Like so many who have lost weight on Mounjaro, Susan Anderson is positively evangelical about the silencing of the dreaded ‘food noise’ that had plagued her whole life.
She lost nearly 9st over 21 months, going from a ‘severely obese’ 21st 7lb – at 5ft 8in she had a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 45.8 – to a svelte 12st 12lb.
This has reduced Susan’s significant risk of diabetes and heart disease – but she has noticed another, more unusual, benefit of the so-called wonder drug.
Extraordinarily, she credits Mounjaro with curing the most debilitating of her Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms.
In fact, Susan, 59, believes ADHD-related ‘food noise’ is the reason she was overweight for most of her adult life. And that not only has Mounjaro reduced the compulsion to eat but has lessened other ADHD symptoms.
Far-fetched though it may sound, there is scientific evidence to support her claims of a link between Mounjaro and issues caused by reduced levels of ‘feel good’ neurotransmitter dopamine, which is associated with ADHD.
The disorder has long been linked with problems related to dopamine deficiency, leading many sufferers to subconsciously try to boost levels through addictive behaviour – gambling, drinking, taking drugs or gorging on sugary foods – all ways of getting a dopamine hit. Early studies have indicated that the GLP-1 chemical in fat jabs impact this neurotransmitter by modulating activity in the brain’s reward pathway.
‘I’m part of a lost generation of women who didn’t get an ADHD diagnosis when we were young,’ says Susan, a retail manager, who lives in Cumbria with husband Colin, 52, a builder.
Susan Anderson’s weight loss has had a significant impact on her risk of diabetes and heart disease – but she has also noticed another, more unusual, benefit of the wonder drug…
By the time Susan was 50, her weight had crept up to 18st and then went up another three-and-a-half stone while comfort-eating during lockdown
‘Though I’m very relieved to have one now – after seeing a specialist this summer. If it had been recognised sooner, and we’d got the right medication, or at least greater understanding and therapeutic support, I believe so many of us who are now using weight-loss drugs could’ve been saved from the decades of food noise that drove us to obesity.
Perhaps ADHD medication would have worked the same way. I don’t know because I’ve never taken it.
‘But I wasn’t weak, lazy or greedy, things I’d always told myself. I have ADHD and was searching for ways to boost dopamine, something my brain lacked and craved. Some people seek it out through gambling, some shopping, others drink. I ate.
‘Since starting on Mounjaro early last year, not only have I lost weight but I’m more able to focus on what I need to do, at work and home, and far less likely to lose things – my phone, my keys, my bag, all the stuff I was forever misplacing.’
In 2021 a study by researchers, including a team at London’s Imperial College, found ADHD is linked to a greater risk of developing obesity and that those with the condition are more likely to be overweight. Analysis indicated there are genetic variations which predispose some to both ADHD and obesity simultaneously.
As far back as 2008, an academic literature review showed that 70 per cent of adults and 40 per cent of children with ADHD also had a higher than average BMI. One theory is that the impulsivity and inattention associated with the condition – the result, it is believed, of inadequate levels of dopamine, which contributes to feelings of pleasure, satisfaction and motivation – lead to binge-eating which, in turn, causes weight gain.
Susan was a ‘healthy weight’ as a child but recalls ‘self-medicating with food’ once she reached adulthood.
Aged 24, she weighed 15st 4lb – a figure etched on her memory after she was asked to step on scales before being allowed to do a bungee jump. By the time she was 50, her weight had crept up to 18st. The final three-and-a-half stone went on while comfort-eating during lockdown.
Initially she lost 2st using Slimpod – a mindfulness app that promises to change the mindset of people struggling to diet.
But then she hit a wall.
By early 2024, Susan and her GP were concerned enough about the impact on her health that, although she didn’t qualify for it on the NHS because she wasn’t diabetic, Susan decided to try Mounjaro.
The drug, the generic name for which is tirzepatide, mimics gut hormones released by the body after eating, sending signals of fullness to the brain. It has proved something of a miracle, not only for weight loss but also when it comes to other traits associated with Susan’s neurodiversity.
Having newly stabilised levels of dopamine is, she believes, the reason she’s no longer a martyr to cravings for pizzas, cakes and pastries, which she had found impossible to resist.
Susan’s ‘lightbulb moment’ about her condition came in late 2023, when she was proofreading training material about neurodiversity written by a therapist friend.
‘Having previously associated the condition with hyperactive little boys bouncing off classroom walls, when I read about the signs of ADHD in girls – emotional intensity, forgetfulness, hyperfocus, anxiety – I identified with every single one,’ she says.
‘While with boys the way it manifests is more outward, girls and women tend to be hyperactive in our brains – daydreamers, not paying attention – which is how I was in every lesson at school, except for art, which I loved and could hyperfocus on.
‘Symptoms of my neurodiversity – over-eating the most destructive – have plagued me all my life. Reading about it was bittersweet. I felt relief that I finally had an explanation for the chaos inside my head, which had driven me to almost eat myself to death, and sadness that I’d spent 30 years battling obesity without understanding the cause.’
Having identified a possible reason for her struggles, Susan immersed herself in researching ADHD online. She was then referred to a psychologist by her GP and the assessment took place a year later.
‘Some might wonder why I bothered getting assessed at my age. The main reason was so that I, and others in my life, could better understand me,’ says Susan.
‘Although my husband never seemed bothered about my weight, the fact I’m always running late, can never remember anything and am so untidy drives him crazy.
‘These things can be frustrating for me too but it’s a relief to now be able to tell him, and others, that I cannot help it.’
Consultant neuropsychiatrist Sally Cubbin, who specialises in adult ADHD, has worked with many patients with weight struggles.
‘Unhealthy diets are common in people with ADHD, many of whom tend to rely on easy, ready-made meals and frequently binge on sugary snacks, eating out of boredom and losing track of what they are consuming,’ she says.
‘Eating and maintaining a healthy diet requires good executive function – organisation, planning, prioritisation and time management – something those with ADHD can find challenging.’
And, while the biggest impact of Mounjaro has been on Susan’s appetite, she has noticed improvements in other areas – such as biting her nails to the quick, which caused pain and bleeding and is a symptom of ADHD.
Susan is on the highest dose of Mounjaro. The monthly cost has been between £170 and £270 and she has so far spent around £4,400 – ‘worth every penny’, she says
While the biggest impact of Mounjaro has been on Susan’s appetite, she has noticed improvements in other areas – such as biting her nails to the quick
Nail-biting can be a form of self-stimulating, often referred to as ‘stimming’, a common response to situations those with ADHD find challenging, including sitting still, paying attention and managing emotions.
Also, whereas before Susan struggled with Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD) – another symptom of ADHD which means you experience intense emotional pain from even the slightest perceived rejection – she now says she is far better at regulating her reactions.
‘It made me ultra-sensitive to criticism, of any kind. Someone at work only needed to ask, ‘Hey, could you no longer put this file here and put it there instead?’ and I’d grind on it for the next three days, thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, they hate me. I’m worthless. I’m getting fired.’
‘I still have a tendency to catastrophise in this way, however, since starting on Mounjaro, I find it much easier to recognise where my mind is trying to take me and get better perspective.’
Susan believes her oversensitivity contributed to the breakdown of her first marriage, which ended in 2011 after 12 years. ‘He was a lovely man but he only needed to ask why I hadn’t done the dishes and I’d burst into tears,’ says Susan.
‘I now realise that perimenopause, combined with ADHD, turned me into a crazy woman. Since my diagnosis, I’ve written to my ex, explaining and apologising for my behaviour.’
Susan met Colin, from North Yorkshire, nine years ago, while he was working in her home town of Oregon, Tennessee, where she was working as a mortgage loan officer. After a two-year long distance romance, the couple married and moved to Cumbria.
Colin was the first person Susan told she believed she had ADHD – before her GP referred her for assessment though, she says, he only took it seriously once she had a formal diagnosis. ‘He seemed to think I wanted to pin all my problems on this condition but it wasn’t like that,’ she says.
‘It was just such a relief to know I wasn’t broken, or alone, that other people struggle with this and it’s not down to me being stupid or not trying hard enough.’
She is on the highest dose of Mounjaro – 15mg – having worked up from 2.5mg over 20 months and is about to start reducing it. The monthly cost has been between £170 and £270 and she has so far spent around £4,400 – ‘worth every penny’, she says.
Having gone from eating ready meals, pasta and tubs of salted caramel ice cream, a typical day on Mounjaro is limited to a protein shake and two boiled eggs in the morning, chicken and salad at lunchtime and sardines on wholewheat crackers in the evening.
While she rarely feels hungry, she’s irritated by those who criticise users for taking the easy route. ‘You hear people say, ‘Oh, those jabs are just a quick and easy fix’, but there’s nothing quick about it – my average loss has been 3.5 pounds a month, which is very steady,’ she says.
Susan believes there are many other women, in their 40s, 50s and 60s, with undiagnosed ADHD, who, like her, have long self-medicated with food and are now being prescribed fat jabs
‘And there’s nothing easy about it, either. For the first ten months I had every imaginable stomach issue – diarrhoea, constipation, nausea. I’m glad I persevered but it’s not for the faint of heart.’
Susan had no desire to be a mum but wonders, with hindsight, if she talked herself out of it, believing she wouldn’t have the necessary organisational skills and focus to raise a child.
‘I always felt I wasn’t quite up to scratch,’ she says. ‘It’s sad to think that, had I known I was not defective but neurodiverse, I might have had children. In fact, had I been diagnosed 30 years ago, I might have had the tools, therapy, even medication to cope differently and saved myself decades of shame and self-sabotage.’
Susan believes there are many other women, in their 40s, 50s and 60s, with undiagnosed ADHD, who, like her, have long self-medicated with food and are now being prescribed fat jabs. While most are delighted with the results, Susan says Mounjaro, Wegovy and Ozempic may be merely acting as ‘sticking plasters over much deeper wounds’.
If the ‘food noise’, along with the weight, returns, she won’t go back on Mounjaro but will try ADHD medication instead, the most common of which are methylphenidate-based (including Ritalin) stimulants, which increase brain activity to improve concentration and reduce impulsive, hyperactive behaviour.
Susan is hopeful it may have a similar effect on her appetite and in any case has made significant lifestyle changes – as well as cutting out white sugar, bread, pasta, potatoes and alcohol, she walks and does strength-training.
‘Until I come off Mounjaro, I won’t know how I’m going to feel,’ she says. ‘But at least I can now be self-compassionate, aware of what’s at the root of it, and that it’s not because I’m weak-willed.’ She is grateful to have learnt about her ADHD, at the same time as discovering weight-loss jabs, fearing she would otherwise quickly fall back into old habits.
‘I know so many women using the jabs who haven’t looked at
why they eat the way they do,’ she says. ‘They are terrified about what will happen when they come off the injections.
‘I don’t think it will be a breeze for me either, but it will be easier than all the decades that came before my ADHD diagnosis, when I believed the only medicine available to me was food.’
Additional reporting: MATTHEW BARBOUR
