Strawberrykitten
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I looked again and the number came out to 65, which likely exceeded what I can tolerate. For the time being I'll just halt and monitor how my body responds.
Itching, nausea
- Thread starter Strawberrykitten
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Not_Your_Dad
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At 65, you were on the verge of bypassing your 10 mg injection and jumping straight to 12.5. Given how you seem to react to larger Tirz doses, that was a pretty big leap.
Wishing you a speedy recovery!
Good-Heart6425
Explorer
During the first 12 weeks on compounded T, my side effects looked a lot like this. There was intense itching, plus welts across my torso, particularly in spots where clothing pressed into my skin, like the waistband and bra strap. I also had severe fatigue, sleepiness, and hair loss. Constipation was present, appetite was gone, and still I lost very little weight. My dermatologist couldn't figure out what it was, but prescribed 2 weeks of anti-histamine and prednisone, which worked like a miracle drug and appeared to fix everything. Then, as soon as my bowels started working again, the weight came off quickly!!! Looking back, my theory is that my adipose had turned into a huge circulating amount of free fatty acids in my blood, which were leaving my body through my lungs, kidneys, bowels and SKIN ! That would explain the “ketosis rash!” Things that brought relief: soaking and scrubbing in the hottest bathwater, topical Vaseline, followed by 60 minutes on an aerobic bicycle, high-dose Vitamin C, NSAIDs, and anti-histamine pills. After that point I hit my goal weight, and my co-morbidities and side-effects reversed, so now I take a lower dose of T to keep my appetite suppression going. My guess is that the ketone bodies were irritating my skin pores worst in the areas where my clothes pressed against them.
Even so, I'm very glad I stuck with my GLP through those side effects. A slower dose titration definitely would have been easier on me. Most likely my dosage titration moved faster than my body's metabolic changes could handle. Had I paid attention to the signals my body was sending, I might have cut down on or prevented my discomforts.
lessthanhalf
Explorer
Appreciate the update on the medical side. From what you describe, it seems like you've got a solid team of doctors involved — and honestly, on a forum you're only ever seeing a sliver of the whole picture, so guessing at the cause is a losing game. Not every medical problem comes with a clear-cut diagnosis and a treatment that reliably works; sometimes people just have to cope as well as they can. That said, the majority of issues do improve with time.
Even so, I'd lean toward pausing the tirzepatide for a stretch, just to get a clearer sense of whether it's behind some of the fatigue and so on. On semaglutide I definitely dealt with nausea and a vague sense of feeling unwell for roughly a year — luckily that doesn't happen for me on tirzepatide — but side effects really do differ from person to person. And whenever you do decide to go back on it, starting at a lower dose and titrating up slowly would be the smart approach.
Even so, I'd lean toward pausing the tirzepatide for a stretch, just to get a clearer sense of whether it's behind some of the fatigue and so on. On semaglutide I definitely dealt with nausea and a vague sense of feeling unwell for roughly a year — luckily that doesn't happen for me on tirzepatide — but side effects really do differ from person to person. And whenever you do decide to go back on it, starting at a lower dose and titrating up slowly would be the smart approach.
Strawberrykitten
Explorer
Apart from constipation, your description matches my situation almost exactly. Taking magnesium glycinate nightly is probably why I haven't had that problem. When I take my clothes off the itching gets really bad, which fits what you're saying. Still, I plan to pause for a few weeks since I currently feel pretty awful, then restart at a smaller dose to check how my body responds. I appreciate you posting about this.
Good-Heart6425
Explorer
From what I understand, uticaria — also called “ketosis rash” — is thought to be extremely uncommon. My complexion is FitzPatrick one: extremely fair, no melanin, and I never tan. The dermatologist couldn't identify what was going on, though I held back the fact that I'd spent months injecting T myself. That was over 6 months back. I'm still on a daily antihistamine at a low dose. These days I've titrated down to a maintenance T dose to keep my appetite in check
Good-Heart6425
Explorer
On top of that, I figure the ketone bodies leaving my body also aggravated the pores on my scalp, just like what happened with the skin on my torso. I lost a great deal of hair. These days it is coming back in; hooray, so long alopecia!
Strawberrykitten
Explorer
I'm Indian, so I have a lot of melanin and brown skin, which means that isn't the same for me