A mother is warning others about the risks of Ozempic after suffering a life-threatening complication that left her in pain “worse than childbirth.”
Michelle Stesiak, in her 50s and from South Carolina, was initially thrilled to be prescribed the shot and said she was losing weight easily.
But just six weeks later, the mother woke up with a start at 3 a.m. with a stabbing pain running from under her breasts, around her left side and down her back. It was so bad that she said she couldn’t talk, move or let even a blanket touch her sides.
Initially, doctors thought he might have “twisted intestine,” a condition in which part of the intestine twists on itself causing a blockage.
Michelle Stesiak, in her fifties and from South Carolina, says she was woken up at 3 a.m. by pain so excruciating that she couldn’t touch her sides (stock)
She was diagnosed with pancreatitis, a life-threatening condition in which the pancreas (an organ in the upper abdomen that produces insulin to help regulate blood sugar) becomes inflamed.
The condition can prove fatal if the inflammation cuts off the blood supply to part of the pancreas, causing this area to die and become infected, causing sepsis. It can also cause serious internal bleeding if toxins and enzymes leak from the organ and damage nearby blood vessels.
Describing the pain, the mother said: ‘I thought I was dying. It was the most excruciating pain I had ever experienced.
“I immediately found myself in the fetal position. Could not talk. She was vomiting profusely and had full-blown diarrhea.
“You couldn’t touch my stomach; even touching it with a blanket was unbearable.”
His case was revealed by Johann Hari in Magic Pill, The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight Loss Drug, a new book that delves into the benefits and risks of the new weight loss drug.
She is one of several women who came forward to tell the author about their experience and warn others about the potential risks.
Pancreatitis is considered a possible serious complication of Ozempic, and those with a family history of the disease are advised to avoid the drug.
It comes amid a surge in the popularity of Ozempic, with millions more Americans taking the drug. Some surveys suggest that as many as one in eight Americans has tried the drug.
Studies suggest that Ozempic users have up to nine times greater risk of developing the complication compared to those who do not take the medication.
But it is still considered rare among users and affects approximately one in a hundred to one in a thousand people in Ozempic.
Four out of five patients who suffer pancreatitis while taking Ozempic make a full recovery.
But for others it can cause serious complications and, in rare cases, death.
In rare fatal cases, inflammation causes an area of the pancreas to lose its blood supply. This causes death or necrosis of the tissue, which can then become infected with bacteria.
The bacteria can then spread to the blood and cause sepsis, triggering widespread organ failure and death.
Stesiak said she had been visiting her daughter in Pittsburgh from her home in Myrtle Beach at the time her pancreatitis occurred.
Her son-in-law rushed her to the hospital, where, once tests showed her pancreas was in trouble, doctors first asked her if she drank a lot or had gallstones before suspicion fell on Ozempic.
Since the scare, Stesiak quit the drug and recovered a month later. He now warns others about the risks, saying: “It can cause pancreatitis, and very quickly.” It’s something you don’t want to waste time on.
Doctors aren’t sure how Ozempic may cause the condition, but leading theories suggest it may be related to the drug binding to the satiety hormone glucage-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptors in the pancreas. .
One hypothesis suggests that the drug causes the organ to start producing more insulin than normal, which can cause it to become inflamed.
But others have said that the inflammation may be related to changes in metabolism caused by the drug, changing the way the pancreas works.
Pancreatitis was just one of several risks Ozempic poses to people’s health, along with others that include up to a 75 percent increased risk of thyroid cancer and an increased risk of cosmetic complications such as “Ozempic butt” and “Ozempic face”.
But experts continue to warn of “unknowns, unknowns,” or negative effects the drug could have that won’t emerge for decades.
Semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, has been tested for decades, but mainly in people who are obese or have type 2 diabetes.
However, many are taking the medication off-label and do not fall into this category.