Jump to: What is gabapentin? | What is Mounjaro? | Why take Mounjaro with gabapentin? | Take home message
You can take Mounjaro with gabapentin, as no direct interactions between these medications have been reported in clinical studies. However, careful monitoring is needed as Mounjaro can affect how your body absorbs oral medications like gabapentin.
While the medications can be taken together, essential considerations about timing and potential side effects must be managed carefully.
Mounjaro slows digestion, potentially affecting how well your body absorbs gabapentin.
Additionally, both medications can cause similar side effects like dizziness and nausea, which might be more pronounced when taken together.
If you’re taking both medications, it’s essential to watch for signs of increased side effects, including:
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
- Increased tiredness or fatigue
- Nausea or digestive issues
- Difficulty with balance or coordination
Your doctor might need to adjust your gabapentin dose if you start taking Mounjaro, as the weight-loss medication could affect how well your body absorbs gabapentin.
What is gabapentin?
Gabapentin is a medication primarily used to treat nerve pain and epilepsy. Clinical trials have shown it’s particularly effective for certain types of nerve pain.
One large clinical trial showed that gabapentin significantly reduced pain scores in patients with postherpetic neuralgia, with 43.2% of patients reporting moderate to significant improvement.
The medication affects how nerves send signals throughout your nervous system, helping to reduce pain and prevent seizures in some people.
Common uses for gabapentin include:
- Treating nerve pain from conditions like diabetes or shingles
- Managing epilepsy and preventing seizures
- Supporting treatment for certain types of chronic pain
- Helping with specific nerve-related conditions
What is Mounjaro?
Mounjaro is a dual-action weight-loss injection. It supports weight loss by mimicking two hormones, GLP-1 and GIP, that communicate with the brain’s appetite control centre, the hypothalamus, to lower hunger and food-seeking behaviour.
By lowering hunger and our desire to eat, Mounjaro helps us eat fewer calories to achieve a calorie deficit.
A calorie deficit occurs when we consume fewer calories than our body needs to fuel its essential functions, such as digestion, blood flow, and brain function.
By creating a calorie deficit, our bodies will ‘burn’ the excess fat stored for energy, and we’ll lose weight.
Mounjaro also slows down the rate at which we digest food so that our stomach and gut send signals to the brain to signal the feeling of fullness.
So, Mounjaro supports weight loss by making us feel less hungry through two mechanisms:
- Communicating with the brain’s appetite control centre
- Slowing the rate that food is digested
Randomised controlled trials have shown that Mounjaro leads to an average weight loss of around 26% after one year.
Why take Mounjaro with gabapentin?
While there’s no direct interaction between Mounjaro and gabapentin, taking them together requires careful consideration and monitoring.
The relationship between chronic pain, nerve conditions, and weight is complex. Research shows that people living with chronic pain conditions often struggle with weight management, partly due to reduced mobility and medication side effects.
If you’re taking gabapentin and have a higher BMI, Mounjaro might help support weight loss while maintaining your pain management routine.
Excess body fat may contribute to the conditions that gabapentin is prescribed for, such as worse chronic pain and fatigue.
By losing weight on Mounjaro, patients on gabapentin may experience improvements in symptoms like chronic pain.
However, several factors need consideration when taking both medications:
- Timing: Take gabapentin and Mounjaro at different times to minimise potential absorption issues
- Side effects: Monitor for increased dizziness or fatigue, which both medications can cause
- Blood sugar: Both medications might affect blood sugar levels differently
- Absorption: Mounjaro’s effect on digestion might impact how well your body absorbs gabapentin
Your healthcare team should monitor you closely when starting or adjusting doses of either medication.
Take home message
While Mounjaro and gabapentin can be taken together, this combination requires careful monitoring and potential dose adjustments under medical supervision.
Success depends on working closely with your healthcare team to monitor both your pain management and weight loss progress.
We recommend letting your doctor know if you plan to start taking Mounjaro while on gabapentin.
Second Nature’s medication programmes
Second Nature has two medication-supported programmes: a Wegovy weight-loss programme and a Mounjaro weight-loss programme.
Why should you choose Second Nature over other medication providers if you’ve decided to try Mounjaro or Wegovy (assuming you’re eligible)?
For peace of mind.
Second Nature has worked with the NHS for over 6 years, providing weight-loss programmes across the UK.
While our Wegovy and Mounjaro weight-loss programmes are private and not currently used by the NHS, we’ve built the programmes focusing on scientific evidence, patient safety, and data security.
We hope that our 6+ years of working with the NHS and building a track record of effective weight-loss results will give you peace of mind to give us a try.
