week two, nothing is happening, everyone says that is normal, is it
Two weeks in. No appetite change I can detect, no side effects at all, no weight change beyond normal daily wobble. Everyone says week two is normal. I would like to understand why it is normal rather than just being told it is, because right now I am mostly worried I have a bad vial.
Good question and here is the actual reason rather than the reassurance.
The starting dose is a tolerability dose. Its job is to let your gut meet the drug gently. It is not expected to do much, and it was not expected to do much in the trials either.
On top of that, the half-life is around 168 hours, so it takes roughly four to five weeks of consistent dosing before you are at steady state on any given dose. At day 14 you are not yet at steady state on a dose that was never meant to produce an effect.
So: two independent reasons, both boring, both entirely expected. Your vial is almost certainly fine.
this is the first explanation that has made it feel like a design rather than a disappointment. thank you.
and the "bad vial" worry is extremely common at exactly this point. if it were a bad vial you would still expect something at week four or five, which is when it is worth asking again.
i felt nothing until week five and then it arrived all at once. plenty of people describe exactly that.
and then everybody quits at week four, roughly one step before the interesting part. do not quit at week four.
noted, screenshotted, and stuck to the fridge. the back of it, not the door, i have read that thread too.