(NewsNation) — Ozempic and Wegovy are popular weight loss drugs that, for some, have turned into a nightmare.
Patients who have taken the medications are coming forward to complain of severe stomach paralysis and other debilitating gastric issues. One of them is 38-year-old Emily Wright, a teacher in Toronto.
She started taking Ozempic in 2018 for diabetes, but also enjoyed the weight loss. A year in, however, she started vomiting daily, was hospitalized repeatedly and eventually diagnosed with a paralyzed stomach.
“Nobody told me that Ozempic could cause gastroparesis,” Wright said Thursday on “CUOMO.”
Gastroparesis is a medical condition that prevents the stomach from emptying properly, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Wright says she started experiencing side effects shortly after starting Ozempic but figured they would go away, as her doctors told her.
A year later, she was in a hospital, unable to get out of bed and unable to work. Now, she’s uncertain as to the prognosis of her digestive issues.
“There’s no research to know when I’m going to get better and what that looks like,” Wright said. “I think that there’s a serious connection between Ozempic and gastroparesis, and it’s one that needs to be looked at, and people need to make choices carefully. As soon as your side effects come in, they need to speak up to their doctor. It’s not normal.”
The cause of gastroparesis is unknown and is sometimes a complication of diabetes, according to Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Michael Feiz, a bariatric surgeon, says roughly 2% of the population is affected by gastroparesis, many of them undiagnosed.
“It’s not a good idea to be on Ozempic when you have gastroparesis. It just exacerbates the situation,” he said. “It’s not a bad medication. The problem is that it is being over-prescribed, and oftentimes being over-prescribed by physicians that don’t quite understand the gastrointestinal tract.”
Wright says she was a newly diagnosed diabetic when she started Ozempic and wasn’t experiencing any of the debilitating symptoms before taking the medication.
“Maybe I already had slow digestion and maybe putting me on Ozempic just destroyed my digestive system and my GI tract; that I don’t know. But, I do know that Ozempic is when all of these symptoms started for me and have continued.”
The list of common side effects of Ozempic include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach (abdominal) pain and constipation, according to the drug’s website.
Wright experienced all of those, but she says her doctors assured her they would go away with time. Instead, it just got worse.
“The fact that she was vomiting continuously and she wasn’t warned or at least stopped with the medication, I can’t explain that,” Feiz said. “It’s like creating a medical bulimic.”
Wright is focused on recovery so she can get back to teaching and spending time with family and friends. She currently has no plans of suing — a process she says would be overwhelming.
“My doctors have done their best. I don’t hold anything against them. I wish that things were found quicker, but you know, I just want to move forward with my life,” she said. “I want to get better.”