TOPPING the scales at 16 stone, Joann Burland knew something had to change.
At 5ft 2in and a size 20, the 49-year-old from Basildon, , was tired of hiding in baggy clothes and exhausted from years of failed diets.
So when weight-loss medication began gaining momentum as a quick fix, Joann decided trying it was a no-brainer.
Her BMI of 34.5 put her in the “obese”; category and she was desperate for change.
What she didn’t expect was that the would alter every aspect of her life, sharpen her outlook — and help her to shift 3st 4lbs.
In an unexpected twist, Joann says silenced the excessive chatter in her brain that she later learned was
‘Constant voice in my head’
“I suddenly had this clarity I’d never known,”; she recalls.
“The brain fog I’d lived with my whole life lifted.
“It was so mind-blowing to not have that constant chatter going on in my head and be fighting it all the time.”;
She adds: “I used to hide behind my clothes. Now I feel like a different person. I can be me.”;
Joann had experienced symptoms of that affected her whole life, but she was only diagnosed as an adult when she began connecting the dots.
She says: “I thought I was just a bit different. I never imagined a weight-loss jab would help me understand myself better than I ever had.”;
The mum, who lives with husband Jason, 55, and their son Luke, 20, was drawn to for weight loss after finding stories on about women who had used it.
Having struggled with her diet for as long as she could remember, and feeling disheartened by a lack of success on NHS weight loss courses, she researched the drug.
“I didn’t see it as a quick fix,”; she says. “I saw it as a no-brainer, a way to break the cycle.
“I’ve always had a disordered, unhealthy relationship with . I’d eat the same things — toast for breakfast, toast for lunch. I was a secret eater. I’d raid the biscuit tin or eat a whole pack, then hide the wrappers.
“It wasn’t down to hunger. It was this noise — this constant voice in my head going, ‘Just have one. You’ve had one, have another. Just finish the packet’.
“It was relentless.”;
In April 2024, after her GP said they didn’t have the funding to offer weight loss jabs, Joann found a reputable online pharmacy.
She filled out a consultation and, from May, paid £129 for the monthly package of , starting on the lowest dose of 2.5mg.
I had this constant inner voice telling me, ‘Everyone else is coping with daily life, but you can’t cope with the paperwork, the washing and the tidying’.
Joann Burland
What happened next blew her mind.
“Within 24 hours, I was doing my shop and walked down the biscuit aisle — and felt nothing,”; Joann recalls.
“It was this completely bizarre, alien feeling. There was no urge, no voice in my head trying to convince me to grab a packet of Garibaldi’s or whatever I fancied. It was like someone had finally hit the mute button.”;
It wasn’t just the noise that faded, either. Joann also experienced a profound shift in her lifelong struggle with her undiagnosed .
The condition can affect concentration levels, impulses and energy levels because the brain of someone with ADHD works differently to other people.
Joann had, since 2020, suspected that she may have the condition and had been on a waiting list for an assessment.
But with no official diagnosis, she had laughed off her “quirks”; — until the jabs helped her understand her symptoms better.
She said that, in the past, she would often forget sandwich fillings, lose keys, stash “doom boxes”; full of random junk in cupboards or start a task such as laundry that she would then forget to complete.
And inside, she was silently struggling to make sense of it all.
For 20 years, she was in charge of the admin and paperwork side of her hubby’s decorating .
She says: “Jason would go out to buy paint then phone me up to say our account was frozen with the material suppliers because I hadn’t paid the bill.
“I’d sort it out within minutes, but I’d get to that point because my brain would be telling me, ‘I’ll do it in a minute’.
‘How could I have been so stupid?’
“It was absolute hell because, on the face of it, I pretended to be this person who could take it all on and cope.
“But in reality, I was on the backfoot — always leaving things until the very last minute. That’s classic .
“Jason was always very patient and supportive. He accepted that things would eventually get sorted. They would just take a long time.
“I think the consensus from friends and family was, ‘That’s just how Joann is’.
“I had this constant inner voice telling me, ‘Everyone else is coping with daily life, but you can’t cope with the paperwork, the washing and the tidying’.”;
In the wake of , when Jason’s business had already taken a hit, Joann’s forgetfulness led to one of her worst blunders yet.
She says: “We had a VAT bill. I was absolutely convinced I’d paid it. A couple of months later, we got a notification to say it was still outstanding. It was a huge shock.
“I went through all the paperwork and realised my mistake. But it caused long-term problems for us because, although I hadn’t spent the and it had been absorbed by the business, we didn’t have enough cash flow.
“I still beat myself up about it. I think, ‘How could I have been so stupid?’. I’m not blaming it all on the ADHD but I think it contributed in some way.”;
Determined to better understand herself and to bring in an income to help secure her family’s future, Joann decided to make a career out of counselling.
It was a huge relief. Finally, everything just made sense. I went from not understanding myself one day to completely understanding myself the next.
Joann Burland
It was after she started her training in 2020 that she began to wonder if she might have ADHD.
She says: “As part of the course, you do a lot of self-reflection, and it made me realise that my thought processes up until then had always been very self-critical.
“There was never a light bulb moment when I thought I could have it. It was just that becoming more self-aware made me realise I was processing things differently to other people.”;
Joann had embarked on an official diagnostic process through the NHS, which took three and a half years. It wasn’t until August 2024 that she was finally officially diagnosed with ADHD, after lengthy, in-depth assessments.
She says: “It was a huge relief. Finally, everything just made sense. I went from not understanding myself one day to completely understanding myself the next.
“I grieved for the misunderstood child and the overwhelmed young woman but I also felt, ‘I am who I am and that’s OK and enough’.”;
By the time Joann had moved on to her second Mounjaro injection pen, four weeks into her weight loss journey, her anxiety had dropped significantly.
And she passed her final counselling exams with renewed focus. “I was feeling calmer and more in control,”; she says.
“I could study for my exams with greater focus and start building my website for counselling.”;
Husband Jason and son Luke noticed the change, too. “They kept asking if I was OK,”; Joann says. “I decluttered the whole house. I cleared cupboards that had been crammed with receipts and broken pens for years.”;
By late October, Joann had lost 3st, taking her below 13st for the first time in decades.
However as the cost of the jabs was spiralling, now £180 a month, Joann decided to stop taking them.
But the rebound she experienced further confirmed her belief that they were having a positive impact on her brain.
“Within ten days, I could feel the old thinking patterns creeping back,”; she says. “The food noise returned. When Jason bought a load of chocolates for , I couldn’t help myself. I was biting my again, too.”;
Determined to get the mental clarity back and continue losing weight, Joann found a new provider who offered a flat rate of £99 per month for the jabs.
So she returned to using them in February — forgoing trips to the hairdresser to pay for them.
At 12st 10lbs, Joann is now on track to reach her target weight of 12st. And she has launched her own private counselling practice to help women navigate late ADHD diagnosis.
‘Others feel the same clarity’
She says: “I get messages from women aged 49 to 60 saying, ‘This is me. I’ve just been diagnosed, too’. Some have tried the jab and feel the same clarity, others haven’t. Everyone’s different.”;
Joann isn’t advocating the use of fat jabs for ADHD, or even weight loss, without careful consideration.
She adds: “I’m not saying because the jab worked for me, it’s guaranteed to work for everyone.
“Everyone has to do what they feel is the right thing for them.
“I never took the weight loss injections thinking it would have an effect on my ADHD, but for me, it’s a bonus — a win, win.”;
Joann has also called for more research into the link between GLP-1 meds such as Mounjaro, which mimic the hormone that helps balance blood sugar and reduces appetite, and ADHD.
In the meantime, she also manages her ADHD with mindfulness techniques.
And while she’s on a waiting list for ADHD medication, she’s unsure about taking it.
“ADHD meds aren’t something I’m keen on right now,”; she says.
“I’m on a two-year waitlist, and I’ve heard mixed reviews. If there was an option to microdose Mounjaro weekly, purely for mental clarity, I’d take it.”;
Joann’s Tuesday weigh-ins help keep her grounded but she insists it is not about chasing a number on the scales any more, saying: “I got rid of everything that didn’t serve me — physically, mentally, emotionally.
“This is my new life.
“It’s about feeling in control and knowing I can finish a task.
“The ADHD will always be there — it certainly hasn’t vanished — but it’s given me the mind space to be able to concentrate without interruption, and that’s life-changing.”;
- To learn more about Joann, see balancebloomcounselling.co.uk.
