u/Phrenological_Mess

Hello! Does anyone know of any spaces specifically for people with ME/CFS who are taking GLP-1s?

I'd love to find a supportive space for people who do, both for symptom discussions and support, "is this normal"-type things, and also a community of people where you can talk about these things without having to explain every time someone well-meaning but uninformed says "get more exercise" (maybe where recommendations to exercise more are specifically banned in the rules). Ideally with the vibe of this group, where it's not all about IWL.

I'd consider setting up one myself if there isn't one, but I've never done anything like that?

(Note to non-ME/CFS folks; exercise recommendation being banned is important because, unlike most chronic conditions, exercise can be *extremely* detrimental to health, and cause temporary or permanent harm. It sucks, but it is very real, you can go to CDC or NICE if you would like to learn more. Please no ableism!).

I started my journey 8 weeks ago. In the first six weeks I saw really steady loss. But the past two weeks I've stalled/gained a bit.

I know all the rationale, all of the typical reasons for stalling - water, inflammation, periods, bodies being bodies. But the thing is, diets have always temporarily worked and then my body has gotten used to it, or tried to fight it, and I've ended up just stuck after temporary success. The only thing that didn't do this was sustained, dramatically low calorie intake.

This was supposed to be my fresh start, the thing that did the science, the thing that removed me from toxic diet culture and ED behaviours. But the thing is, the GLP1 killed my food cues and I was undereating. This was me trying to eat more, balance out my protein, do it right. So maybe I thought it was working differently, but in fact the only thing that was "working" was my food cues being deadened and, now I've started to eat a bit more, I'm just back in the miserable zone I've spent my whole life in, where my body doesn't act like science says it should.

I'm trying so hard to rationalise and not panic. But it feels like maybe all my earlier hope was just overconfidence in something that won't work for me, either, and I feel so stupid for investing in believing differently.

I know I'm on a low dose of tirzapetide and there's plenty of scope to go up. But it's so expensive, we're struggling with our budget right now and I'm scared that if I go up to the higher doses and then need to stop because of money, it'll be less effective the second time around as so many people seem to report.

I have a lot of chronic conditions and can't exercise at all. The reality is is that it's been an incredibly stressful week, and I don't know, cortisol something something.

I just can't stop the shouting voice in my brain that I've failed yet again, or my body has, and maybe I'm not ever going to be "allowed" to be a weight that doesn't make me feel so miserable every single day.

(Note: If this randomly appears in your feed, please remember/review the rules for this sub because if anyone breaks them in the replies I am literally going to cry. Thank you 🖤)

I discovered this sub a couple of days ago, and I just wanted to say thank you.

Since starting 7 weeks ago, I've been frequenting a sub local to my country and... it's just so toxic. Anyone saying it's not working how they want it to gets downvoted or aggressively grilled about all of their specific intake, the sub is full of progress pics with sad emojis covering the face on the higher weight photos and happy ones on the loss pictures, personal graphs, charts, food pics, all of the harmful IWL language and acronyms, and personal flairs full of numbers and... it strongly reminds me of very harmful online spaces I went in when I was a lot younger and got sucked into the online pro-ED community. That is absolutely not the place I want to put myself back in.

The last straw was someone posting about something that had genuinely upset them IRL and they got attacked by people saying it was stupid to be upset, and I chimed in in the OP's defense, and got downvoted to oblivion and a lot of unkind comments. It really triggered my RSD and the whole thing just started to feel very unsafe. I don't think I'll be going back. I was looking for my people, but they aren't my people.

Finding a space that seems really kind, that isn't obsessed with IWL being the One True Reason for GLP-1s and convinced that being overweight is purely down to poor past decisions, that has a lot of other people with chronic illnesses and heck, just outright *kind* to each other is amazing. So thank you, for making me feel like there are other people on a similar journey to me with similar outlooks, and who just want to be supportive of each other.

I'm losing well but sometimes I struggle trying to get calories/protein in as my food aversion/fullness is quite high.

I used to use Huel a few years back, but I ordered some recently (before starting MJ) and the flavours have changed; they taste way too artificial for me now :(

Does anyone have any recommendations for things that are similar with the complete nutrition profile, ie. not things like Slimfast or Ensure, but something like Huel that has all the good stuff in, and doesn't taste too artificial? The banana Huel used to actually taste like real banana, for instance, but now it's just that horrid fake banana flavouring and it makes me feel a bit sick.

Okay, so tmi obviously, and probably a silly question.

I went from 2.5mg to 3.75mg this week, and I've been feeling more nauseous and more appetite suppression than before (the nausea had basically gone and the suppression was wearing off by Day 5 on 2.5, my loss had slowed so I went up). Since I started MJ, I haven't wanted anything sweeter than natural yoghurt with a bit of honey to take away the bitterness.

Today I went to celebrate a relative's birthday and their care home had baked a cake (very sweet of them!). I really didn't want any, but I ate a bite to be polite.

It was so sweet, like disgustingly sweet, like "I would have spit this out if I could". I don't know if it was because I'm on MJ or because it was just really ridiculously sweet cake, but it was awful. I smiled through it and then abandoned it as soon as they'd left the room.

Left about an hour later and on the way home my stomach was very not happy. Got home and firey hell occurred. It was... not the one.

Could this be from literally one bite of food? Do I need to avoid cake like I would have previously avoided vindaloo topped with hot sauce and finished with a dingleberry from satan himself, or is it likely highly coincidental because one single bite of cake couldn't possibly do that?

My bowel thanks you for your advice at this trying time

Hello! I'm looking for a fit and flare shirt dress pattern, to make something similar to this one from Collectif. I'd want to make it with cotton, and I'm not overly fussed whether the placket goes halfway down or all the way. Been looking and have found a couple on etsy but I'm suspicious of etsy patterns. Any recommendations? Thanks in advance!

https://preview.redd.it/zhi3jf7ysd2h1.jpg?width=1075&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1b909cd78b791907af65e56b395f4d4c2d457894