Jade Martin, a UK-based stay-at-home mom, embarked on a journey with a well-known weight-loss medication, hoping it would steer her clear of health issues. However, she encountered an unexpected and debilitating side effect: severe anxiety that left her unable to leave her bed.

In January 2025, Martin decided to tackle her lifelong battle with weight, motivated by the threat of gestational diabetes. At the age of 34, she consulted her primary care physician and was prescribed Mounjaro, a drug commonly used for both weight loss and diabetes management.

Initially, Martin experienced significant success, shedding 49 pounds over a span of ten months, bringing her weight down from 224 pounds. However, the positive trajectory changed course when she decided to increase her dosage in March 2025 from 2.5mg to the standard 5mg.

This adjustment led to a drastic downturn in her mental health, thrusting her into a state of depression accompanied by relentless anxiety. Martin found herself battling sleepless nights, plagued by racing thoughts and a persistent sensation of chest tightness, symptoms indicative of a continuous, low-level panic.

Reflecting on her experience, Martin shared, “I felt drained of energy, and my anxiety spiked to a point where it was physically manifesting in my chest. The anxiety was so intense it disrupted my sleep, making it feel like I was in a real state of depression.”

Martin described her ordeal: ‘I had low energy and such increased anxiety to the point when I could feel it in my chest. It would affect my sleep at night because I was so anxious, it felt like a real depression.’

Her doctor reduced her dose back down to 2.5mg and she remained at that level until July 2025. When she moved to the higher dose again, hoping her side effects were a one-off, the depression and anxiety returned full-force. It was not until she reduced her dose back to 2.5mg again that the symptoms subsided.

‘It made me really tearful, it wasn’t a good space to be in,’ she said. ‘It would make me lose focus, it was like you were in a black cloud and you couldn’t see beyond that.’

The stay-at-home mom began her weight loss journey in January 2025 and lost 49lbs in 10 months (pictured before, left, and after, right)

After losing the 10 months, her success unraveled in March 2025 when she followed standard protocol and upped her dose from 2.5mg to 5mg 

Martin has maintained steady weight loss on the lower dose, albeit at a slower pace than people on higher doses. But since her ordeal, she has decided never to try increasing her dose again.

She said: ‘No amount of weight loss is worth feeling like that, my mental health will always come first. There’s no enjoyment in life if you don’t want to do anything.’

Like millions of people who currently take Mounjaro or a similar GLP-1 drug such as Zepbound, Ozempic and Wegovy, Martin heard about its benefits on social media and from friends.

She had always had a complicated relationship with food. 

Attending weight loss support groups, she said, only further eroded how she saw food and what her body truly needed.

An emotional eater, Martin turned to food when she was sad, happy or celebrating. Family gatherings revolved around food and it often served as a source of comfort for her.

Martin was at a heightened risk of developing type 2 diabetes while pregnant with her second child and she did not want the risk to continue after she gave birth, so her doctor started her on Mounjaro. 

She had no immediate side effects and the severe dip in her mood after increasing her dose was unexpected for Martin, who said she had always been in relatively good mental health.

The British mom has documented her weight loss journey with the help of the GLP-1 on TikTok (pictured before, left, and 10 months in, right)

After her doctor increased her Mounjaro dosage, Martin was plunged into a state of unrelenting anxiety and depression, lying awake with racing thoughts and a chest tight with panic

She said: ‘It’s clearly a dose that just doesn’t agree with me. My mood was really flat, I had no interest in doing anything, especially not eating.

‘I had no appetite, I knew I wasn’t getting the nutrition I needed. I worried about that and that increased the anxiety.’

Mounjaro mimics two hormones naturally produced in the body: GIP and GLP-1, which signal to the brain that you are full, slows down how quickly food leaves the stomach and helps the body release insulin only when blood sugar rises.

The result is feeling fuller longer and eating less while the body processes food more efficiently.

While the lower dose helped her make better, healthier food choices while keeping her appetite lower, the higher dose blunted her appetite almost entirely, so eating felt like a chore.

Martin added: ‘My whole journey has been about repairing my relationship with food and on 5mg I just couldn’t, I was forcing myself to eat and eating very little.’

Anxiety and depression are not among the listed side effects on Mounjaro’s label, which does include nausea, vomiting and constipation as well as other gastrointestinal issues, some of which can be severe, including bowel obstruction.

Martin acknowledged that her progress has been slower than average.

Now, back on the lower 2.5mg dose for good, Martin [pictured with her partner] said she feels like herself again; energized, motivated and no longer trapped under a black cloud of depression

She said: ‘A lot of people lose three to four pounds a week and lose weight very quickly. My journey hasn’t been like that, I’m losing a pound a week. A lot of people see it as slow, it’s not, it’s healthy.’

The CDC and other health authorities define a safe, sustainable weight loss rate as one to two pounds per week. 

This gradual pace is associated with better long-term success, meaning people who lose weight at this rate are more likely to keep it off compared to those who lose weight very quickly.

Slow and steady weight loss also gives the body time to adjust, which may help prevent loose skin and a loss in muscle mass, which has been documented among GLP-1 users.

Martin said: ‘[My advice is] don’t rush through the doses, I know providers say to move up a dose every four weeks but if it’s still working for you there is no need to increase the dose.

‘Hunger is a normal feeling, you have to live with that feeling you’re going to get hungry. I know a lot of people do it but that’s not the goal for me. You need to be comfortable with food and hunger because there is a life after Mounjaro.’