Weird Side Effects of Foundayo: What Patients Didn't Expect
Foundayo (orforglipron) is a once-daily weight-loss tablet, and most of what gets written about it concerns appetite, the scales and the first uneasy weeks. Scattered through the same threads is a quieter category: odd little things people mention almost apologetically, often with a "this is so weird" attached, because it was not what they had been expecting.
What follows gathers some of those accounts, in the writers' own words. They are personal reports from public forums, so they cannot say how common any of this is or what lies behind it, and several writers say as much themselves, unsure whether the tablet, a new diet or plain coincidence deserves the credit.
The list that emerges is an unglamorous one: a chill that lingers, a runny nose at breakfast, rotten-egg gas, a coffee that has lost its charm and a hairbrush fuller than usual.
Feeling Cold, and Sometimes Hot
Body temperature comes up more often than the headline side effects might suggest, usually tacked onto the end of a longer list. One person five days in named it as half of their biggest problem.
"Biggest issue is very weird vivid dreams or I get super cold."
– Admarie25
The same remark turns up in a UK thread, where someone who had moved across from Mounjaro reported nothing else wrong apart from a chill that had stayed with them.
"I’ve switched over and no side effects at all other than still feel cold"
– SuperbDingo66
A third writer tied the feeling to a particular stage rather than a habit, listing it in the same breath as tiredness and light nausea at the three-week mark.
"It will be 3 weeks on Monday for me and my side effects have been light nausea been cold and tired."
– ft1125
Not everyone runs cold. A writer who had just stepped up to the 5.5mg strength reported the reverse, and pointed to the morning as the time it struck.
"I am DEFINITELY more tired on the 5.5 and, I also noticed, I had some hot flashes in the morning."
– 3Sides2EvryStory
Temperature is only the beginning of what people find strange, and a few of the stranger reports concern the face and throat.
Noses, Throats and a Heartburn Out of Nowhere
Two days into taking the tablet at midnight, one person woke to an oddity that sounded more like a cold than a side effect, and described it with the careful detail of someone who wanted to be believed.
"What I have is a ridiculously runny nose, as if I have been crying, or have a very snotty cold. It is only after I've been awake for a bit (30-60 minutes) and yesterday, it cleared up by afternoon."
– butterbeemeister
A different kind of discomfort sits at the throat. On the 5.5mg strength, one writer described a burning that came in waves and that did not fit the pattern they associated with heartburn, and was candid that the explanation they had settled on was a guess.
"I’ve had off and on throat burning since I started. I’m on 5.5mg. No heartburn or anything, just burning around my lymph nodes area that comes in waves sometimes. I think it’s silent reflux but I don’t know for sure."
– PatientGroup2154
Heartburn itself was a surprise for someone else, though for a different reason: it arrived late. After a month of nothing at the lowest strength, it showed up for the first time in their life and found its way into their nights.
"I have been on foundayo .8 for 5 weeks, and for the first 4 weeks had no side effects. About a week ago I got heartburn for the first time in my life and it’s been pretty brutal- having it several times a day and it’s woken me up at night too. It only lasts for a moment but it’s so intense."
– stankface8
The timing is what they flagged as odd, since nothing about the dose had changed. Other changes show up in less expected places altogether, starting with the way things smell.
Rotten Eggs and a Rash
Bodily smells are an awkward subject, which may be why they tend to appear in sideways remarks. One person looking back on four months wrote carefully about a change in their gas, and added a skin complaint that their doctor had put a name to.
"I had no real bowel or intestinal issues but I did notice smellier gas and it didn't matter what I ate lol. It DID NOT create more gas but when I had it, it smelled pretty bad, like rotten eggs bad. I did experience body rash while on Foundayo and the doctor says it was a case of pityriasis rosea. But pityriasis rosea does not have a known trigger or cause. Just being fully transparent about it."
– Kekandlols
Burps can carry a smell of their own. In a first-week round-up, a single line records what arrived before everything else.
"I just finished my first week. The first side effect I had was sulfur burps."
– InterestingWishbone4
Not every digestive change is unwelcome, and a question from someone who had come over from Zepbound suggests the smell can go in the other direction.
"[…] does anybody notice that they seem to have less occasional stomach rumblies on the pill? My gas seems less rancid and it just seems gentler in general."
– Mick-Drummond
Coffee, Caffeine and an Appetite for Fruit
Several of the oddest reports are about taste, and they tend to involve things people already loved. A morning latte was the casualty for one writer on the 2.5mg strength, who went to the trouble of buying a fancy one to test it.
"On 2.5 foundayo,, the taste is "off". I even went and bought a fancy latte to see if I still have that love of coffee. It doesn't hit the way it did. In fact it doesn't hit at all. :("
– tababnaba76
Coffee also seems to behave differently once it is in the cup, at least for one writer who was asked about tiredness and answered about the drink itself.
"I noticed caffeine doesn't affect me as much while taking foundayou."
– Ok-Armadillo-5634
Cravings can swing the other way, and one of the sweeter surprises came from a person in the third week of the starting dose, who found their taste turning towards something they had not expected to want.
"I actually crave fruit now, it’s been weird!! In a good way (week 2 going on 3 of 0.8)"
– Sw3b3r
Hair, and the Dose It Arrived With
Hair is a different sort of surprise, because it is the one that people watch for and still seem to be caught off guard by. One writer on the 2.5mg strength noticed it in the brush and linked its increase to a step up in strength, while adding that they were losing weight at the same time.
"I’ve had some hair loss. It’s not terrible but I’m noticing quite a bit more hair in my brush than before I started. I’m at 2.5 and losing weight. It increased with going up from the 0.8 dose."
– Juneberry26
Another, on the 9 strength, chose details that are telling: where they notice it, and what they had already been doing to disguise thinning hair before the tablet.
"i'm on 9 and i started losing some hair at this dosage. i see it in the shower mostly. i've always had thin hair and i've moved my part around here and there to disguise it. it's short and curly."
– loveshoes1
Not everyone reads the signs the same way. Someone who had lost hair on a different GLP-1 wrote that they had not yet seen it mentioned for Foundayo, even though they knew it was listed as a possibility.
"I had hair loss with glp1 (without weightloss) at micro doses. I know hairloss is a listed side effect of this med but I actually haven’t seen anyone experience hairloss on it"
– Putrid_Magician178
What Does Medino's Pharmacist Think?
"Some of these experiences, such as sulphur burps, heartburn and changes in appetite or taste, may be related to how Foundayo affects digestion. Others, like feeling unusually cold, a runny nose or changes in hair shedding, are harder to attribute directly to the medicine. Rapid weight loss, changes in diet and other health factors can also play a role. I'd recommend keeping a record of when symptoms appear, particularly after dose increases. If something persists, worsens or concerns you, speak to your pharmacist rather than assuming it's simply part of taking Foundayo."
– Alessandro Grenci, Pharmacist at Medino
Small Surprises
Read together, these accounts do not describe a single set of effects of Foundayo. They describe individual people who happened to notice something: a lingering chill, a nose that ran until lunchtime, a latte that stopped hitting the way it used to. Some expect it to pass, some have already moved on, and some are simply glad to have found somewhere to say it out loud.
