A Florida woman with fertility issues gave birth after becoming pregnant two weeks after taking a successful weight-loss drug.
Marcela Romero had been struggling to conceive for three years when she considered starting in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Before starting her IVF journey, she wanted to have the best chance at life possible, so she started taking Mounjaro, made by Eli Lilly, to lose weight and keep her blood sugar low.
Just two weeks after starting the medication, she discovered she was pregnant. She is now the mother of a seven-month-old daughter.
“She is very happy, very smiling all the time,” Mrs. Romero said. Good morning america.
Ms. Romero is one of a growing number of women in the U.S. who have become pregnant while taking weight-loss medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro.
Marcela Romero of Florida told Good Morning America that she became pregnant two weeks after starting Mounjaro, despite struggling with infertility for three years.
Mounjaro, which is approved for type 2 diabetes, uses the active ingredient tirzepatide, which targets GLP-1 and the hormone glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP).
Experts have said this could be due to the medications, which mimic satiety hormones in the brain, correcting hormonal imbalances caused by obesity and metabolic disorders.
In turn, this could improve the chances of fertility.
Blockbuster medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy use the active ingredient semaglutide to suppress appetite and cause weight loss.
The medications act on the GLP-1 receptor, a protein that activates hormones in the brain that keep the stomach full and tell the body to stop eating and avoid cravings.
Mounjaro, which is approved for type 2 diabetes, uses the active ingredient tirzepatide, which targets GLP-1 and the hormone glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP).
More and more women report getting pregnant on these medications.
A Facebook group called ‘I got pregnant on Ozempic’ has more than 450 members, while people on Reddit threads and TikTokers share notes about how they got pregnant unexpectedly while taking Ozempic.
‘I got pregnant with Ozempic and I was on the pill! The baby will be born in June,” one person commented on a TikTok video.
‘My surprise baby Ozempic is almost 4 months old and fortunately very healthy!’ someone else said.
A TikToker revealed how she got pregnant while taking Ozempic. She said she stopped taking it as soon as she realized it.
Anna Parker, 38, from Georgia, started taking Mounjaro to lose weight before IVF. Her doctor told her that she could continue taking it throughout the treatment.
Deb Oliviara, 32, started her treatment with Ozempic the day after Thanksgiving to shed the extra weight that was making her feel depressed.
She was taking a birth control pill, although not consistently, but she wasn’t worried because she had a history of fertility problems.
Two months after starting Ozempic, and the same week she reached her goal weight, Oliviara discovered she was pregnant.
“We were open to the idea, but we definitely didn’t try it,” he said. USA Today.
“It was a huge surprise and the only pregnancy, apart from the first, that didn’t come after a loss.”
It is Oliviara’s sixth pregnancy with only two living children, after losing a baby in the first trimester, another in the second and being stillborn.
She is currently ten weeks pregnant and both mother and baby are healthy.
Anna Parker, 38, from Georgia, has struggled for four years to have a second child and is currently undergoing IVF, which involves removing an egg from a woman’s ovaries and fertilizing it with sperm in a laboratory.
Before starting fertility treatments, she started taking Mounjaro in January to lose weight.
“I talked to my gynecologist and she agreed that I could take it and hopefully lose weight quickly,” she told Good Morning America.
“So far I’ve lost about 12 pounds and I’m looking forward to making a smooth transition to implanting the baby.”
Romero, a food and travel influencer, told the New York Times that she feared Mounjaro may have caused side effects. ‘My first thought was, well, this is great and all, but do we know if there are any complications with the pregnancy? Is there a defect that children are born with? she said
Some research suggests that drugs like Mounjaro may regulate the body’s fertility-related hormones, such as estrogen.
For example, the drug has been prescribed for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal disorder that affects one in 10 American women of childbearing age, according to the U.S. Office on Women’s Health.
It causes the ovaries to produce excessive amounts of androgen, the male sex hormone, due to the formation of cysts along the outer edges of the organ.
This leads to irregular menstrual cycles, abnormal hair growth, acne, obesity and just thinning.
It has also been linked to infertility, as polycystic ovaries have a large number of harmless follicles up to 0.3 inches in size.
They are underdeveloped sacs where eggs grow, but the sacs cannot release the egg, which means ovulation does not occur.
said Dr. Utsavi Shah, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology specializing in obesity medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. USA Today There is nothing in particular about medications that makes people more fertile, other than the way they interact with birth control pills.
She said: “It is its effect on weight loss that helps regulate your menstrual cycles, thereby increasing your chances of getting pregnant.”
Fat cells release estrogen, which means the more fat a person gains, the more estrogen they will have.
Extra estrogen can stop regular menstruation and ovulation, making it more difficult to get pregnant.
Studies in test tubes have found that tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound, decreases the effectiveness of oral contraceptives, such as birth control pills, according to the drug labels.
Mounjaro and Zepbound make the stomach take longer to clear, which can affect how the body absorbs oral medications.
Semaglutide does not have as great an effect on stomach emptying, so it does not contain any warnings about oral contraceptives.
Reproductive and obesity medicine experts said they are seeing a trend in women becoming pregnant after taking medications such as Mounjaro and Ozempic, but cautioned that women should not use weight loss medications to try to get pregnant.
Research on rats, rabbits and monkeys, for example, shows that weight-loss drugs can cause miscarriages and birth defects if taken during pregnancy. No testings in humans have been made.
Women should stop taking weight-loss medications at least two months before a planned pregnancy, recommends Novo Nordisk, maker of Ozempic.
Dr. Allison Rodgers, an obstetrician, gynecologist and reproductive endocrinologist at Illinois Fertility Centers, said USA Today: ‘It is true that, from a scientific perspective, these medications can make it easier for people to get pregnant.
“But people should be careful because there could be dangerous consequences if taken during pregnancy, as the drugs can remain in the body.”
Although Mrs. Romero’s daughter was born healthy, she said The New York Times who feared that Mounjaro might have caused side effects.
‘My first thought was, well, this is great and all, but do we know if there are any complications with the pregnancy? Is there a defect that children are born with? she said.
“Of course there is no information because it is very new.”