• Many healthy young girls are obtaining weight loss medication, which has resulted in serious health issues, including hospitalisation for starvation ketoacidosis.
• Medical professionals have expressed concern over a rising trend of complications from weight-loss drugs among patients who do not meet obesity criteria.
Many celebrities have openly discussed their use of Ozempic, a medication originally developed for treating type 2 diabetes. As of last year, however, under the NHS, it has been legally approved for combating obesity.
However, the endorsement of this drug by numerous social media influencers and A-list celebrities has led many healthy teenage girls, who are not obese, to obtain these injectable medications from online pharmacies and private beauticians.
In June, it was reported that a “young girl” required A&E care after taking Wegovy, a weight-loss injection that functions similarly to Ozempic. She acquired the drug under false pretenses from a Boots pharmacy in the U.K. Medical professionals have indicated that this trend appears to be escalating. An anonymous doctor noted that their patient had obtained the drug, which contains semaglutide—the same active ingredient as Ozempic—from a Boots Online Doctor. “Boots asks for a photo of you, but obviously I could put any photo of an overweight person on,” the girl later revealed.
She presented to A&E feeling “unwell, like she was going to pass out and couldn’t stand up… she was really struggling to eat,” according to the medical professional who spoke to the pharmacy website Chemist and Druggist.
The patient was reportedly not “overweight at all” but had managed to secure a month’s supply for approximately £150. The medic expressed being “absolutely staggered” by the case. The girl’s age was not disclosed, but she was treated for “starvation ketoacidosis,” a potentially life-threatening condition caused by extended fasting, during which harmful substances known as ketones accumulate in the body.
Ozempic and Wegovy work by mimicking a hormone that signals the body to feel full, thereby suppressing appetite; this mechanism is suggested to have triggered the girl’s health problems.
Medical professionals have observed that, from May to July, during every shift, they encountered at least one patient suffering complications from weight-loss drugs. “Without fail, none of them would fit the criteria at all,” they claimed.
Boots maintained that “patient safety is our number one priority” and asserted that it has “a number of safeguards in place” for its online weight-loss services.
Another concerning case involved a patient who developed acute pancreatitis after obtaining weight-loss injections and “ended up going to intensive care.”
Critics argue that we risk over-medicalising obesity instead of addressing the poor diet and lack of exercise that contribute to the condition in the first place.
