Last week, I found an online thread of nurses talking about Ozempic.

The top of the thread said this (I left the typos as they were):

“Is anybody else seeing a huge influx in patients who are hospitalized due to complications from Ozempic?”

It was followed by this…

“Honestly I feel like everybody is toting Ozempic as this miracle drug that helps people lose weight with no side effects. Years ago I seen it occasionally for my diabetics. Now I’ve seen tons of patients who’ve had problems with. I’ve had two patients within a few weeks of eachother who have been hospitalized because they’re having major problems with their pancreas from taking Ozempic. I can’t be the only one who’s been seeing this.”

A reply under that comment said this:

“I’ve had two people in their 30s die on my unit from necrotizing pancreatitis induced by Ozempic. It was horrific. The kinds of cases that don’t leave you. I’m aware it’s a rare side effect, but it’s all I see now when people tell me they’re starting the med.”

From there, the horror stories just kept coming:

“Endoscopy nurse: we had to change guidelines because we are finding patients on these drugs are coming in with food still in their stomach, even after days of clear liquids. And honestly it seems like 1 out of every 3 patients is on them.”

“I actually saw someone just a few hours ago for Ozempic related issues. And one yesterday too. All abdominal issues. I worry these meds in the long run for non-diabetics will have serious impacts on the digestive system.”

“Yeah, there’s been an uptick in people experiencing pancreatitis, stomach paralysis, and severe bowel obstruction related to ozempic and similar GLP-1 agonists.”

“Had a 26 year old pt taking it for weight loss & ended up with Toxic Megacolon on pressors & almost died. Total colectomy & a bag for the rest of her life.”

“One person in my building just started taking it. She went to a medical spa, and the NP wrote the script. I asked if they were going to check her labs routinely. No. Is she going to follow up every quarter to make sure she was doing okay with side effects? No. She seemed surprised I even asked. I had to get bloodwork done every three months and the minute I vomited something I ate 2 days prior, my doctor yanked me off right away.”

“I haven’t seen any patients in my specialty, but anecdotally I have two (very beautiful and already thin) friends who have been to the hospital in the past 3-4 months due to complications from it. Both times I was shocked to hear they were even prescribed it in the first place because they are both not even close to overweight. Turns out they both received it from a clinic (and had to pay out of pocket for samples due to their insurance company denying it, because they very likely do not need it). One of my friends then inadvertently overdosed themselves due to poor/unclear instructions from said clinic.”

“I find this discussion fascinating. I work with Ophthalmology patients and have seen a correlation between ozempic and retinopathy. I wasn’t aware of all the other potential complications it potentially causes.”

“I’ve heard from a few gastroenterologists that they have seen several people who have been on it for longer than a year, who then attempt to stop it, are not able to return back to a normal GI pattern. They are having issues with intractable gastroparesis, anorexia, and costipation. It slows the GI tract and it doesn’t return back to normal. In the CRNA/anesthesia world. The issues with gastroparesis and full stomach issues are a major concern. We have them NPO for much longer than the average person prior to elective surgery. Their stomachs just don’t clear and they are at a much higher risk for aspiration during intubation.”

“My 70 year old grandma was prescribed this for weight loss and said after she took her first dose she vomited profusely for days and couldn’t keep anything down. Can’t be good. Also at my hospital we had a patient who was on wegovy and had lost a ton of weight but had to undergo a major bowel surgery. Was in her 40’s and she ended up passing away. Don’t know the full story but it was enough for me to keep in the back of my mind about it all.”

Pretty scary stuff.

Something else about Ozempic that isn’t talked about very much is that the people who don’t struggle as much with the nausea and bowel issues are people who…get this…eat healthfully.

That one is a HUGE head scratcher for me.

Because if you’re gonna eat healthfully, just eat healthfully. Why take an expensive shot on top of that??

It’s also pretty disturbing that medical spas are allowed to pass out Ozempic knockoffs at all, much less without clear instructions on how to use these drugs that are known to have SUPER dangerous side effects…including potentially FATAL ones, if what these nurses are seeing and saying is true.

If you need to lose weight for wellness reasons, don’t put your life in even more jeopardy by going on a shot with life-threatening long-term side effects that aren’t even fully understood.

Not when you can simply eat real food, drink water, sleep to get the weight off.