INTRO My first month of Reta

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myboysherman

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Spent a couple months reading without posting. The folks in this community are genuinely great, and I'm thankful for that. My BMI has sat around 31 for quite some time. A few years back, keto worked and I shed roughly 30lbs, but a long illness followed by recovery undid all of it and the weight came right back. Over just under five weeks I've moved from ca. 234 down to 227 — roughly matching the pace I had on keto with mild IF, except now I don't need to dodge my wife at dinner. Way better.

During week one at 1mg x2/week, I ran into some concerning arrhythmia, so I eased off and began again gradually. That early hiccup put my progress on hold for a bit, and things seem to be leveling out fine now @.75mg every three days. My plan was to move back up to 1mg tomorrow, though this morning's scale reading looked good enough that I might hold off.

I drink in moderation. Reta has clearly changed how alcohol hits me. Still, avoiding overdoing it isn't hard. That first week I went entire days without any alcohol, but that phase has passed for now.

Once sema/ipa shows up, I plan to add it. What worries me most is the risk of turning this into a hobby. I could use the anti-obsessive peptide.
 
My top tip: don't increase your dose until it's truly necessary. I've settled in nicely at 1mg twice weekly, and I plan to remain at this level for as long as I can. What I really enjoy is being able to hit my macro targets while keeping cravings—and alcohol urges—in check!
 
hi there. hold on — so reta suppresses cravings overall, including alcohol cravings in people who drink heavily?
 
Now that I've been officially dubbed an alcoholic, I'd also like to hear how drinking while taking Reta has gone for you—could you share more? Ty
 
Welcome! I haven't completely given up alcohol either, but I know I need to. During a 2-week stretch without drinking, my weight came off much faster. Then I picked it back up, and although I'm still losing, it's nowhere near as quick thanks to all those empty calories.

Go easy with it. I'm now in month 3 of Reta, and for the past 2 weeks I've been at 1.5mg E3D. Even so, my appetite is still almost nonexistent. If that doesn't ease up soon, I might drop to 1.25 E3D.

And welcome down the rabbit hole! Reta was my starting point, then I began exploring anything that seemed like it might address what I'm going through, and I've already gone all in on the gray.
 
sinan said:

hi there. hold on — so reta suppresses cravings overall, including alcohol cravings in people who drink heavily?
Click to expand...
During the first 10 days or so—prior to lowering my dosage—I felt a lot less desire to consume alcohol, and even to endlessly scroll through social media. Still, I've generally found it easy to pass on drinks when I have a reason to, and I was absorbed in my new peptide interest, so this isn't strong proof. Even so, I tend to believe the effect is genuine.

On Super Bowl Sunday, which happened to be the day of my 3rd dose, I overindulged a little: roughly 5 drinks across 4 hours, an amount that normally wouldn't be a problem. Instead, I abruptly became very intoxicated with that final drink, and the following day I was mildly hungover. That was unpleasant, so since then I've limited myself to no more than 2 generous pours.

So be careful: alcohol behaves differently while on Reta. Even so, I do believe Reta reduces compulsive behaviors, and those urges are beginning to return, which has me considering increasing the dose again.

Edit: I also wanted to mention the arrhythmia. I've undergone valve replacements and an ablation for SVT. I get frequent PVCs and PACs. Things seemed to worsen a great deal following my 3rd injection, but I blamed it on the drinking I described above. It persisted for a couple of days, though, and that's why I put off the next dose.

After reducing to .5mg five days later and replenishing electrolytes with K, Mg, and Na, I felt better than I ever had. I already knew Mg could help in this situation, but Potassium may have been the key. No matter what happens with Reta, I'll definitely continue using electrolyte drinks and supplements. So if anyone searches for palpitations, I hope this experience proves useful.
 
I’m not a heavy drinker, yet plenty of people have mentioned that Reta seems to reduce alcohol consumption. And yeah, it’s tough to avoid fixating on it.
 
I’ve also been reading without posting for some time, and my feelings about this community match yours — plenty of useful details and folks who are open about what they’ve actually been through.

Nice work on what you’ve achieved so far. Shedding pounds at roughly the same rate as keto, but without arranging every part of your life around it, seems like a real victory. And it was a good call to lower the dose once the arrhythmia showed up and then return to it gradually — paying attention to what your body tells you matters a lot with this kind of thing.

Your point about alcohol is intriguing as well. A number of others have said Reta alters the way it affects them, so that experience clearly isn’t unique to you.

The “anti-obsessive peptide” line made me laugh too — I suspect many of us know that feeling. It doesn’t take much for this subject to become a deep rabbit hole. Thanks for telling us how it’s gone for you, and I’m eager to hear more as you continue fine-tuning.
 
sinan said:

hi there. hold on — so reta suppresses cravings overall, including alcohol cravings in people who drink heavily?
Click to expand...
In my case, yes. Before starting reta I used to drink a six pack every day, but these days it's under 2 per week.

CalanB said:

Now that I've been officially dubbed an alcoholic, I'd also like to hear how drinking while taking Reta has gone for you—could you share more? Ty
Click to expand...
Alcohol while on reta feels odd. With me, it's nothing, nothing, nothing, and then suddenly a freight train knocks me out and it all lands at once. It's not really enjoyable anymore. I used to be a heavyweight and needed a fair amount before I felt anything. Now, by drink 3 or 4 I'm basically done with it, if I decide to drink at all.
 
Injections are weekly, not every 3 or 5 days. Begin at 1mg or less so you can gauge how you tolerate it, then raise the dose roughly every 4 weeks, typically by doubling it. Its half life sits at about 6 days.

For me, any desire to drink disappeared entirely while on Reta. Even a few sips of beer left me close to throwing up and dealing with reflux.

Possibly this happens because gastric emptying slows down, so the stuff lingers in your Upper GI and aggravates the stomach lining.

Just my own take, but if someone is using Reta to lose weight, they probably have no business drinking regardless.

Glad to have you here.
 
sinan said:

hi there. hold on — so reta suppresses cravings overall, including alcohol cravings in people who drink heavily?
Click to expand...

That happens to be one of the study endpoints for a possible SUD indication.

I too have 1 or 2 drinks in the evening. My starting dose was .5, and during the first few days I had no interest, but on days 4-7 I reach for one again. My guess is that once I nitrate to 1 and above, the effect will last longer
 
haveadaytoday said:

My top tip: don't increase your dose until it's truly necessary. I've settled in nicely at 1mg twice weekly, and I plan to remain at this level for as long as I can. What I really enjoy is being able to hit my macro targets while keeping cravings—and alcohol urges—in check!
Click to expand...
Honestly, that's solid guidance.

My own start was tiny -- 0.5mg each 7 days, and I increased the dose at a snail's pace.. only reaching 1mg e5d! At this point I feel like that's already more than I need, since getting through the same portions I used to eat has become a real struggle, lol. For context -- I'm a fairly large, muscular guy (105kg before reta, 96kg now) and I do a range of sports too. So.. the right dose for you isn't always identical to what the research protocols use.
 
PinKushn said:

Welcome! I haven't completely given up alcohol either, but I know I need to. During a 2-week stretch without drinking, my weight came off much faster. Then I picked it back up, and although I'm still losing, it's nowhere near as quick thanks to all those empty calories.

Go easy with it. I'm now in month 3 of Reta, and for the past 2 weeks I've been at 1.5mg E3D. Even so, my appetite is still almost nonexistent. If that doesn't ease up soon, I might drop to 1.25 E3D.

And welcome down the rabbit hole! Reta was my starting point, then I began exploring anything that seemed like it might address what I'm going through, and I've already gone all in on the gray.
Click to expand...
With semaglutide, my craving for alcohol was completely wiped out. In theory, Reta ought to produce the same effect once the dose is raised. While on Reta I might be able to have a drink, the urge simply hasn't shown up. Back on sema, even a brief passing idea of alcohol made me retch.

Should glps fail to deliver this benefit in your case, LDN remains an option to explore.
 
myboysherman said:

Spent a couple months reading without posting. The folks in this community are genuinely great, and I'm thankful for that. My BMI has sat around 31 for quite some time. A few years back, keto worked and I shed roughly 30lbs, but a long illness followed by recovery undid all of it and the weight came right back. Over just under five weeks I've moved from ca. 234 down to 227 — roughly matching the pace I had on keto with mild IF, except now I don't need to dodge my wife at dinner. Way better.

During week one at 1mg x2/week, I ran into some concerning arrhythmia, so I eased off and began again gradually. That early hiccup put my progress on hold for a bit, and things seem to be leveling out fine now @.75mg every three days. My plan was to move back up to 1mg tomorrow, though this morning's scale reading looked good enough that I might hold off.

I drink in moderation. Reta has clearly changed how alcohol hits me. Still, avoiding overdoing it isn't hard. That first week I went entire days without any alcohol, but that phase has passed for now.

Once sema/ipa shows up, I plan to add it. What worries me most is the risk of turning this into a hobby. I could use the anti-obsessive peptide.
Click to expand...
I'm with you on that 👍 Drinking wasn't a big issue for me either, but honestly, it's only day 2 on tirz and the urge to have a drink just isn't there.
 
Hearing that something can cut down on drinking is really motivating for me, since alcohol has honestly turned into a larger issue than food. Before I found this forum and came across this post (I'm new here), my assumption was that Reta and similar things mainly targeted how much you eat.
 
Yesterday it was time for the next dose. The scale showed a 2 pound gain. The previous day my hunger was quite pronounced, and my body told me to raise it to 1mg. By the time the next dose comes in a couple days (still sticking with my e3d for now), I ought to be back at the level I meant to begin at, roughly 2mg/week.

I'm using Shotsy to track levels and thinking about moving to e7d, but bumping the dose matters more right now, and I don't want to jump too far above target or see levels fall too low at this point. Without the setback, I'd be "due" for an increase around now, but I'll hold off and check whether my diminishing returns are still diminishing as I work back to where I started. Day-to-day readings are quite noisy and I'm not rushing.

Two drinks a night is still something I can do and enjoy, though when I first began at 2mg the early effects were stronger at quieting that urge to pour at all. Lately I'm also less inclined to turn down a second helping of food. According to Shotsy, active levels should be higher today, so we'll see.

I'm starting to feel that Shotsy or similar tools ought to offer adjustable half-life settings; I doubt one size fits all. Just a tentative observation.

Arrhythmia still in check.
 
Since the arrhythmia side effect is somewhat alarming, I figured I should post an update. I paused my doses until it had cleared up for several days, after which I titrated back up very gradually. By raising how often I dosed and lowering each dose, I returned to the levels I had reached before, as Shotsy shows — I reasoned that approach was less risky than resuming at full strength right away.

Meanwhile, I introduced a sports drink containing mg and K, and the result was a calmer heartbeat than I believe I have ever experienced. I'm now tripling down by adding a pill supplement with the same ingredients plus 1 banana each day.

During the stall I began drinking somewhat more, which muddies any conclusions, but at this point I'm at roughly the equivalent of 3.5mg/week, I feel fine, the weight is dropping again, and I once more have little desire to drink.

While titrating back up, I introduced tesa/ipa, which was great, though it lined up with weight gain. Once I have the reta dialed in, I'll restart that, and then I can be more confident that any added weight is simply water from tesa/ipa.

So for anyone who gets spooked by palpitations, that was my experience. Because the time intervals were fairly short, it isn't a particularly convincing case study, but perhaps it will be useful to someone.
 
myboysherman said:

Spent a couple months reading without posting. The folks in this community are genuinely great, and I'm thankful for that. My BMI has sat around 31 for quite some time. A few years back, keto worked and I shed roughly 30lbs, but a long illness followed by recovery undid all of it and the weight came right back. Over just under five weeks I've moved from ca. 234 down to 227 — roughly matching the pace I had on keto with mild IF, except now I don't need to dodge my wife at dinner. Way better.

During week one at 1mg x2/week, I ran into some concerning arrhythmia, so I eased off and began again gradually. That early hiccup put my progress on hold for a bit, and things seem to be leveling out fine now @.75mg every three days. My plan was to move back up to 1mg tomorrow, though this morning's scale reading looked good enough that I might hold off.

I drink in moderation. Reta has clearly changed how alcohol hits me. Still, avoiding overdoing it isn't hard. That first week I went entire days without any alcohol, but that phase has passed for now.

Once sema/ipa shows up, I plan to add it. What worries me most is the risk of turning this into a hobby. I could use the anti-obsessive peptide.
Click to expand...
Glad to have you here! This thread has some really good conversation and a wide range of approaches. You see schedules like E7D, E5D, E4D, and E3D, and starting doses anywhere from .25 up to 2.0. What made you land on your particular choice? Did someone with experience walk you through it and give pointers? Places such as this one and Reddit? Tiktok? I'm always interested in how folks arrive at these calls!
 
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