A gastrointestinal illness reportedly claimed the life of an Australian woman who used Ozempic to lose a few pounds before her daughter’s wedding – and her husband is now cautioning that the practice of taking it for weight loss is “not worth it at all”.
Ozempic, a treatment that has been licensed by the US Food and treatment Administration for use by individuals with Type 2 diabetes, is now a popular weight-loss medication worldwide. It was supplied to 56-year-old Trish Webster to help her fit into the dress of her dreams for her daughter’s wedding.
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. However, problems might occur if the medication stops the intestines or slows down the stomach excessively.
In five months, Webster lost around 35 pounds by using Saxenda, an injectable form, in addition to Ozempic, according to accounts from the local media. While the drugs helped Webster lose weight fast, they also allegedly made her sick.
Trish Webster had been using weight loss injections including Ozempic to quickly drop a few kilograms and her husband Roy believes they killed her.https://t.co/vf3keA3W2Q
— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) November 7, 2023
A few months before her daughter’s wedding, on January 16, Webster’s husband reportedly discovered her unconscious and with a brown substance dripping from her lips. Roy Webster related to “60 Minutes Australia” last week, “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”, he added.
Webster died on that same evening, with an acute stomach ailment given as the cause of death. Although Webster’s husband is blaming the medicines, there has been no formal connection made between her use of Saxenda and Ozempic and her death.
“If I knew that could happen, she wouldn’t have been taking it,” the husband said. “I never thought you could die from it.”
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 might result in serious gastrointestinal issues including gastroparesis or “stomach paralysis,” which can be fatal. In September, the FDA made changes to the Ozempic label to address reports of intestinal blockages in certain patients who had taken the drug.
