gimmeshelter said:
I am getting close to my goal weight, within 5lbs and am curious to hear from those that have been on reta for 2+ yrs . Are you microdosing / cruising ? Once I reach my goal weight I plan on finding a maintenance dosage, currently on 2mg, started w .5mg in April. Or, maybe I will cycle off to see how that feels. I do a ton of cardio each week, count 95% of all calories, eat mostly healthy .
I guess what I am asking is this, is anyone noticing any negative side effects physically or mentally from longterm usage?
You do not mention how much weight you lost, and I think it is a very important issue in terms of what might happen in the longer term. Basically the more weight you lost the more likely and more important it becomes to stay on the reta. Especially if older or if there are any obesity related health issues like increased blood sugars, lipids or blood pressure, or any physical damage from it like heart disease or arthritis.
I would argue staying on it permanently is by far the best solution if a lot of weight was lost or there were obesity related health issues, but trying stopping it is reasonable so long as you are prepared to restart it if needed if weight starts creeping back up, people do exist who manage to establish long term better eating and exercise patterns after weight loss, unfortunately it is just not that common.
Long term effects of reta are far less well established than for sema or tirz, just because it is newer, but it is very likely it will have the same effects, reducing just about everything that goes wrong with bodies as they age, but especially heart disease and preventing and treating diabetes, and likely a lot of different cancers.
Long term bad effects, mostly just the usual side effects , skin sensitivity, gastrointestinal upsets, but almost zero chance of them getting worse than before in the long term. Possible risk of NAION, rare eye disorder, but at the same time reduced risk of macular degeneration, cataracts and glaucoma, which are vastly more common. Slight increased risk of pancreatitis and gallstones ( usually while losing weight rather than afterwards ) Can cause reduced muscle mass, but really only an issue in the very elderly or chronically ill, with pre existing low muscle mass.
I have been on reta 5-6mg , with tirz 15mg for a bit over a year. Having lost most of the weight before starting GLP's, I am basically taking them to keep the weight off, but mostly so I do not have to be hungry all the time for the rest of my life. Trying to keep off 80 kilos without GLP drugs was extremely hard, with them pretty tolerable, and I almost have a balance between hunger and the right calorie intake to keep weight stable, which was a total impossibility without the glp drugs. Only significant side effect is weird skin sensations, but mainly only a problem if I up the dose even a tiny bit.
