Increasing Tirzepatide dosage by smaller increments?

[timewalk]

Are there any resources about taking dosages that are not whole increments of 2.5mg? For example, increasing a dose from 2.5mg to 3mg.
From searching, I mostly see information about 2.5mg -> 5mg and such.

It's understandable that research and opinions are about these sort of dosages, because most people are not controlling their dosages and/or not reconstituting their own Tirz, so they can't really do this kind of self-experimentation.

 

[rkl123]

Gradual is likely better but we don’t have any studies or data on it. Pharma trials are structured around fairly aggressive dosing to ensure they see sufficient effect sizes.

 

[normal]

When I was using compounded, I did this to conserve meds. Like went to 6mg from 5mg when food noise started coming back.

Plenty of people here dose off- schedule. The most common i see are people dosing at every 6 or 5 days instead of every 7.

 

[afrayy]

I do this but its been through experimentation. You can increase two ways - actually increasing the amount you pin weekly or pinning the same amount more often, say every 6 days instead of 7.

I use the GLP1Plotter site to get an idea of how much Tirz is in my system and play around with different doses/schedules so I can increase slowly and smoothly and get a more consistent effect.

Logically it seems that using the minimum amount required to get the desired results is the best way to go - this minimizes side effects and sustains your stash for longer as well.

 

[geoguy78]

I do this but it's "choose your own adventure". I go up in 0.5mg increments and it's worked fine for me so far. The jump from 5mg to 7.5mg hit me hard with side effects, so the next week I backed down to 5.5mg and I've been on the 0.5mg program since. Currently at 6.5mg

 

[Key-Baby314]

Due to the half life of T, I found that split-week dosing was more effective (2x a week), and I have gone up in increments smaller than what has been recommended. FWIW, I'm currently at 6mg weekly in my third month, 20# total loss, about 10% of starting weight. If you are using a syringe, you can always adjust to your unit preference and to help with any adverse side effects.

 

[GLP69]

I always figured the recommended dosage jumps/lengths/frequency centered more around the shortcomings of the single dose injection pens (IE the logistics of making a pen for every 1mg or .5mg step wouldn't be worth it). I would imagine that a slow and steady titration would be better overall.

That's just a hunch though, I don't have any science to base that on.

 

[Jackal]

Billions have gone into researching this drug and that is great and all, but I dose up in small increments and stayed on 2.5 for months and recently worked up to 5. Think I am probably going to start maintenance now even though I want to lose a few more pounds. Still need to figure out the dosage that will work and no hesitation on my part about not following the pharma recommendations.

 

[keangkong]

Are there any resources about taking dosages that are not whole increments of 2.5mg? For example, increasing a dose from 2.5mg to 3mg.
From searching, I mostly see information about 2.5mg -> 5mg and such.

It's understandable that research and opinions are about these sort of dosages, because most people are not controlling their dosages and/or not reconstituting their own Tirz, so they can't really do this kind of self-experimentation.

There are anecdotal reports only. It was not tested in that fashion. I take it twice per week. That's not what's recommended, but it does seem to correspond better to the 5-day half life of the medication. Since a huge number of people stop taking tirzepatide and semaglutide due to side effects yet side effects tend to diminish over time, slower increases would probably be better for many people. However, for many people, they don't see good results until they get up to 10 mg/week. If they go up slowly, that could a very long wait.

 

[AllGlory2God]

Are there any resources about taking dosages that are not whole increments of 2.5mg? For example, increasing a dose from 2.5mg to 3mg.
From searching, I mostly see information about 2.5mg -> 5mg and such.

It's understandable that research and opinions are about these sort of dosages, because most people are not controlling their dosages and/or not reconstituting their own Tirz, so they can't really do this kind of self-experimentation.

I’ve moved up in small increments
2.5 for 4weeks
3.5 for 2weeks
5 for 4weeks
6 for 4weeks
Now at 7

 

[JellyBellyBilly]

I’ve moved up in small increments
2.5 for 4weeks
3.5 for 2weeks
5 for 4weeks
6 for 4weeks
Now at 7

This is similar to my plan.

I went from 2.5 to 5, and that first week was… brutal. Chocolate squirts all week.

I’m going to go 5 to 6 at the end of this vial(I do 4 week dose sessions).

I can’t complain though. Just took week 6 on Friday, and I’m down 35lbs

 

[hexagonal]

When I was on tirz I stayed at 2.5mg for about 6 weeks, and then bumped up to 5mg for 2. At that point I decided I wanted to swap over to the Reta I ordered, though, and stayed at 5mg for another 2 weeks while letting reta get into my system. For reta I did 2mg for 2 weeks, 3 mg for 2 weeks, 4mg for 2 weeks, 5mg for 2 weeks, etc. Up to 8 now. Plan on sitting here for a while.

I've been doing split dosage for every 3.5 days after the 2nd week on tirz.

 

[DianeInChicoCA]

This is working for me:

 

[brentm]

One reason might be a practical one, which is to not end up with an odd size last dose in your vial.

 

[rkl123]

I think our ability as researchers to customize shots is underrated. Alot of folks are quick to push following exactly Lilly's protocol, but we can go slower or do more frequent dosing (i.e. faster than Lilly is moderately risky, but slower is never an increased risk and is often potentially more pleasant).

 

[GimmeABreak]

I think our ability as researchers to customize shots is underrated. Alot of folks are quick to push following exactly Lilly's protocol, but we can go slower or do more frequent dosing (i.e. faster than Lilly is moderately risky, but slower is never an increased risk and is often potentially more pleasant).

I agree with this 100%. I have opened a 7.5mg Zepboud pen before to get my 7.2mg dose out of it, but what a PITA.

 

[Brookie]

I know it’s not protocol but my sister and I increase by .25 after experiencing a stall , but we may also play around with frequency, 6 days vs 7, or 3.5 we are currently holding at 6mg just because we know we’re going to need this for a very long time, we’ve been on 8 months she’s lost 40 with maybe 20 to go, I’ve lost 24 with 5 to go which will put me past my goal but will give some headway.

 

[TooBigtoFail]

I suspect that Lilly's protocol is due to the complexity of producing an large inventory of Pen's with many dosage. And Compounding Pharma to follow the same to avoid lawsuits. Plus other financial reasons to benefit them. Based on readings and many folks with success staying on 5mg dosage, starting lower than 2.5mg may help reduce initial side effect for some. And a 0.5 or 1mg increment may help you elongate the period before you hit a plateau. 5mg seem to work great for many. I lost most of my weight reaching 5mg. Lilly studies show that going beyond 10mg a week will not produce much more weight loss. And majority of folks report that most weight is lost happens in the first half of their program. Suggestion is to stretch the increments to target 1.5-2.0 lbs loss per week in a window where 10mg is close to your final weight loss goal. Lost 40 in 6 months. Doing 8mg tirz every 5 days, and just added Cagri. For me, I noticed a lag time of a few weeks between dosage change. Then boom, drop 3 lbs in one week. I started with Compounding and stretched my increments to save $$. Now doing my own recon.