A MUM nearly died after buying a cheap “skinny jab” online in a desperate bid to lose weight after an ex called her fat.
Victoria Boyd was rushed to the hospital severely dehydrated days after injecting herself with a jab she’d bought on social media.
Kennedy NewsVictoria Boyd fell ill after trying a ‘skinny jab’ she bought online[/caption]
Kennedy NewsThe mum-of-four and her husband Pete, who would often tell her she looked ‘perfect’[/caption]
The 38-year-old claims she’d been in an abusive relationship for a decade before she began dating her now husband, Pete Boyd, five years ago.
The mum-of-four says her former partner, who has since passed away, made her “hate herself” – leading to issues with her self-esteem and body image.
So when the mum, who lives in Walker, Newcastle, booked a family holiday to Turkey, she decided to look for a quick fix to shed a few pounds.
Victoria stumbled upon a tattoo parlour’s Facebook page that she says advertised injectables proclaiming to help suppress people’s appetite and so lead to weight loss.
Despite Pete always telling her she looks “perfect”, Victoria admits she “went behind his back” and paid £75 for a batch of ten jabs to be administered once a week – injecting her first pre-mixed jab into her stomach on April 10th.
The family of drugs, known as GLP-1 RAs, originally developed to treat diabetes, are now often used for weight loss.
My husband always says I look perfect but I went behind his back and bought it
Victoria Boyd
However, within hours of Victoria using the jab, she began vomiting – and continued to be sick continuously for 48 hours before dialling 999.
The stay-at-home mum was rushed to hospital where medics told her her “kidneys were failing” – and she was lucky to be alive.
Victoria said: “I saw it on Facebook on a tattoo parlour’s page saying they had ‘skinny jabs’ for sale and saw all the results.
“I thought maybe this could be me. I just thought I wanted to be skinny. I had a holiday coming up and wanted to lose a bit of weight.
“I was in an abusive relationship before I met my husband, where I used to get called fat and ugly.
“My husband always says I look perfect but I went behind his back and bought it. I’m very funny about my body.
“My ex-partner just body-shamed me so much that I started to hate myself. I wanted to lose weight for my holiday and for myself.
“Every time I looked in the mirror, I felt fat, ugly and disgusting.
“I look at myself now and cry. It’s hard when someone has told you for 10 years that you’re fat, you can’t get that out of your head.”
After using the skinny jab, Victoria was vomiting for two days and rang for an ambulance after her heart rate spiked to 225 bpm.
Victoria said: “I was alright at first, but then I started feeling sleepy. I woke up at 2am the next morning and started being sick. I thought I was going to die. I couldn’t stop being sick.
“I had to tell my husband what I’d done. He was so shocked. He said, ‘Why Vicky? You’re perfect’. But I didn’t feel perfect.
“I rang the hospital because I couldn’t take it anymore. They rushed me straight in.
They told me I was on the verge of dying…I felt so guilty I’d done this to myself
Victoria Boyd
“My heart rate was 225bpm. I was thinking, what have I done? I knew it was to do with these jabs.”
Victoria was admitted to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle for three days, where doctors informed her she was ‘on the verge of dying’.
WARNING TO OTHERS
The experience has led Victoria to warn off any others considering using the weight loss products after nearly losing her life.
Victoria said: “I was severely dehydrated. My kidneys were damaged, they said the toxins in my blood were high. They were really concerned about my heart rate.
“I really felt like I was dying. I couldn’t walk, I was that weak. It was so scary.
“The doctor told me I’ve been very lucky.
“They told me I was on the verge of dying. I felt so guilty I’d done this to myself. I didn’t start eating properly until two weeks later. I could only manage baby portions.
“I’d tell anyone even thinking about buying one of these not to do it.
“I feel so ashamed. I was just thinking in my head this would fix how I look and I can be normal.
“It’s not worth risking your life over. You could be unlucky and lose your life. My kids could’ve lost their mum over this stupid needle. I feel lucky to be alive.”
A Facebook spokesperson said the company does not allow the sale of pharmaceutical drugs on its platforms and removes violating accounts when it becomes aware of them.
They claim to remove content about weight loss that contains a miracle claim and attempt to buy, sell, trade, donate, or gift weight loss products.
Content related to weight loss products is restricted for under-18s.
They claimed to be constantly working to improve detection and urged people to report anything they think violates their policies so they can review it and take action.
Kennedy NewsDoctors said the jab could have killed her[/caption]
Kennedy NewsVictoria is warning others against using the weight loss products[/caption]
DODGY JABS
Victoria did not give the name of the jabs she used, but there are numerous unregulated companies selling injections with potentially dangerous or deadly consequences.
A review in 2017 said that the side effects of the injections tend to be gastrointestinal.
This can include nausea, diarrhoea, stomach pain and constipation.
Other side effects could be more serious and lead to long-term complications.
GLP-1 drugs include semaglutide – the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy jabs – which the NHS says can help with weight loss.
The former, however, is only given to patients with type 2 diabetes.
Saxenda (liraglutide) weight loss injections are also available on the NHS.
You can only take liraglutide or semaglutide if they’re prescribed to you by a specialist weight management service, the NHS says.
However, the drugs are being bought online from unregulated sources.
Last year, the Government warned that fake fat jabs were being imported into the UK.
Everything you need to know about fat jabs
What you should know about Ozempic, Wegovy, Saxenda and Mounjaro
Weight loss jabs are a hot media topic at the moment, with hundreds of success stories sharing how they helped them shed the pounds.
In March 2023, the NHS announced it would make Wegovy, a drug made by Danish firm Novo Nordisk, available on prescription to thousands of obese Brits.
It contains the drug semaglutide, which is said to have helped reality star Kim Kardashian and Twitter boss Elon Musk lose weight.
Wegovy, which helped a third of people reduce their weight by 20 per cent in trials, is now available from pharmacies like Boots.
How do they work?
The jabs work by suppressing your appetite, making you eat less calories and therefore lose weight.
To do this, an ingredient found in the fat-busting drug, known as Semaglutide, mimics the role of a natural hormone, called GLP-1.
GLP-1 is part of the signalling pathway that tells your body you have eaten, and prepares it to use the energy that comes from your food.
London GP and founder of wellgoodwellbeing.com, Dr Zoe Watson, said: “Your body naturally produces an appetite regulating hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1.
“These jabs work by regulating your appetite, which can lead to eating fewer calories and losing weight.”
Aren’t they diabetes drugs?
Semaglutide, the active drug in Wegovy, was originally sold under the name Ozempic specifically for diabetes patients.
But they started noticing it helped suppress their appetites, stopping them eating as much and helping them shed the pounds.
So Novo Nordisk developed Wegovy, which contains the same chemical but at higher doses specifically to aid weight loss.
Wegovy is not prescribed for diabetes patients.
Can I get them?
Wegovy is offered on prescription to obese adults given specialist weight loss treatment.
The NHS currently also offers a similar drug called Saxenda, or liraglutide.
Both are only available on Tier 3 and Tier 4 weight management services, which means you have to be referred to weight management clinics led by experts.
GPs can’t prescribe them on their own either, Dr Watson said.
The jabs have to be taken as part of an overall programme to help with lifestyle changes and psychological support to get the best effect from the medication prescribed.
But despite being approved for use, supply of Wegovy on the NHS has been postponed indefinitely because of a surge in worldwide demand.
Supply was also halved in the US because of the skyrocketing demand.
Are there any risks?
Like all medicines, the jabs do not come without side effects.
Around half of people taking the drug experience gut issues, including sickness, bloating, acid reflux, constipation and diarrhoea.
Dr Sarah Jarvis, GP and clinical consultant at patient.info, said: “One of the more uncommon side effects is severe acute pancreatitis, which is extremely painful and happens to one in 500 people.”
Other uncommon side effects include altered taste, kidney problems, allergic reactions, thyroid tumours, gallbladder problems and hypoglycemia.
What other options are there?
Mounjaro (brand name for tirzepatide) also came onto the market in early 2024.
Like Wegovy, tirzepatide stems from a drug originally designed to treat diabetes.
The weekly injection helped overweight people drop more than two stone in 18 months.
It is available with to order with a prescription online from pharmacies including Superdrug and LloydsPharmacy Online Doctor.
It works in a similar way to Wegovy and Saxenda, but is more effective.
Dr Mitra Dutt from LloydsPharmacy says: “Based on clinical trials, 96 per cent of people were able to lose more than five per cent of their body fat using Mounjaro. In similar trials, 84 per cent of people lost more than five per cent of their body weight on Wegovy, and 60 per cent on Saxenda.
“Mounjaro works by activating two hormonal receptors (GIP and GLP-1), which enhance insulin production, improve insulin sensitivity, and work to decrease food intake.”