Mom who took Ozempic for six weeks suffered stomach cramps so bad doctors thought she had a twisted gut: ‘The pain was worse than childbirth’

A mother is warning others about the risks of Ozempic after suffering a life-threatening complication that left her in pain “worse than childbirth”.

Michelle Stesiak, who is in her 50s and is from South Carolina, was initially excited to get a prescription for the vaccine and said she was losing weight easily.

But just six weeks later, the mother woke up at 3 a.m. with a searing pain that ran from under her breasts, around her left side, to her back. It was so bad she said she couldn’t talk, move or let a blanket touch her sides.

Doctors initially thought he might have “twisted bowel,” a condition in which part of the bowel twists around itself and causes a blockage.

He was diagnosed with pancreatitis, a life-threatening condition in which the pancreas, an organ in the upper abdomen that makes insulin to help regulate blood sugar, becomes inflamed.

The disease can be fatal if the inflammation cuts off the blood supply to part of the pancreas, causing that area to die and become infected, causing sepsis. It can also cause severe internal bleeding if toxins and enzymes leak from the organ and damage nearby blood vessels.

Describing the pain, the mother said: “I thought I was dying. It was the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced.

“I was immediately in the fetal position. I couldn’t speak. I threw up profusely and had full-blown diarrhea.

“You can’t touch my stomach or even a blanket touching it was excruciating.”

His case was revealed by Johann Hari in Magic Pill, The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight Loss Drug, a new book that delves into the benefits and risks of the new weight loss drug.

She is one of several women who came forward to tell the author about her experience and warn others about the potential risks.

Pancreatitis is considered a possible serious complication of Ozempic, and those with a family history of the disease are said to avoid the drug.

Studies suggest that Ozempic users have up to a nine times greater risk of developing the complication compared to those who do not take the drug.

But it is still considered rare among users, affecting between one in a hundred and one in a thousand people on Ozempic.

Four out of five patients who develop pancreatitis while taking Ozempic make a full recovery.

But for others it can lead to serious complications and, in rare cases, death.

In rare fatal cases, the inflammation causes an area of ​​the pancreas to lose its blood supply. This causes the tissue to die, or necrosis, which can then become infected with bacteria.

The bacteria can then spread into the blood and cause sepsis, which triggers widespread organ failure and death.

Mrs. Stesiak said she had been visiting her daughter in Pittsburgh from her home in Myrtle Beach when her pancreatitis struck.

She was rushed to hospital by her son-in-law, where once tests showed her pancreas was in trouble, doctors first asked if she was a heavy drinker or had gallstones before they suspected her. landed in Ozempic.

Since the scare, Stesiak has stopped the drug and recovered a month later. Now he is warning others about the risks, saying: “It can cause pancreatitis and very quickly.” It’s something you don’t want to mess with.’

Doctors aren’t sure how Ozempic can cause the disease, but leading theories suggest it may be related to the drug binding to receptors for the satiety hormone, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) in the pancreas

One hypothesis suggests that the drug causes the organ to start making more insulin than normal, which can cause it to become inflamed.

But others have said that the inflammation may be related to changes in metabolism caused by the drug, changing how the pancreas works.

Pancreatitis was just one of several risks that Ozempic poses to people’s health, with others including up to a 75 percent higher risk of thyroid cancer and an increased risk of cosmetic complications such as ‘Ozempic butt’ and ‘Ozempic face’.

But experts still warn about the “unknowns, unknowns” or negative effects the drug could have that won’t appear for decades.

Semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, has been tested for decades, but mostly in people who are obese or have type 2 diabetes.

Many are taking medication off-label, however, who do not fit into this category.