Reta skin sensitivity!!!

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lookslikeme

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I'm trying to find someone who's managed to get past this side effect — right now I'm at 6mg of reta per week, and I'm happy with it since my weight is going down and I can meet my macros, but the skin sensitivity is unbearable. I take 2 antihistamines daily plus zinc to fight it (advice I got before), yet it still feels as though my hair follicles are needles poking out through my skin.. does anyone have suggestions?
 
This affects me too while using reta, and because of it I haven't been able to increase beyond 3.5mg/week. I don't have a magic fix to offer, but plain Advil or something comparable helps a lot, and so does a lidocaine/hydrocortisone cream (although I suppose that's not much use for your hair! 😀 )
 
When I increased my tirz dose, I felt a sunburn-like sensation across my stomach and back. It stuck around for roughly 1 month before it finally subsided.
 
I went through the same thing around that same dosage. The only approach that helped me was pausing for roughly 10 days so the levels in my body could drop, then beginning again at a smaller dose. That said, I’ve seen reports from others who simply powered through, and for them it ultimately resolved on its own.
 
tendency said:

This affects me too while using reta, and because of it I haven't been able to increase beyond 3.5mg/week. I don't have a magic fix to offer, but plain Advil or something comparable helps a lot, and so does a lidocaine/hydrocortisone cream (although I suppose that's not much use for your hair! 😀 )
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Sadly, creams are no help at all — I skipped a dose, and from here on I'll divide it into 2 doses each week, which I'm hoping will do the trick!
 
ftv10hb said:

I went through the same thing around that same dosage. The only approach that helped me was pausing for roughly 10 days so the levels in my body could drop, then beginning again at a smaller dose. That said, I’ve seen reports from others who simply powered through, and for them it ultimately resolved on its own.
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I attempted to push on, but it is simply unbearable! At this point I have skipped a dose and plan to divide the dose into two from here on out.
 
If it's really that rough, and from what you're describing it doesn't sound pleasant at all, then lowering the dose is likely your only option. When it's only troublesome for a day or 2 following a dose, splitting the dose could be beneficial, though that won't do anything if the issue persists throughout the entire week. Many users here have mentioned that this problem gradually diminishes with time, so if things calm down at a somewhat reduced dose, you might be able to raise it again slowly after a month or 2.

I experienced a handful of episodes while quickly ramping up tirz doses, but these days I get a steady mild form of it much of the time on 15.75mg of tirz plus 5mg of reta weekly. There's no way I can raise the reta dose at all without it becoming significantly worse.

I've never come across any explanation involving nerves or neurochemicals that accounts for it. Do antihistamines genuinely provide relief? It must be tied to GLP-1, since it showed up commonly in the high dose ozempic study, and that medication only works on GLP-1, yet that doesn't clarify in the slightest why it appears to be more frequent with reta.
 
I moved from using needles to an insulin pen. Before I started, I checked the pen and the difference was only a few percent. On Monday of last week, I used the pen for the first time. My assumption was that I had taken 4 mg of Retatrutide.

Starting Wednesday and continuing through today, my skin has been extremely sensitive and itchy. I felt quite let down. Fortunately, things are improving at this point.

I ran another test on the pen. It looks like the spring makes it deliver more than intended, so the dose I likely took last Monday was 6 to 7 mg.

That leads me to the conclusion that going up in dose too fast brings on a lot of side effects.

Any suggestions for dealing with skin issues? KPV?
 
I used to describe it as a windburn sensation — kind of like leaving your arm hanging out of a car window for too long. The bright side is that, based on what I went through, your body does get used to it and the feeling eventually fades.
 
lookslikeme said:

I'm trying to find someone who's managed to get past this side effect — right now I'm at 6mg of reta per week, and I'm happy with it since my weight is going down and I can meet my macros, but the skin sensitivity is unbearable. I take 2 antihistamines daily plus zinc to fight it (advice I got before), yet it still feels as though my hair follicles are needles poking out through my skin.. does anyone have suggestions?
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This skin sensitivity problem has been present for me ever since I began Reta roughly 8 weeks back. It hasn't gone away yet, though the severity has dropped over the last 2 weeks. Even so, it's still a real nuisance, but since I'm nearing my target weight, I can put up with it.
 
At 6 mg, that's when mine began. I dropped the weight fast on 8 mg and simply tolerated it. Once I stepped down to 4 mg (a maintenance dose), it went away. Sure, it's irritating, but getting the weight off mattered more to me. Your options are to put up with it and later hope that lowering the dose does the trick once you reach your goal weight, or to move to a different medication. It's irritating, yet it isn't a danger to your health.
 
lookslikeme said:

I'm trying to find someone who's managed to get past this side effect — right now I'm at 6mg of reta per week, and I'm happy with it since my weight is going down and I can meet my macros, but the skin sensitivity is unbearable. I take 2 antihistamines daily plus zinc to fight it (advice I got before), yet it still feels as though my hair follicles are needles poking out through my skin.. does anyone have suggestions?
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It is horrible, yes, though eventually it fades. I came close to giving up on reta, and then suddenly it was gone.
 
6 weeks on Reta, with the first vial sourced from a US reseller. At week 7 I moved to a China vendor, and 2 days after that initial dose, hives broke out. The tricky part: I was on day 3 of Enclomiphene when the hives showed up. ChatGPT suggested Enclo was the probable cause. I dropped the Enclo and took Zyrtec 2x daily, and everything cleared within 3 days. Still, I kept taking Zyrtec for 10 days out of worry. As of today I've officially quit Zyrtec, and tomorrow is my next Reta shot. Hopefully it isn't some kind of Reta allergy, but I'll know soon. Prior to the Enclo, my skin felt warm, though hives never happened before.
 
RetaScrub said:

6 weeks on Reta, with the first vial sourced from a US reseller. At week 7 I moved to a China vendor, and 2 days after that initial dose, hives broke out. The tricky part: I was on day 3 of Enclomiphene when the hives showed up. ChatGPT suggested Enclo was the probable cause. I dropped the Enclo and took Zyrtec 2x daily, and everything cleared within 3 days. Still, I kept taking Zyrtec for 10 days out of worry. As of today I've officially quit Zyrtec, and tomorrow is my next Reta shot. Hopefully it isn't some kind of Reta allergy, but I'll know soon. Prior to the Enclo, my skin felt warm, though hives never happened before.
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Right, hives and skin sensitivity aren't the same thing at all! Something with the enclo is definitely not right..
 
lookslikeme said:

I'm trying to find someone who's managed to get past this side effect — right now I'm at 6mg of reta per week, and I'm happy with it since my weight is going down and I can meet my macros, but the skin sensitivity is unbearable. I take 2 antihistamines daily plus zinc to fight it (advice I got before), yet it still feels as though my hair follicles are needles poking out through my skin.. does anyone have suggestions?
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Mine lasted for several months and I adjusted to it, then suddenly it was gone. The only relief I found back then came from working out.
 
Habibibi said:

lookslikeme said:

I'm trying to find someone who's managed to get past this side effect — right now I'm at 6mg of reta per week, and I'm happy with it since my weight is going down and I can meet my macros, but the skin sensitivity is unbearable. I take 2 antihistamines daily plus zinc to fight it (advice I got before), yet it still feels as though my hair follicles are needles poking out through my skin.. does anyone have suggestions?
Click to expand...

Mine lasted for several months and I adjusted to it, then suddenly it was gone. The only relief I found back then came from working out.
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I appreciate you posting this. Right now I feel like I'm going out of my mind. Initially I assumed I was simply feeling colder more often because I'd dropped close to 50lbs. Nope, it's that Reta skin sensitivity issue. And I'm a fan of everything else Reta does, including the way it appears to give my workouts a huge boost.

Currently I'm on 4mg Reta, and this is week 4 for me. My plan is to Titrate up to 6mg, while continuing to hydrate, take electrolytes every day, and lift weights 4x/week. Plus a small dose of Tirz to quiet the food noise.
 
Might be of interest, and could tie in with what thee said earlier. My weekly total is 15.75mg tirz plus 5mg reta, with the reta broken up into 2nd daily injections. I had always blamed reta alone for the skin sensitivity, since it worsened noticeably even when the dose went up only a little. My tirz amount has stayed basically the same ever since I reached 15mg, but the other day I tried adding 1mg extra and the skin sensitivity flared up exactly like it does when reta is increased. I wish I knew how the receptors are behaving in this situation, but so far I have not come across any research on it at all.
 
This is the one adverse effect that had me contemplating not just reducing my dose and pushing through, but genuinely weighing whether to stop altogether. At various points along the way there were some truly awful weeks, yet from what I've been through, it does subside provided I remain at the same dose for a sufficient stretch. Because of the full range of side effects, I ended up missing an injection following my 2nd week at 4mg and essentially started over. Taking that break from a dose helped a great deal. It gave me a welcome break, a good stretch to reset, and it felt good to experience something close to normal for the first time in months.
 
For my RS, this has been the most unbearable side effect. The RS sheets give off the sensation of a heated blanket. Fortunately, just like others have mentioned, it fades once RS becomes accustomed to the dose.

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I'm dealing with the same thing—skin sensitivity has been there since day 1, but around week 3 it started easing up quite a bit. It fluctuates; certain days are rougher than others. Still, the idea of increasing my dose makes me nervous because of this.
 
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