Woman almost dies after weight-loss jab leaves her with hole inside organ
A 34-year-old woman had a close brush with death after she claims a weight-loss jab left her with a small hole in her oesophagus.
Aimee Chapman, who lives in Southampton, Hampshire, first started using the GLP-1-class weight loss injections in March of last year after happening upon a post on social media.
"I'd never even thought about it until I saw a post on social media saying you can just buy [weight-loss jabs]," she explained, adding that she was hoping that the medication would help her lose weight and 'be taken more seriously' by doctors concerning her fibromyalgia diagnosis.
Aimee added: "I noticed that as my weight changed, I was taken less seriously by doctors. My thinking was if I could weigh less, I would at least get taken a bit more seriously.
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"It wasn't about getting thinner or looking better for me. That hadn't even crossed my mind."
The family of drugs known as GLP-1 RAs, originally developed to treat diabetes, are now often being used for weight loss as they were found to suppress a patient's appetite.
The Brit forked out around £200 for a month's worth of jabs that she purchased from an online pharmacy - meaning it was completely legal and regulated.
She noticed a major transformation after dropping from 14 stone to 10 stone in just four months. However, things took a took a turn for the worst in June of last year, when Aimee began feeling more and more unwell - experiencing low energy levels, chest pains, diminished appetite and constant vomiting.
Detailing her symptoms, Aimee recalled: "[After a few months of using the jabs] I started noticing I didn't have a lot of energy, I couldn't really do much. I was only eating a couple of times a week.
"I stopped being able to walk. I would take a couple of steps and have to stop. Then I couldn't stop being sick. I was throwing up all the time and started throwing up blood. I was sick between 50 and 60 times.
"I collapsed a couple of times. My husband came home and found me passed out on the hallway one night. I was in a bit of denial about it being linked to the jab because I was fine up until now. I just thought I was poorly and it was some sort of virus."
However, when Aimee began experiencing chest pains, she went to Winchester Hospital's A&E to have her pain investigated.
It was then that doctors discovered that Aimee had developed a hole in her oesophagus caused by vomiting 'more than 60 times'.
She was then admitted to the intensive care unit when her blood pressure and potassium levels began to plummet.
Aimee was later rushed to Southampton General Hospital's ICU when doctors noticed her liver function was deteriorating, prompting them to consider an organ transplant.
"They were trying all sorts of things to get my liver levels back to normal. It was failing," she said. "They had said it was down to the weight-loss jab but they didn't know why or how to fix it. There was so little out there medical-wise, doctors didn't know how to fix it.
"I was terrified. It all happened so quickly and I hadn't realised how serious it was until I was transferred and it sunk in that it was worse than I thought it was."
After coming out of the ICU, a nurse told Aimee 'this has happened because of these jabs and I can never take one ever again even if I had type-2 diabetes'.
"I don't think they know whether this was a general side-effect or whether this was a rare case," she continued. "I was really surprised about how much of my body it affected.
"I was told the hole in the oesophagus can kill people and I may have needed a new liver. They said I could've died."
Luckily, Aimee was able to return home after 11 days in hospital - but, in September, she soon began to notice her hair was coming out in clumps, a sign of vitamin B-12 deficiency that she believes is linked to the weight-loss jab.
"It kept happening and the handfuls kept getting bigger. I would be so sad," she recounted. "My hair was just above my bum when I went into hospital. My husband just said why don't you just cut it off?
"My hair was such a massive part of my identity and to cut it off just felt really traumatic. But I said to myself it was just hair, it'll grow back."
Aimee, who doesn't work due to her disability, is now calling on others who are considering using the injectables to do their research and consult a doctor.
"This feels like another result of the injections," she pleaded. "I'm not going to tell people what they can and can't take but I do believe more research needs to be done into these jabs.
"I regret ever taking them. I'd say to other people thinking about trying them, don't do it online, go through your doctor who can give you blood tests and check how you're doing."
Rhiannon Ingle