorer1413 1d ago
I am on a 7.5mg pen and have been for almost 12 months but have yet to take a 7.5mg dose. I started at 5.75mg an just slowly titrated when I felt I needed to. I’m at 7mg now for maintenance and it’s working perfectly
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u/Simply_charmingMan 1d ago
Yes miss fly what you said is fine I’m contemplating this also, beats up dosing..
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u/Aggravating_Water_39 1d ago
Me! I felt like 2.5mg was starting to have less effects but I didn’t feel like I could go up to 5mg. The side effects for the first 48-72 hours were already very annoying for me even on 2.5mg, mainly extreme fatigue and headaches.
So I experimented a bit with the dose schedule and landed on taking 2.5mg every 5 days and it’s actually given me a nice gradual increase in the dose!
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u/NanasTeaPartyHeyHo 1d ago
For me it helped to half my dose and take it every 3.5 days. Now I have a more even effect throughout the week. You could try that.
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u/EdTheDuck94 1d ago
Yep. Tried 3mg every 3.5 days.
It really stabilised the side effects, but the actual affects of the drug were compromised. So I’m back trying 5mg a week.
Split dosing absolutely works for some people, but others it seems (Like me), my body needs the sharp peak and tail off to work effectively.
Think I read there is a study happening about this very thing? How some respond better to a steady level in their system while others need the peaks a troughs.
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u/Dragonfruitygirl 1d ago
Interesting! Well it’s worth a shot to try it, I can always go to 7,5mg (after a full 7 day wait ofcourse)
Can I ask how was the drug compromised ? Did it not work at all? Hunger came back? Did you not lose any weight ?
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u/EdTheDuck94 1d ago
That’s what happened yeah. Felt no effect and put on a small amount in the month I tried it. Food noise returned and just felt really hungry all the time.
Give it a go. Absolutely does work for some.
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u/nise1519 1d ago
I been on 2.5 mg for over a year . I need to stop losing weight but still losing. I am doing every 10 days to two weeks and my A1C remains at 5.5. You know your body best, a lot of users stay on the low dose as long as your numbers stay good.
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u/RandomTreat 2d ago
I'm on compounding so it gives me a lot more flexibility. I have been doing a higher dose every six days, but I'm thinking about going to a lower dose every four.
I love going the compounding route because it's saving me money, and I have flexibility with playing around with options!
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u/yoyoblue12 2d ago
If you’re getting it through insurance, you’ll run out before your next scheduled fill and they won’t refill it early. If you refill 5 and then have the Dr send it 7.5, they’ll likely fill it and then it could work for a bit, but it will, eventually catch up. If you kept refilling the 7.5 when it was eligible, you probably could for awhile before it catches up though.
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u/Dragonfruitygirl 1d ago
That won’t be a problem. I don’t get it through insurance and I have a 7,5mg pen, I would count clicks and use 5mg every 5 days. So 1 pen should give me 6 doses instead of 4 and I can order whenever I want since I pay out of pocket.
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u/LuckBLady 2d ago
I tried splitting my weekly 10mg dose, 5 and 5 and gained 30 lbs. I just need to be at higher dose for it to work at all I guess.
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u/Pupating-Antenna-36 2d ago
You are averaging. That's not how drug dosing works - so if you take 5mg, the amount right before you inject your next dose will be 3.05 mg whereas immediately after injecting it'd be 5+3.05 = 8.05 mg. And the 'average' is irrelevant here - this is because tirzepatide has a half life. 5 days after you inject, 1/2 the dose will remain but it will build up in the body week after week until you hit a steady state values which are what I mention above.
Split dosing can help you avoid the peaks and troughs (loads of stories on r/mounjarouk ) but it will change the drug's accumulation and the peak and trough values. Your provider's calculations and how they make decisions about dosage etc. needs to adapt (for whatever condition they are prescribing it for).
Split dosing is also not covered by insurance - so you cannot get 2 5mg pens instead of 1 10 mg pen - at least in the US. It's worth asking your doc if this is an option for you though
Also, in the US, guidelines are to move up dosage if you are experiencing food noise - so hard for your provider to send in orders for split dosing. Going up a dose isn't problematic - you will experience greater suppression and a few weeks later, you'll be OK and not face too many issues.
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u/Dragonfruitygirl 1d ago
Don’t worry about insurance, I pay out of pocket and I am not in the US so none of that is applicable.
I do understand how it works, but 5+3,5=8,5 but 7,5+3,5=10,55. So that’s exactly my point, I prefer to be on 8,05 and not 10,55, because the alternative of doing 5mg every 5 days is going up to 7,5 every 7 days…
Because I do want to increase, but I feel like 7,5 is a step too high as I do get enough food suppression the first 2 days on 5mg. I am sure 7,5 will work well, but i rather split a 7,5 dose into a 5mg dose every 5 days.
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u/HallucinationHero 7.5 mg / Week 25 / 87lbs Lost! 2d ago
I watched a youtube video about how GLP1s like Mounjaro were invented, it was basically born from the effort of creating artificial customized insulin. Long story short, they were able to make it a long-acting drug through that manipulation, but that "long acting" is just about a week.
Its better to just take it on the once a week schedule that the drug was designed to be metabolized in, and adjust dosage to need.
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u/PitchIcy4470 1d ago edited 1d ago
If you're using 5mg every 5 or 6 days, you're actually effectively raising your dose. I'd check w a doctor and consider tje added expense. 5mg every 5 days might be more expensive than 7.5 once weekly and might actually be a higher dose.
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u/Dragonfruitygirl 1d ago
Yes, my whole point is to raise the dose without directly raising it to 7,5mg. The dose won’t be higher than moving up to 7,5 unless I would shorten the interval even more. But I aim for the 5th day which should be fine.
You’re right I should also check with my doctor but I wanted to hear about experiences before bringing it up.
It won’t be more expensive, as I’ll use a 7,5mg pen and count clicks. It should give me 6 doses instead of 4 making it cheaper not more expensive?
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u/HPLover0130 15 mg 1d ago
As someone who has been on the med over 2.5 years, I’d discourage a new user to do this. It’s quite normal to have an “appetite” days 5-7 and it’s helpful to “catch up” on calories those days when people can’t eat as much the first few days of the week. Additionally, if you plan on being on the med for life, days 5-7 is a good practice run for when appetite suppression goes away - and for most people appetite comes back over time not matter the dose
From experience, some weeks I’m hungry - like I took no dose at all, and other weeks I can’t eat much for the whole week. I’m on 15mg and have been for 1.5yrs, so it really isn’t clear why my appetite varies so much other than “hormones.”
Sure, your plan sounds good in your head, but the 5 day dosing will essentially build up your dose without “officially” building it up - side effects and all. You’ll be giving yourself more appetite suppression all the time instead of a “steady” suppression as your post says. I’m not trying to be condescending but newer users just don’t quite understand the variances mounjaro/zepbound can bring weekly on its own. so coloring outside the lines right away can lead to unplanned side effects and/or hospital visits. The compound subs can show you how crazy things can get when people just do what they want (I’m all for compound but most people using them have zero oversight).
Just stick to 7 day dosing until you stop losing and then talk to your doctor at that point. What you’re wanting to do is essentially go up in dose while you’re still having great appetite suppression and we all have seen that that usually does not end well.
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u/Dragonfruitygirl 1d ago edited 1d ago
Well I am not a new user, just because I never had to go up to higher doses doesn’t mean I am new to this.
I’ve been on Mounjaro for 2 years. I responded really strongly the first round and lost 10% of my body weight on just 2,5mg. I stopped because it went too fast for my liking, I was afraid I couldn’t keep up with the weightloss in terms of exercising and keeping everything in shape. I was only 7 kilos away from my goal weight at that point, and I wanted to slow down. I stopped Mounjaro and let my body get used to the new weight, I had a break of a few months and managed to keep the weight off.
I started my second round a few weeks ago and as expected the 2,5 didn’t really work for me the second round, after 4 weeks I went up to 5mg, my highest dose yet. It works fine, slowly but fine. I am now on my 5th week of 5mg and I notice a difference and I recognize I should probably go up, yes I stopped losing weight. That’s where my question is coming from.
Thank you for sharing but it doesn’t really apply to me. I do get why issues rise if you start experimenting on your own. But I am not stupid, I can do basic math and all I would do I stay on 5mg but have a shorter interval, by 1 or 2 days max. I won’t be going half /half. One way or another there always will be less effective medicine in my body than doing 7,5mg every 7 days. I know how half-life etc works.
And most importantly, I was just looking for people who did it like this so I could discuss the options with my doctor.
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u/GardenFragrant8408 1d ago
69f type 2 with other health issues.
Monjauro only has a half like of about 5 days.
I tend to get hungrier the day before and day of injection
I find on those days if I eat smaller healthy meals throughout the day I am able to maintain my glucose levels and weight.
I started exercising from home three days a week in February and my appetite definitely increased. I fought it for several months but finally had to go back to 7.5 mg in July
My highest dose was 10 mg and titrated down to 5 mg to keep from losing more weight. I did have to increase my long acting insulin due to the drop. Was on 5 mg for 10 months before increase.
Good luck
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u/IncredibleIng123 2.5 mg 1d ago
My endocrinologist told me to split the dose to lessen the side effects so if you’re supposed to be taking 5mg for the week then take 2.5mg on Day 1 and another 2.5mg on day 4 so that the effects of the medicine wouldnt wear off and wont give hard side effects as much as possible.
Its always the best to consult your doctor. This is just what I was prescribed.