Ozempic Regret: The Hidden Side Effects Not Shared on Social Media
Stomach paralysis, cyclical vomiting, and foul-smelling sulphur burps are among the severe side effects some patients experience from GLP-1 medications like Ozempic. After years of investigation into the hidden costs of these so-called 'miracle drugs', journalist Aimee Donnellan argues that their increased use represents a rapid and unprecedented healthcare experiment. In this experiment, patients bear the risks while doctors learn in real time.
Emily's Journey: From Hope to Despair
Emily was 33 years old during her annual check-up in 2018. Teaching at a school in Toronto, Canada, she struggled to keep up with her students due to aching knees and hips. Her weight, at 280 pounds, felt uncontrollable, pushing her toward a point of no return. Her doctor delivered devastating news: she had type 2 diabetes and needed immediate action to achieve remission.
Fearing a fate similar to her uncle, who suffered painful diabetes complications until his death in his fifties, Emily was willing to try anything. Her doctor recommended Ozempic, a newly approved drug hailed as a game-changer. Unlike daily pills like metformin, it required only a weekly injection. It promised blood sugar management, potential blood pressure reduction, improved insulin production, and possible weight loss.
The Onset of Side Effects
Nausea struck almost immediately after Emily began the lowest dose. Her doctor had not mentioned side effects, but she vomited frequently in the days following each injection. Headaches emerged when her dosage increased to 0.5 milligrams, as per manufacturer Novo Nordisk's instructions, bringing blinding migraines she had never experienced.
Eventually, the headaches eased, and the nausea became manageable, akin to morning sickness. Emily adjusted her routine, waking an hour earlier to accommodate morning vomiting before starting her day. She tolerated this because her blood sugar levels normalised, and she lost 10 pounds in the first few weeks.
Escalating Symptoms and Misdiagnosis
The sick feelings persisted, affecting her quality of life. To limit vomiting, she reduced portion sizes further, which helped for 18 months, during which she lost 80 pounds. However, foul-smelling sulphur burps began, embarrassing her in class and at home. Her students noticed a rotten egg smell, and her husband distanced himself.
Despite discussing discontinuation with her doctor, she was warned that staying on Ozempic was crucial to maintaining diabetes remission and weight loss. The benefits—pain-free knees and increased confidence—convinced her to continue. But symptoms worsened: vomiting shifted to midday, forcing her to hold sick in her mouth during lessons.
When Emily reported sulphur burps and frequent vomiting, her doctor did not link them to Ozempic. Instead, she was referred to a gastrointestinal specialist who diagnosed microscopic colitis after a colonoscopy. Dietary changes provided no relief. Over two years, tests found no connection to Ozempic, until September 2022, when extreme dehydration from 30 hours of vomiting led to hospitalisation.
Severe Diagnoses and Lifelong Impact
Doctors diagnosed cyclical vomiting, yet still did not suspect Ozempic. Anti-nausea medications failed, leading to prescriptions of haloperidol, a schizophrenia drug that blocks brain vomit signals. Emily's weight plummeted by 50 pounds during this episode, dropping to 150 pounds and forcing a work leave.
A new gastroenterologist finally connected her symptoms to Ozempic, noting undigested food in her stomach during endoscopies despite fasting. He instructed her to stop the drug and enrolled her in a gastric emptying study, which revealed extremely slow food movement, indicating stomach paralysis.
By early 2023, Emily vomited up to 200 times weekly, weight falling to 130 pounds. A medication cocktail reduced episodes to 75 per week, but she still vomited around 10 times daily. Further tests showed severe gastric paralysis, with her bowels ceasing function. Her doctor explained a 99% chance of no recovery, leaving her to adapt to a new life of symptom management.
Reflections and Broader Implications
Today, Emily grieves her pre-Ozempic life. Once an aspiring educator, she now feels a financial burden, unable to work and isolated from social events like family Christmas dinners. She finds solace in a support group she founded for gastroparesis patients from GLP-1 drugs, which has around 500 members. She counsels others that thinness isn't everything, reflecting on society's weight obsession.
Doctors have advanced since Ozempic's launch, now recommending weight training and increased protein intake to counteract muscle loss. Some keep patients on low doses to ease side effects, which often subside within a month. However, they learn on the job, as GLP-1 drug use constitutes a rapid healthcare experiment.
Unanswered Questions and Future Risks
Emily's story highlights the impact on a minority of users, where side effects only emerge in large populations, including those with underlying conditions or genetic vulnerabilities. It also raises dilemmas about GLP-1 drugs: although marketed for over 20 years, they haven't been tested at the elevated doses now used in Wegovy, Zepbound, and Mounjaro.
This case underscores the need for greater awareness and caution in prescribing these medications, balancing benefits against potentially severe, lifelong consequences.
