Australian Trish Webster had a simple goal – shed some weight before her daughter got married to her mate. With the support of her own husband, Roy, and the approval of her doctor, she started taking Ozempic. Designed as a once-a-week drug for diabetes, the drug has shown phenomenal promise in helping people shed pounds.
35 pounds later, and with the assistance of another drug, Trish was getting where she wanted to be, but Roy noticed she was constantly sick and throwing up frequently. “She had a little bit of brown stuff coming out of her mouth, and I realized she wasn’t breathing and started doing CPR. It was just pouring out, and I turned her onto the side because she couldn’t breathe.”
Dying that night at the ER, Australian officials listed “acute gastrointestinal illness” on her death certificate as the cause of death. While this leaves the blame off Ozempic, Roy sees the connection. Upset with himself and others for not doing more to save her, he openly says “If I knew that could happen, she wouldn’t have been taking it.”
Many doctors claim they warn people before they start taking Ozempic about the potential side effects. Many claim that vomiting once or twice with the injection is to be considered “normal” and not something to be alarmed about. Should it be happening heavily or recurrently, people need to alert their doctors and stop the medication. Something many don’t do.
So far, no recall has been made. Maker Novo Nordisk claims they only learned about the potential stomach problems following their skyrocketing success as a weight loss drug. Like any drug, risks are always inherent, and with many taking the steps of having the script issued by telehealth doctors and filled by shipping pharmacies, many diabetics are stuck without being able to get their hands on the drug for its intended use.
In the US, two recent deaths have forced the Food and Drug Administration to issue warnings about this off-label use and to include the potential for ileus. Warnings like this have yet to make it onto TV, and why would it? Off-label use doesn’t have the proper testing to guarantee safety.
