It’s not been a fun few weeks with my Mounjaro shortage… THE Mounjaro/Zepbound shortages. I’ve been watching as GLP-1 users struggle to find their medication. I tend to say “user” or “person,” but “patient” is the word doctors would use, making it even a more serious issue than the press has been making it out to be.
In serial four-week cycles, I have been on Mounjaro 15mg, Mounjaro 12.5mg, Ozempic 2mg after insurance refused to cover Zepbound any-dosage, and today, on Mounjaro 12.5mg. Bless my endocrinologist for working so hard with me to get me any medication. She had to change the prescriptions each time I needed to switch medications or dosages.
I am also waiting for a screening appointment to a virtual medical clinic after being turned down by another because I am diabetic.
NOTE TO DIABETICS LOOKING FOR COMPOUNDING:
Apparently, virtual clinics will only accept people who want to lose weight.
Use that information as you will.
This Is Our Medicine!
For many of us, these medicines aren’t just to lose weight. That’s a secondary, or even a tertiary reason for taking them. This is the medication I need to keep myself from taking those seven pills I stopped over the last two years, losing my eyesight, getting my feet cut off, and dying from organ failure like so many of my Latin relatives.
We diabetics aren’t the only people not getting our meds. The Drug Shortage is affecting almost every illness treated in hospitals and doctor’s offices. To see the complete list of 323 medications on back order, take a gander at the FDA Drug Shortages List.
Many medications in these categories are having grave shortages:
- Cancer: Including chemotherapy meds. A “survey in October 2023 found that 72% of cancer centers were still short on carboplatin and that 59% lacked enough cisplatin. The methotrexate shortage had not eased at all, whereas other drugs, such as 5-fluorouracil, fludarabine, and hydrocortisone, were showing signs of increased scarcity.”
- ADHD: Including Adderall, whose shortage began in 2022.
- Asthma: Including Albuterol, Theophylline, and Terbutaline
- Cardiac Care: “Among the cardiac drugs in short supply are Adenosine and Lidocaine, which can be used to treat life-threatening arrhythmias, and Dofetilide, which is used to treat atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter but must be initiated in the hospital and needs to be reinitiated in the hospital if patients are unable to get refills for use at home.” Amyl Nitrate is also on the shortage list.
- Epi-Pens: “The shortage continues to affect two of the three manufacturers of epinephrine auto-injectors (EAIs) currently on the market: Amneal (formerly Impax, generic of Adrenaclick®), and Mylan Specialty (EpiPen®, EpiPen® Jr, and their generics). The only product that is not currently in shortage is made by kaléo (Auvi-Q®).”
- Diabetes: Including the ‘tides (semaglutide, tirzepatide, liraglutide, dulaglutide, etc.) and Insulins. Insulins! If I can’t get my GIP/GLP-1, I will have to go back on insulin. And I might not be able to get that, either? It makes me want to cry.
- Many antibiotics, especially ones for antibiotic resistant patients: Ampicillin, Clindamycin, Doxycycline, Gentamicin, Penicillin
- Anti-Fungals: Nystatin, Amphotericin B Injection, Fluconazole (which I took every day for 3 years to save my life).
- Injectable anesthetics: Lidocaine, Xylocaine, Bupivacaine
- Heparin: “Heparin is used to prevent or treat certain blood vessel, heart, and lung conditions. Heparin is also used to prevent blood clotting during open-heart surgery, bypass surgery, kidney dialysis, and blood transfusions.”
- Lactated Ringer’s Fluid: “Ringer’s lactate is largely used in aggressive volume resuscitation from blood loss or burn injuries; however, Ringer’s lactate is a great fluid for aggressive fluid replacement in many clinical situations, including sepsis and acute pancreatitis.”
- Pain Medications: Including Demerol, Fentanyl, Morphine, and Oxycodone.
- Women’s Health: Progesterone and estrogen are in shortage.
- Men’s Health: Testosterone
Obstetric Medications: Because I was a midwife, I’ve grouped the Obstetric Meds together since I know them best.
- Oxytocin (trade name Pitocin is not currently on the shortage list): Used to induce labor and to stop hemorrhaging postpartum. Often, in a home birth setting, this is the only legal medication we can carry. Because it stops hemorrhage, it can save a life in the home setting.
- Rho(D)gam: A medication for “Rh incompatibility (which) describes a condition in pregnancy where the mother and fetus have different blood types, specifically of the Rh factor. A possible, serious result of this mismatch is Rh isoimmunization, when the mother produces antibodies to Rh-positive fetal red blood cells during pregnancy. The destruction of fetal red blood cells can lead to anemia or death in a fetus or newborn.”
- Sterile Water: ??? How odd is that? Needed for a zillion things in the hospital, during births, and for home care.
- Vitamin K Injection: “Vitamin K is needed for blood to clot normally. Babies are born with very small amounts of vitamin K in their bodies which can lead to serious bleeding problems. Research shows that a single vitamin K shot at birth protects your baby from developing dangerous bleeding which can lead to brain damage and even death.”
The Tense Scramble for GLP-1s
I hope Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are reading this so they can get an inkling of what we are going through trying to get our Mounjaro, Ozempic, Zepbound, Wegovy, Saxenda, Trulicity, etc.
Calling pharmacists is almost a full-time job for those of us looking for our medications. I know families who tag team so someone can stop and rest a bit from hearing all the, “No, I’m sorry. We don’t know when it will be in.” I know I feel like Charlie Bucket looking for the Golden Ticket as I drive to the local pharmacies or call the ones up to 100 miles away. Blessedly, my pharmacist likes me enough to go in every morning at 7:00am, before all the other pharmacists are out of bed, to see if any Mounjaro, of any strength, has come in overnight. I grabbed the Brass Ring a few days ago and got Mounjaro 12.5mg. Not quite my regularly prescribed 15mg, but I’ll take it!
If I pass any store with a pharmacy, I go in and ask about their GLP-1 supply. So far it’s always, “We’ve got nothin’.”
Even if I could get three months’ worth, which my insurance won’t pay for, I would not be able to find the three boxes I would need. I have one box and am visualizing the shortage ending before I need the next box. This is mega-stressful, looking for meds.
When I was on Trulicity back in 2022, they had a shortage for two months and I couldn’t get my injections for those eight weeks. I did not freak out then. But, I did freak out when, after my first box of Mounjaro in December 2023, the shortage hit for the first time. Being told I couldn’t get my box had me breaking out into a cold sweat. It was the same dread when I was addicted to Norco and Percocet, worrying the pharmacist wouldn’t give them to me.
So when the pharmacist told me my 10mg Mounjaro was on back-order, I broke into that same addictive sweat I had when I needed the opiates. I felt dizzy, holding onto the counter and asked what I was going to do. He casually said to call and ask for the 12.5mg because he had that in stock. Still shaking, I called the Endocrinologist and within minutes, the new prescription for 12.5mg was called in.
After reflection, I felt it was a visceral response to wanting to lose weight faster. I had become quite married to the scale, stepping on it each time I walked by. For all my talk of Health at Any Cost, even I can be swept away by the sirens of the scale. When I got home with my 12.5mg, I had my housemate lock up my scale for a month. It’s back out of lockdown now, but I am much more chill about weighing myself and enjoying how my body moves and watching those labs improve more and more every three months.
Strategies for the Shortage
For me, the first thing is to breathe.
While I am quite terrified to regain weight, I keep talking to myself that if I do, I can lose it again when I am on the right medications. I also remind myself that if I gain weight, it won’t be 200 lbs. even if the shortage lasted until the fall. It took me two years to take off 200 lbs., it would take some time to regain.
I’ve made connections in pharmacies near where I live and they know how important this is to me. Of course, I am not so self-centered as to think I am the only one in GLP-1 crisis, but I do work hard to find the meds. I also advocate for others who need them, too. If I have mine and find a pharmacy with more, I tell those around me who need them as well.
I weigh once a week on Mondays and that helps me stay calm about what the scale is doing.
I find consolation with others in the same situation online. It feels good not to be alone with something as potentially maddening as not being able to find and take my GLP-1 medications.
My family will pay for my compounding tirzepatide if I qualify at a virtual clinic. I know I am blessed and privileged to have people who can do this for me, but it is part of my strategy.
And I write and share with you all here.
If you are in the same shortage situation, what are you doing to cope and find meds? I would love to know! And so would all the other readers, too.
Let the shortage be over SOON!