A mother left vomiting blood after using an Ozempic-like jab has warned others to think twice before using weight loss drugs that have been bought online.
Gill Riley, from Warrington, Cheshire, began using a weight-loss injection she bought from a friend, who acquired it from an online pharmacy, back in September, which she believed contained the same active ingredient as the blockbuster slimming drugs.
At first the 43-year-old was thrilled with the results, dropping from 12st 3lbs to a svelte 10st 5lbs in just three months.
But in December she started to feel ill, which the retail worker initially brushed off as a case of the flu.
However, she ended up vomiting blood and collapsing on the bathroom floor — where she was found by her 11-year-old son.
She was rushed to hospital, where medics discovered the mother-of-four had signs of severe malnourishment.
Ms Riley also claims scans showed she contracted pneumonia, a dangerous infection of the lungs, which she blamed on the jabs weakening her immune system.
Doctors have also warned she may have suffered permanent kidney damage.
Gill Riley, from Warrington, started using the weight-loss injections, which work by mimicking hormones that control appetite and digestion, back in September
She has since vowed never to use weight loss injections again saying she feels ‘stupid’ she risked her life ‘to be skinny’.
Ms Riley said she originally purchased the unnamed brand of weight loss jabs from a friend who had acquired them from an online pharmacy, paying £90 for her portion of the prescription.
‘My weight had fluctuated over the years and I just wanted to get back to my normal size of 10-and-a-half stone, which is about what I was before children,’ she said.
Recalling the first sign things were going wrong in December she said: ‘As the days went on, I just felt more and more unwell. I couldn’t eat any Christmas Dinner and at this point I thought I had flu coming on.
‘My throat had started to hurt, my chest was sore and when I woke up on Boxing Day morning I was coughing and it felt like there were bubbles in my throat.
‘I went to bed and I woke up about an hour later with chest pains. I was coughing up blood and mucus and I was in a lot of pain.’
‘As I was walking to the toilet I felt really shaky and then when I sat down on the toilet I felt like I was going to be sick.’
It was then that the seriousness of what was happening became apparent.
At first the 43-year-old was thrilled with the results, dropping from a starting weight of 12st 3lbs to a svelte 10st 5lbs in just three months
‘It was just fluid and constantly coming out of my mouth. It was blood and mucus and I filled the sink,’ she said.
‘I went down to the floor then and my eyes were rolling into my head and I had to fight to stay awake.
‘I had pins and needles down the left side of my body and I couldn’t breathe. My breath was really shallow.’
Luckily, her 11-year-old son found her and an ambulance was called.
‘As a mum, it really upsets me to think about how my son found me, I could have died,’ Ms Riley said.
‘I honestly thought I was going to die. I can’t tell you how bad I felt and I was fighting to stay conscious.
‘It’s not worth it and I think mums need to think about this as they could potentially be leaving their kids [behind] just to look how they think they need to look.’
Tests in hospitals revealed her electrolyte levels — minerals and salts the body uses for critical function — were so low they resembled results doctors would expect in a patient with severe malnourishment.
Semaglutide and tirzepatide — the powerful ingredients behind Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro — have long been hailed a monumental breakthrough in the war on obesity
She is part of a growing group of women who have suffered serious health problems after taking weight-loss jabs obtained through illegitimate means.
Doctors have warned they are seeing patients with no medical need to take weight-loss jabs needing emergency treatment after obtaining the drug from chemists by lying about their weight.
It was recently revealed that a 16-year-old girl was able to buy weight loss jab Wegovy at Boots as part of an undercover sting.
Under official guidelines, only patients who have a body mass index (BMI) of over 35, or between 30 to 34.9 and meet the criteria for referral to a specialist weight management service, should be prescribed Wegovy — which is the only jab available on the NHS for weight loss alone.
Mounjaro has similar restrictions under NHS guidelines, with patients needing a BMI of more than 35 and at least one obesity-related health problem.
While hailed as a breakthrough in tackling obesity, weight-loss jab have also shown to have other benefits drugs such as significantly reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
However, like any drug, they have side effects which can vary by frequency and severity.
These range from nausea and abdominal pain to severe digestive issues, bone pain and a potential higher risk of thyroid cancer.
A Mail on Sunday investigation earlier this year revealed almost 400 patients had been hospitalised — some with life-threatening complications — since the rollout of the jabs in the UK.
