There was a medication shortage when I had to get the first refill of my new injection. I knew this was a possibility as I had heard rumors of medication shortages from people online who were taking the same medication or similar ones. There are a lot of reasons why there has been a shortage of this category of medication. The biggest reason is that so many people are being prescribed it now.
For so long, obesity and weight issues were treated as motivation problems or laziness. Or doctors assumed you didn’t know what you were doing. I feel like I know more information about calories than most people do. I know what is considered good and what is considered bad. I know what you can eat so you can have a large volume of food for very few calories. And even though I do have an eating disorder, I have known for a long time that there is something else wrong with me. That’s why for so many years, I was going through a ton of medical testing to see if it was a thyroid issue or if there was another imbalance in my body. But doctors never could find what was wrong and I just was treated as someone who had a weight issue and that it was completely my fault that I am this weight and am not losing weight.
But finally, I think more doctors are understanding that obesity is a disease and not just a personal issue. You could ask so many people who have struggled with their weight and they would probably have similar stories to mine. They have tried so many things and maybe only the most extreme things have worked for them. There is just something else wrong with their body that nobody could figure out. But now, doctors are getting that and are working to find ways to work on this concern with patients instead of just lecturing patients and trying to scare them into losing weight by saying they will have all these other medical issues that may or may not actually be related to weight.
So since this is being understood differently, people can finally get treatments like what I’m doing. I know there are some people who are just trying to lose like 10 pounds and are finding doctors to prescribe this to them, but that’s not most people taking it. And I guess the drug manufacturer is just surprised that people would want to try something that is supposed to help with weight loss. I know there were other issues with the manufacturing that caused a slowdown, but I think the biggest issue was just them being unprepared.
With the first refill, my doctor allowed me to start the higher dosage early since that injection pen was available at that time. And since I was going to start that higher dosage eventually, it wasn’t a big deal for me to jump to the next level. And while I’ve had more side effects, they have gotten better from week to week and I’m glad that I’ve been able to do this.
But now that I’ve needed to put in my next refill request (at the dosage I’m at, I need a new pen every 4 weeks), there’s another shortage happening. There’s no estimate for when the injection pens will be available again and I’ll just be notified when my refill is ready for me. I’m hoping that since I have about a week before my next injection that it could arrive in time. Or maybe I’ll just have a single week off if it comes in next week. It’s frustrating because this is working for me and I am seeing results. They might not be as fast as I would have liked, but I also know that this is much more normal than other weight loss things I’ve experienced before. It’s still not a miracle or something magical, but it helps so much. And I am nervous about having to stop taking it again, especially when I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait.
I don’t have another option since I’m not going to pay full price for the injection pen at another pharmacy (which would cost over $1000). And just like the last time I needed to get a refill, I’m just going to have to be really careful and mindful if I have some time off between injections because I don’t want the hard work I’ve been putting in the past few months to go away.
I might be overreacting and I’ll be told in a day or two that my refill is ready. But I’m also mentally preparing myself for what might happen. And this could happen over and over again with the refill requests for a while. I don’t know when they will work on producing more injection pens to meet demand. So I might be going through this every month for the foreseeable future. But I don’t have another option right now and I’m just going to find a way to make it work.
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