I lost 50lbs on Mounjaro. But the wrong dose left me bedbound with crippling side effects… now I’ve discovered a new more effective way to take it

Jade Martin had hoped a popular weight-loss drug would save her from ill health, but an unexpected side effect ended up leaving her bedbound with crippling anxiety.

The stay-at-home mom from the UK began her weight loss journey in January 2025 after a lifetime of struggling with her weight had left her at risk of gestational diabetes.

The then-34-year-old met with her primary care doctor before obtaining the diabetes drug Mounjaro, which is often used to help people lose weight, as well as manage their insulin levels.

She saw great progress for weeks, having started at 224lbs and dropping 49lbs over 10 months. But her positive experience took a turn when she opted to increase her dose in March 2025 from 2.5mg to 5mg, the standard, recommended dosage schedule.

She was plunged into a state of depression and unrelenting anxiety, often lying awake at night with racing thoughts and chest tightness, the hallmarks of a constant, low-grade panic.

Martin described her ordeal: ‘I had low energy and such increased anxiety to the point when I could feel it in my chest. It would affect my sleep at night because I was so anxious, it felt like a real depression.’

Her doctor reduced her dose back down to 2.5mg and she remained at that level until July 2025. When she moved to the higher dose again, hoping her side effects were a one-off, the depression and anxiety returned full-force. It was not until she reduced her dose back to 2.5mg again that the symptoms subsided.

‘It made me really tearful, it wasn’t a good space to be in,’ she said. ‘It would make me lose focus, it was like you were in a black cloud and you couldn’t see beyond that.’

Martin has maintained steady weight loss on the lower dose, albeit at a slower pace than people on higher doses. But since her ordeal, she has decided never to try increasing her dose again.

She said: ‘No amount of weight loss is worth feeling like that, my mental health will always come first. There’s no enjoyment in life if you don’t want to do anything.’

Like millions of people who currently take Mounjaro or a similar GLP-1 drug such as Zepbound, Ozempic and Wegovy, Martin heard about its benefits on social media and from friends.

She had always had a complicated relationship with food. 

Attending weight loss support groups, she said, only further eroded how she saw food and what her body truly needed.

An emotional eater, Martin turned to food when she was sad, happy or celebrating. Family gatherings revolved around food and it often served as a source of comfort for her.

Martin was at a heightened risk of developing type 2 diabetes while pregnant with her second child and she did not want the risk to continue after she gave birth, so her doctor started her on Mounjaro. 

She had no immediate side effects and the severe dip in her mood after increasing her dose was unexpected for Martin, who said she had always been in relatively good mental health.

She said: ‘It’s clearly a dose that just doesn’t agree with me. My mood was really flat, I had no interest in doing anything, especially not eating.

‘I had no appetite, I knew I wasn’t getting the nutrition I needed. I worried about that and that increased the anxiety.’

Mounjaro mimics two hormones naturally produced in the body: GIP and GLP-1, which signal to the brain that you are full, slows down how quickly food leaves the stomach and helps body release insulin only when blood sugar rises.

The result is feeling fuller longer and eating less while the body processes food more efficiently.

While the lower dose helped her make better, healthier food choices while keeping her appetite lower, the higher dose blunted her appetite almost entirely, so eating felt like a chore.

Martin added: ‘My whole journey has been about repairing my relationship with food and on 5mg I just couldn’t, I was forcing myself to eat and eating very little.’

Anxiety and depression are not among the listed side effects on Mounjaro’s label, which does include nausea, vomiting and constipation as well as other gastrointestinal issues, some of which can be severe, including bowel obstruction.

Martin acknowledged that her progress has been slower than average.

She said: ‘A lot of people lose three to four pounds a week and lose weight very quickly. My journey hasn’t been like that, I’m losing a pound a week. A lot of people see it as slow, it’s not, it’s healthy.’

The CDC and other health authorities define a safe, sustainable weight loss rate as one to two pounds per week. 

This gradual pace is associated with better long-term success, meaning people who lose weight at this rate are more likely to keep it off compared to those who lose weight very quickly.

Slow and steady weight loss also gives the body time to adjust, which may help prevent loose skin and a loss in muscle mass, which has been documented among GLP-1 users.

Martin said: ‘[My advice is] don’t rush through the doses, I know providers say to move up a dose every four weeks but if it’s still working for you there is no need to increase the dose.

‘Hunger is a normal feeling, you have to live with that feeling you’re going to get hungry. I know a lot of people do it but that’s not the goal for me. You need to be comfortable with food and hunger because there is a life after Mounjaro.’