Section
Guides
12 pages in this section, most recently updated September 4, 2026. Each opens with a plain-English summary and cites its sources.
01 · Guides
FeaturedThe tirzepatide titration schedule, step by step, with dates
You'll get: Titration, the step-up in dose, starts at 2.5 mg and rises by 2.5 mg after at least four weeks per step.
What the Zepbound and Mounjaro labels say about starting at 2.5 mg, moving up in 2.5 mg steps, and which doses count as maintenance. Plus a planner that turns the rules into calendar dates.
Updated September 4, 2026
02 · Guides
FeaturedMissed a tirzepatide dose? The 96-hour rule and the 72-hour rule
You'll get: The label says a dose up to four days late can still be taken, and your usual day does not move.
Exactly what the Zepbound and Mounjaro labels say about a late dose, a skipped dose, and changing your injection day, with worked examples and a helper that applies the rules to your times.
Updated September 4, 202603 · Guides
FeaturedUnits, mL and mg: reading a compounded tirzepatide vial without a dosing error
You'll get: The units on an insulin syringe measure liquid, not drug; one unit is one hundredth of a milliliter.
Why a compounded tirzepatide dose has to be recalculated for every vial, how insulin-syringe units relate to milligrams, what the brand concentrations are, and what FDA says about dosing errors.
Updated September 4, 202604 · Guides
FeaturedTirzepatide side effects by dose: the label table, read properly
You'll get: In the trials, about 1 in 4 people on Zepbound had nausea, compared with about 1 in 12 on placebo.
Side effect rates at 5, 10 and 15 mg versus placebo from the Zepbound label, when they tend to happen, how many people stopped, and how to read them.
Updated September 4, 202605 · Guides
How tirzepatide works, in the words the label uses
You'll get: Tirzepatide acts on the receptors for two gut hormones, GIP and GLP-1, that your body releases after you eat.
What the label says about how tirzepatide works: two gut hormone receptors, a five-day half-life, a four-week build-up, and why that sets the schedule.
Updated September 4, 202606 · Guides
Storing tirzepatide: the 21-day, 30-day and 4-dose limits
You'll get: Single-dose pens and vials live in the fridge, but can spend up to 21 days total at room temperature.
What the Zepbound and Mounjaro labels allow for single-dose pens and vials, multi-dose vials and KwikPens, in the fridge and out of it, and what to do with a frozen or heated dose.
Updated September 4, 202607 · Guides
The first four weeks at 2.5 mg: what the label says that dose is for
You'll get: Everyone starts at 2.5 mg for four weeks; the label says this dose is for getting started, not for staying on.
Why tirzepatide starts at 2.5 mg, a dose the label calls a starting dose only, what drug levels do in the first four weeks, and what the trials did first.
Updated September 4, 202608 · Guides
FeaturedThe SURMOUNT trials in numbers
You'll get: Six trials produced almost every tirzepatide weight number in circulation; this page lists them all with sources.
SURMOUNT-1 through 5 and SURMOUNT-OSA: who took part, for how long, and what changed, with the source for every number. Check any tirzepatide claim here.
Updated September 4, 202609 · Guides
Stopping tirzepatide: what SURMOUNT-4 measured
You'll get: One trial had people take tirzepatide for 36 weeks, then switched some of them to placebo for another year.
The one trial that randomised people to keep taking tirzepatide or switch to placebo after 36 weeks, its regain numbers, what the label says about maintenance, and what the data cannot tell you about tapering.
Updated September 4, 202610 · Guides
Tirzepatide for obstructive sleep apnea: the indication, the dosing and the trial
You'll get: Zepbound was approved in December 2024 for moderate to severe sleep apnea in adults with obesity.
What Zepbound's December 2024 sleep apnea approval covers, why the target dose is 10 or 15 mg, and what the trials showed with and without a CPAP machine.
Updated September 4, 202611 · Guides
Tirzepatide warnings and contraindications, in plain language
You'll get: The label's top warning is about thyroid tumors seen in rats; no one knows yet if this happens in people.
The boxed warning, the two reasons the label rules the drug out entirely, every other warning in the Zepbound label, its numbers, and the 2026 changes.
Updated September 4, 202612 · Guides
Compounded tirzepatide and the FDA: the shortage timeline and what it means now
You'll get: Compounded tirzepatide was allowed as a copy of the brand only while the drug was on FDA's shortage list.
The dates that shaped compounded tirzepatide: the 2022 shortage listing, FDA's December 2024 order, the 2025 deadlines, and FDA's problem report counts.
Updated September 4, 2026