r/vindictapoc

Hi everyone, I’ve been on Zepbound for about 5 months now and with the online conversations around glp use, I thought I might lend my voice to anyone who may be thinking about it.

Some facts: I am currently on Zepbound 2.5mg and have been since January. This is the starting dose that everyone starts on. I get it through Lily Direct, the manufacturer for Zepbound as my insurance does not cover it. 2.5mg is $299 a pack, there are four vials in each pack. I inject it in either my arm or thigh with an insulin syringe.

Why I got on it: for almost all of my life I was a pretty healthy size for my height (5 foot, 125-130 lbs). Keep in mind though I ate like trash and never exercised. Barely ate vegetables growing up. I didn’t get my period until I was 17 though and even then, it was extremely irregular, I would go months at a time without getting it. But they were fine, it lasted 3 days and I never got cramps. In undergrad, I was put on birth control and it was fine for a few weeks but then I decided to stop after two months. Huge mistake because then my periods got longer and more painful but still very irregular. Fast forward to me getting married, I started bc again a month before I got married. My libido dropped significantly. After a two years, I decided to stop because I knew it was affecting me negatively in multiple ways. I also gained around 50 lbs. I started working out and eating healthy but the scale never budged. This coupled with my period becoming irregular again, I decided to go to the doctor and I was diagnosed with PCOS due to my irregular periods, weigh, and my inability to get pregnant. We weren’t trying but we weren’t using protection. I also had an enlarged ovary. I was put on metformin and I got pregnant, I kid you not, two weeks later. Bc I was pregnant, I stopped metformin.

After I gave birth, my baby was in the nicu for low blood sugar and size issues. He was born at 4lbs 7oz. All throughout my pregnancy people kept commenting about how small he was and that he was measuring 2-3 weeks smaller than he should. I then had an emergency c-section at 36 weeks and he was placed in the nicu bc his blood sugar was dangerously low and wasn’t stabilizing. Every single doctor that tested him asked if I had diabetes bc it didn’t make sense that he had blood sugar issues but I didn’t. I always was the passing score for the glucose test (if 59 was failing, I scored a 60). a doctor suggested it could’ve been my PCOS since it can affect hormones and insulin resistance but they couldn’t say it definitively since there’s no research on it. After a few weeks I started feeling really guilty about it. I started doing more research on PCOS when I read an article about how glps, specifically trizipetides were starting to be tested on PCOS and its effects. It literally took me no convincing to finally try it since I didn’t want this to happen to another baby since I want to have more kids. The weight loss is a great plus but I honestly just wanted to feel normal for once. I will put the name of the article below.

My experience/the cons: the first month was ROUGH. I lost 15lbs in the first three weeks, I was barely eating because I had virtually no appetite. I used to be someone who couldn’t go two hours without snacking and now I was only eating dinner, and the kicker is I was never hungry so I didn’t even feel it. I also lost all of my sugar and unhealthy cravings. No longer wanted cake, cupcakes, hot fries, fried foods, and my favorite, French fries. I only wanted really simple foods, albeit almost bland.

Now five months in things have stabilized. I’ve been losing .5-1 lbs a week if I actually go to the gym. If not, it’s stable but never goes up. I haven’t gone up a dose because I still have the positive affects and my doctor recommended that if I still feel good where I’m at, there’s no reason to go up even though it’s the standard thing to do.

I still struggle with the syringe lol takes me five minutes before I finally poke myself but it’s literally never bad.

The pluses:

My period is finally regular, I’m on a 28 day cycle and I know when I’m going to get it. This is sincerely the best plus since it’s something I’ve struggled with for more than 15 years.

My skin looks amazing.

I can eat a normal amount and no longer binge eat/eat more than I should causing me to be sick.

I crave healthier foods but can still have my unhealthy snacks in moderation. For example, instead of a 12 piece nugget, large fries, and milkshake combo from chicfila to which I will then eat a bag of chips an hour later, I do a five piece, medium fries, kale crunch salad and maybe a root beer slush if im feeling frisky (and even then I only drink half) and I feel completely satisfied.

My libido is back up.

Conclusion: this isn’t a post trying to convince you to get on it. There’s just so much misinformation and the assumption that people are only on it to lose massive amounts of weight that I wanted to dispel the myth. Also if there’s anyone else struggling with PCOS, specifically insulin resistance then I would look into it. I plan on being on it until medicine finds a better way to manage or cure PCOS, and hopefully my next baby won’t have insulin issues. Happy to answer any questions.

The study: Anala AD, Saifudeen ISH, Ibrahim M, Nanda M, Naaz N, Atkin SL. The Potential Utility of Tirzepatide for the Management of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. J Clin Med. 2023 Jul 10;12(14):4575. doi: 10.3390/jcm12144575. PMID: 37510690; PMCID: PMC10380206.)

There are so many things I only figured out way too late about skin, makeup, and even grooming in general.

What’s something simple you learned that completely changed your results once you started doing it? Could be skincare technique, product order, makeup placement, anything.

Just get them. Figure out how to pay and learn how to place them in your eyes, it’s so worth it! I thought I looked so weird without contacts but it was literally because I never saw my actual face. I’m way more accustomed to my face now that I realized my glasses were kinda holding me back.

I can’t see far and my prescription is really high so the lenses were making my eyes small. And the specific frames I had were way too oversized and distorted the sides of my face. The frames also covered my eyebrows which didn’t help. And I also was self conscious that my wide nose was now front and center without my glasses, but it didn’t matter anyway because most glasses aren’t suitable for my nose that has no bridge. And since my cheeks are not obstructed and my eyes are larger, I can bring focus to that instead of my nose. I still wear my glasses most of the time for work, but if I’m going out I opt for them more because my features pop way more.

Good lash serum that’ll make lashes THICK not just long,won’t have them fall layer,won’t give dark circles and ruin my eyes thanks

I don't know what I'm doing wrong,
I dont if I'm too old or at the wrong places,
But I've tried to improve my looks so I can get things like better jobs, or connections.
But for the past few years, I've only gotten catcalling and men being creeps with, “my pretty privilege.”

I feel like I’ve interpreted this wrong,
I thought if I’ve polish myself up I could get a better job or lifestyle but it didn’t plan out the way I’ve intended.

Have any of you truly received a better opportunity for being attractive?
Edit: Thank you for all your advice, you’ll reminded me that personality still counts.

anyone else feel like the stress of the last year is just... sitting on their skin? I feel like i aged five years in six months because of work stress and just the general weight of everything lately. it’s so frustrating because as a WOC, when I get tired, I don't just look "sleepy" I look completely grey and sallow

I am honestly so over teh "glow up" culture on social media that expects you to have a 15-step routine every morning. who has the energy for that? and don't even get me started on the price of high-end skincare now. it feels like every "holy grail" product for aging is $100+ and half the time they don't even formulate with melanin-rich skin in mind. its just greedy industry standards at this point, gatekeeping looking decent behind a massive paywall

Ive been trying to simplify because I just can't deal with the complexity anymore. I started just keeping a big pack of Lululun in my nightstand for when Im too exhausted to even stand at the sink. I found this specific anti aging face mask set that’s actually affordable and doesn't feel like a whole production to use. I just slap one on, lie in the dark, and let it sink in while I try to decompress

its not a miracle cure for teh soul or anything but at least I don't look like a zombie when I wake up for my 8am. kindof feels like the only "maxxing" I have the mental capacity for right now is just staying hydrated and trying to keep my cortisol levels down before my skin just gives up entirely.

I am always FASCINATED by dating behaviors in different cultures because there's so much unspoken information... and people act so different.

I think the only people who walk up and hit one me/compliment me the most are other black people. Especially if I have my natural hair blown out (its long so especially older people like to talk to me about it). However I notice when I do certain hairstyles, white people will start talking to me all of a sudden. It's very interesting. I notice it happens with men a little bit too, like my dad is darkskin and for some reason when he straightens his hair latino/hispanics start trying to talk to him.

I'm overweight atm and I kind of feel like only black people go after me (although culturally we outwardly approach people more) but when I was 30lbs lighter or so more different people seemed interested in talking to me.

To clarify I'm not asking this as dating advice.. I am not really super interested in dating to be honest. I just like sociology.

I was just thinking about this because I've been having alot of fun with makeup recently and I've realised there were many things about my natural face I used to hate before I started playing with how to style them.

I've gotten so much compliments from people once I started adopting my own style of doing makeup, inspired by my own face. I really feel like a customised look adds so much aura and makes your face really memorable.

The self love has also been off the charts as a result. I can't recommend it more.

Here are some examples

My pigmented, two tone lips: I have natural lips that basically ombre from grey brown to fleshy pink. The top color is very cool toned (literally a shade match to Stone by MAC) and the bottom is warm peachy pink.

Used to hate how the brown parts peak out when I wear a sheer lip or light colors.

Now I actually accutuate the melanin with dark lip liner to create the same ombre color pattern with every lipstick I wear. Black or dark red liner with a red lip and cool tone brown liner with pink or gloss.

So much more diamensional than a single color lip, and so chic.

My round monolids: Used to struggle so much with winged liner, and trying to copy white people's eye looks. I can't describe how much I hated my eye shape in the 2010s beauty guru era of graphic liner + cut creases.

Now I just tightline my eyes with kohl. I use alot alot of eyeshadow and get creative with colors but I embrace my natural shape. This really accentuates the roundness and gives my makeup a timeless vintage quality.

I find that eyeliner shapes really give away what time period you come from but following your natural shape avoids that

As I tend to wear cool tone eyeshadow and have skinny brows, I've been told I have a 90s supermodel energy since I started doing my eyeliner the old school way.

I am trying to heal my hyperpigmentation that PCOS caused and I recently brought a bar of raw black African soap from Amazon and some rice milk toner (Beauty of Joseon , to help with my skin barrier). I wanted to know has anyone ever had any good experiences with this soap?

has anybody has anybody tried it? I have some skin and hair growth goals and it seems promising but not a lot of information out there mainly interested in copper peptides. people are purchasing from a china supplier.