Woman Dies After Taking Drug To Slim Down

A gastrointestinal disease claimed the life of a woman who used Ozempic to shed pounds before her daughter’s wedding.

Ozempic was administered to Australian Trish Webster, 56, to assist her in fitting into the dress of her dreams for her daughter’s wedding.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the drug Ozempic for use in treating Type 2 diabetes. Nonetheless, it is now often used as a medication for weight loss globally.

The medication functions by imitating the natural hormone GLP-1, which slows down the stomach’s and intestines’ ability to process food and prolongs feelings of fullness.

But occasionally, the medication can obstruct the intestines or cause the stomach to slow down excessively.

As of the end of September, the FDA had received 18 complaints of ileus, or intestinal blockage, in patients using Ozempic.

Webster, on the other hand, lost almost 35 pounds in five months by using Saxenda, a prescription injection, in addition to Ozempic, according to local media reports.

The woman claimed that the drugs made her sick, even if they helped her lose weight quickly.

A few months before her daughter’s wedding, on January 16, 2023, Webster’s husband reportedly discovered her unconscious and with a brown substance dripping from her mouth.

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“She had a little bit of brown stuff coming out of her mouth, and I realized she wasn’t breathing and started doing CPR,” Roy Webster recounted to “60 Minutes Australia” last week.

“It was just pouring out, and I turned her onto the side because she couldn’t breathe.”

That evening, Webster passed away, and an acute gastrointestinal ailment was reported as the cause of death.

“If I knew that could happen, she wouldn’t have been taking it,” the grieving husband insisted. “I never thought you could die from it.”

Although Webster’s husband is blaming the medicines, there has been no official connection made between her use of Saxenda and Ozempic and her death.

“She shouldn’t be gone, you know,” Roy said. “It’s just not worth it, it’s not worth it at all.”

The maker of Ozempic, Novo Nordisk, stated in a statement to “60 Minutes Australia” that ileus was only reported following its “post-marketing setting,” implying that the pharmaceutical company was not aware of the issue until after the drug was made available.

In the US, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly and Company, the company that makes Mounjaro, are being sued on the grounds that their well-known weight-loss medications can result in serious gastrointestinal issues like gastroparesis or “stomach paralysis,” which can be fatal.

In August, the law firm Morgan & Morgan told The Post that it had received 500 such queries from customers in 45 states. These inquiries included allegations of injuries that were purportedly brought on by other prescription weight-loss medications, such as Saxenda, Rybelsus, and Wegovy.

In September, the FDA made changes to the Ozempic label to address reports of intestinal blockages in certain patients who had taken the drug.

The federal authorities received thousands of reports of gastrointestinal issues from Ozempic users, which prompted the modification.

Several adverse consequences of using Ozempic have been documented, gastroparesis being just one of them.

Experts have cautioned against using Ozempic and related drugs as a quick fix for weight loss because they haven’t been around long enough to evaluate their long-term effects.