Mood and Reta

[damy2604]

I’d like to understand better what to expect from Reta, so I’m asking you who have more experience with it. Should I expect any changes in mood with Reta? Has it happened to you? That’s what worries me the most. I wouldn’t want to risk feeling constantly irritable.

 

[Not_Your_Dad]

Have you been on any other GLPs in the past?

 

[damy2604]

Have you been on any other GLPs in the past?

No. This is the first one. I’m taking 0.5mg 2

Have you been on any other GLPs in the past?

No. It’s the first one. I’m taking 0.5 mg twice a week (so 1 mg per week) and I’m in the first week.
But my irritability could also be caused by something else. I’m just trying to figure it out. Also, because at the beginning I was really fine. It’s something that emerged around the third day, just before the second injection, and it might not be related to Reta.

 

[HumanusExMachina]

Reta hasn't affected my mood at all in the 10 weeks I've been taking it.

 

[Not_Your_Dad]

I don't know if I'd look at the Reta as a source, especially considering the short amount of time you've been on it and the timing of you feeling irritable.

Higher doses of Tirz seem to be known to provoke anhedonia in some folks, so I wouldn't say it's impossible for your issue to be related to Reta, but just unlikely at this point.

I know I get a little crabby sometime if I'm feeling the sides from Tirz especially hard on a particular day; were you having any sides from Reta when you felt that way?

 

[YoYoFat]

But my irritability could also be caused by something else.

GLP-1s are known to cause anhedonia, but I haven’t heard it causing irritability.

 

[miss-sanne]

It can affect mood, like anhedonia, like yoyofat says. I feel anhedone/flat on 8 mg weekly, but if I split dose, it's not as bad.

 

[damy2604]

thanks everyone for the answers! I feel calmer

 

[tubby]

Could the irritability be a second-order effect?
For example, if you feel weaker, lower-energy, or fatigued in a demanding environment, irritability seems like a very reasonable response.

 

[Scarroll]

It can affect mood, like anhedonia, like yoyofat says. I feel anhedone/flat on 8 mg weekly, but if I split dose, it's not as bad.

Oh darn, I've definitely been experiencing that on tirz so it was one of the reasons I've been looking into reta to help avoid that (also hoping for less appetite suppression, fatigue and nausea)

 

[miss-sanne]

try it out, i feel fine on split doses, and no nausea or fatigue.

 

[Scarroll]

try it out, i feel fine on split doses, and no nausea or fatigue.

I want to but I'm super paranoid. I keep hoping to find people locally that are on reta. I've read way too many stories about dark dealings by large corporations behind the scenes and had such amazing bad luck in life that I've convinced myself I'm going to get some EL poisoned dose they've sneakily put out to become an example for them to point to and say, see everyone you are only safe with us. Hearing from people here and reading everyone's stories and experiences though is definitely helping to ease my mind! Thank you so much for your feedback.

 

[Mc_ppka_tp]

@Scarroll
I'm in suburban Portland so hopefully that's local enough 🙂 If it weren't for bad luck I would have no luck at all type of person. Until I started using Reta. I've only been taking Reta for 8wks now but the ability it has given me to stay in a caloric deficient and not have to fight off the "food noise" is amazing. Plus no men in suits and black sunglasses have knocked at my door yet 😀

for the OP, I was a little irritable when I first starting using Reta. I would say it was for the first two weeks. And looking back I can say it was because my calorie intake was so low that I had no energy and my body was adjusting to its lack of calories. By the 3rd week I had my diet figured out and had it locked in consistency wise and found my energy returning and my mood improving quite a bit.

 

[JoonyO]

No. This is the first one. I’m taking 0.5mg 2

No. It’s the first one. I’m taking 0.5 mg twice a week (so 1 mg per week) and I’m in the first week.
But my irritability could also be caused by something else. I’m just trying to figure it out. Also, because at the beginning I was really fine. It’s something that emerged around the third day, just before the second injection, and it might not be related to Reta.

Hasn't irritability been linked to low blood sugar? I seem to recall a relative having to eat an orange to stop being so crabby...
But I don't even play a Dr. on TV or in commercials so what do I know?

 

[lessthanhalf]

My reading of the research on GLP's in general , as there is a lot less research specifically on retatrutide, is that there really is no significant overall effect on mood, incidence of depressive illness or suicidal thoughts or actions. Except for an improvement in mood with significant weight loss, that happens regardless of the cause of that weight loss.

Individual variation of response to GLP medications is fairly large, and there are a lot of anecdotal reports on this forum for example of it causing fatigue or anhedonia.

Mood is really very responsive to placebo effects, many antidepressant trials have positive response rates of 70% for the active drug and 50% for placebo for example.
I would guess that this effect is probably stronger than any actual biological effect on mood, so your expectations going into using the medications is important.

Given that the original poster was concerned about the effects on mood before starting reta, the odds of it causing issues is increased, due to an expectation related nocebo effect.
I would say that the evidence so far suggests there is no substantial effect on mood except for improving it once weight loss occurs. And don't worry about it unless it happens and then you can easily stop it or try a different GLP.

 

[miss-sanne]

I want to but I'm super paranoid. I keep hoping to find people locally that are on reta. I've read way too many stories about dark dealings by large corporations behind the scenes and had such amazing bad luck in life that I've convinced myself I'm going to get some EL poisoned dose they've sneakily put out to become an example for them to point to and say, see everyone you are only safe with us. Hearing from people here and reading everyone's stories and experiences though is definitely helping to ease my mind! Thank you so much for your feedback.

I understand ! do the research, go safe when buying, test your product. read reviews, ask in this forum.
Learn about reconstitution and use a calculator to be safe, and make notes on your vials concentration, how much bac you use etc, and keep checking, if you are nervous. Use a filter. Use hospira.
I use pepmath.com
Thats as safe as you can get, with non-pharma.

 

[miss-sanne]

Hasn't irritability been linked to low blood sugar? I seem to recall a relative having to eat an orange to stop being so crabby...
But I don't even play a Dr. on TV or in commercials so what do I know?

reta can give problems with hypoglycemia, and yes I get very hangry. 🙂

 

[miss-sanne]

My reading of the research on GLP's in general , as there is a lot less research specifically on retatrutide, is that there really is no significant overall effect on mood, incidence of depressive illness or suicidal thoughts or actions. Except for an improvement in mood with significant weight loss, that happens regardless of the cause of that weight loss.

Individual variation of response to GLP medications is fairly large, and there are a lot of anecdotal reports on this forum for example of it causing fatigue or anhedonia.

Mood is really very responsive to placebo effects, many antidepressant trials have positive response rates of 70% for the active drug and 50% for placebo for example.
I would guess that this effect is probably stronger than any actual biological effect on mood, so your expectations going into using the medications is important.

Given that the original poster was concerned about the effects on mood before starting reta, the odds of it causing issues is increased, due to an expectation related nocebo effect.
I would say that the evidence so far suggests there is no substantial effect on mood except for improving it once weight loss occurs. And don't worry about it unless it happens and then you can easily stop it or try a different GLP.

No fatigue is a common side effect on Sema > 10 %, and Tirz 1-10 %.
About the mood, I agree, it's all a bit blurry.
But I wouldn't not take it, because of other people, and I didn't expect anhedonia at all. I began searching for it after I felt it, because I thought it was strange.
But you are right, I always tell my patients, don't read about side effects plz, I'll tell you the most common, because I'm obliged to.

 

[Thistley]

Hi @damy2604 I think the symptoms you describe of irritability can be related to the effect of GLP1 on your body, but I don’t think that’s the cause of the problem if that makes sense.

I have a metabolic disorder and have suffered from low mood since my teens, with a few periods of debilitating chronic clinical depression. Unfortunately I also have a strong family history of low mood and addiction issues.

As most women know normal hormonal fluctuations around menstrual cycle can result in irritability, and for men mood changes can happen with the testosterone pathway. So it makes sense to me that the way these pathways interact with the systems affected by the use of GLP1s, may affect that mood element of irritability.

This made me wary and cautious about the effect of GLP1s on the seratonin pathway and dopamine centres in the brain. Much research is still to be done on this side. So low and slow like you are doing is the best strategy.

Let us also not discount the medical theory that is gaining in attention that depression is caused by an active inflammatory pathway. Again GLP1’s can help out with this.

As ever with side effects, only you know what you are willing to tolerate and for how long, it is your first time and you haven’t yet begun to see the results of Reta. The studies do show the more subjects titrate up the worse the side effects get. For me they are worth the benefits.

You are already split dosing so that would have been my recommendation. I do think the irritability will cool off, but I would also recommend you try to introduce or keep a good level of regular carbohydrate in your diet, perhaps paying close attention to this on day 3 as you mention. Keep logging your symptoms and paying attention to those more irritated days to help understand them.

Wish you all the best with it