Trish wanted to lose a few pounds, now she’s dead

All Trish Webster wanted was to lose weight for her daughter’s wedding.

Just a few months after the big day, she died.

The 56-year-old was using weight loss injections, including Ozempic, to quickly lose pounds and her husband Roy believes they killed her.

“I couldn’t save her, that’s the hardest part,” Roy said.

“If I had known this could happen, she wouldn’t have accepted it.”

Ozempic is a diabetes medication with the attractive side effect of significant weight loss.

Trish saw it on TV and got a prescription from her doctor.

After five months of taking Ozempic and another weight-loss drug, Saxenda, she lost 16 kilos.

But Roy said the side effects made Trish constantly sick and on January 16 something went seriously wrong.

“She had a little bit of brown stuff coming out of her mouth and I realized she wasn’t breathing and started doing CPR,” he said.

“It was pouring rain and I turned her on her side because she couldn’t breathe.”

Trish died that night.

His death certificate states that the cause was acute gastrointestinal illness.

Although it makes no direct connection to the weight-loss drugs, Roy believes the drugs contributed to his wife’s death.

“I never thought you could die from it,” he said.

Endocrinologist Dr Kathryn Williams said there was growing evidence that the active ingredient in drugs like Ozempic can cause digestive complications.

“When we prescribe them, we warn people,” she said.

“So if I say to someone, ‘Yes, you may vomit once or twice, but if you have recurring vomiting, you need to let me know and you need to stop the treatment.’

While many diabetics can’t get Ozempic due to a global shortage, telehealth providers are making millions selling it online for weight loss.

“I think we would be doing about $150 million a year in revenue right now,” said Tim Doyle, a venture capitalist who runs the world’s largest Ozempic supplier, Juniper.

Doyle said there is a rigorous screening process for people trying to purchase the drug through its website.

“The best GP appointments will be very similar to the ones we can offer online in that we will provide a detailed diagnosis, we will talk to the patient about their history, we will try to get to the bottom of it. their problem,” he said.

But he admitted that it was possible to exploit flaws in the system, particularly in terms of identity checks.

“I guess it’s hard to know exactly,” he said.

“It’s up to doctors, that’s how telehealth works. It’s up to doctors to talk to patients and understand their story.”

In a statement, Ozempic’s manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, said recurrent gastric ileus was only reported after what it called its “post-marketing environment,” suggesting they only took awareness of the problem only after the drug was commercialized and it became a pharmaceutical blockbuster. .

Two recent deaths in the United States have prompted the Food and Drug Administration to change product information about Ozempic and similar weight-loss drugs.

It now includes warnings about ileus.

The side effect also attracted the attention of the Australian regulator.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration is investigating local cases and encouraging people like Roy to report concerns about weight-loss injections.

Roy wants a coronial inquest to look into his wife’s death and hopes his warning will save others before it is too late.

“She shouldn’t leave, you know,” he said.

“It’s not worth it, it’s not worth it at all.”

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