A 31 year-old mother of-two has warned slimmers against buying weight loss medication from non-medics, after a miniscule dose of a counterfit jab landed her in hospital with stomach pains ‘worse than childbirth’.
Nicole Wright, from North Ayrshire in Scotland, purchased the £120 injections from a local beauty salon at the end of August, in a bid to slim down for an upcoming holiday to Turkey.
But within a day of injecting half of the lowest dose, she began vomiting and was unable to even drink water without throwing it back up.
Within four days the former hairdresser had developed agonising stomach pains too — which caused her to rush to A&E for urgent help.
‘I told them what I had taken and they gave me one bag of fluids and anti-sickness and sent me home,’ she said.
Ms Wright said she believed the jabs contained a GLP-1 agonist drug — from the same family of medications as Ozempic and Wegovy, prescribed on the NHS to aid weight loss by reducing appetite.
She now believes the drug was a counterfeit, although official tests are yet to clarify exactly what was in the injection.
However a few days later the nausea and pain in her stomach became unbearable, and Ms Wright began to vomit up blood. Terrified, she called an ambulance.
Mother of two Nicole Wright said she regrets trusting a beauty salon with her health – and urged anyone interested in weight loss jabs to get the medication from a doctor, preferably the NHS.
Ms Wright said she suffered stomach pains that were ‘worse than childbirth’ in the days after injecting a low dose of the jab.
‘I then ended up back in hospital,’ she said. ‘I was still vomiting, my whole body was shaking and I had the worst stomach pains.
‘My stomach was burnin and I thought I was going to die. It was getting worse and worse and the pain was worse than childbirth.
‘I was rolling about my bed screaming in pain.’
Fortunately, after being given further fluids and anti-sickness medication doctors were able to stabilise Ms Wright and flush the weight loss medication out of her system.
She claims that while in hospital she had some unlikely visitors: police officers.
‘They came and seized the vial [of medicine] of testing, and I told them everything,’ she said. ‘I realised how serious it was.’
Now, two months on from the ordeal, she feels ’embarrassed and ashamed’ of her decision to buy the jabs from a non-medical source.
‘The lesson I’m going to teach my daughters is that you’re beautiful no matter how you look and there is nothing worth risking your health for.
Ayrshire Police visited the hospital where Ms Wright was treated to seize the jab she bought form the salon.
‘I would never take them again. If anyone is thinking of getting the jabs go through a doctor or pharmacy, not through a salon. You don’t know what you are taking.’
Ms Wright said she’s informed the salon staff of her experience with the weight loss medication they sold her.
She says Ayrshire Police also visited the premises but their investigation into her hospitalisation has now been concluded.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: ‘A thorough investigation was carried out and all enquiries have concluded.
‘No further police action will be taken at this time. If anyone has any further information, they should contact Police Scotland on 101.’