Week 5: nausea and total loss of appetite

Your system is still adjusting while the medication keeps building up. Sounds like it is telling you to skip a shot and let things settle before you start again.

Same here. After four months on reta at 3 mg my appetite vanished so I paused for two weeks then dropped to 1 mg and will probably go to 0.5 mg. You have to keep eating or the hair loss starts and that is not happening for me. Not upset about it though, just makes me a cheap date.

If I could I would happily take your problem off your hands. Would not even mind if people thought I was pregnant.

Make sure you are drinking plenty so you do not get dehydrated. Might be worth getting something for the nausea. It usually peaks about a day after a shot or increase and should fade within three or four days as levels drop. Do not take the next dose until the nausea and vomiting are gone; delay if you need to and then try a lower amount like 1 or 1.5 mg. After that go up very slowly, maybe 0.5 mg every four weeks. It is odd to suddenly get this on the fifth dose at the same level, so double-check the amount if you can, though these drugs do not always follow perfect logic. Food poisoning or stomach bugs can still happen too.

Someone said if you cannot get prescription nausea meds then the less-drowsy Dramamine version with meclizine can help. The store brand is cheaper.

At my one-month point the gut issues were brutal, bathroom every twenty minutes, stomach pain, could not eat for two weeks. I skipped two doses until I could drink water and eat again. It was rough but once I titrated back slowly and switched to three smaller shots a week instead of one big weekly one the side effects dropped a lot. These meds are trial and error but worth figuring out the right pattern.

I looked it up because it is pretty common when people start these meds. One thing to consider is that you might still be feeling the effects of an earlier meal. Definitely stay hydrated. The slowing of digestion is strongest in the first month and the body adapts over time.

Thanks for the thread. I am only on week two and doing fine so far but it helps to know what might come up later and how to handle it.

I already dealt with years of this after the sleeve surgery. Now after spending thousands I have to deal with nausea again? And people still believe in karma. The just-world idea is nonsense and karma only shows up in strip clubs.

If you have not seen it there is a site that shows simulated drug levels over time. Because these meds build up differently it is not obvious at first and the graph makes it clearer. Side effects can get worse a few weeks after starting or increasing even though you would expect them right away, though four weeks is more typical than five. Everyone reacts a bit differently.

There are different kinds of nausea for me. One is the over-full feeling from the medication. The other feels more like motion sickness or food poisoning. Could be unrelated to the drug. Only your gut knows. Just do not let yourself get dehydrated.

Been thinking about your post and wondering how you are doing now. I am on week six at 4 mg and running into similar problems.

Been on 2.5 mg for eight weeks and 5 mg for six. Went up to 7.5 mg on Tuesday and woke up Wednesday feeling awful with nausea and fatigue. Threw up breakfast and have not eaten much since, though I feel better now even if appetite is still low.

Thanks for sharing. I am on week two and had some stomach trouble, that too-full sour feeling. Had to cut portions way back and that fixed it. If it happens again I will probably try splitting the dose.