WHEN Aimee Chapman began using fat jabs just over a year ago, she never expected to end up in hospital fighting for her life, with a hole in her throat.
The 34-year-old lost four stone in a matter of months, but was left suffering so severe that doctors were left baffled as to how to help her.Now she says she regrets ever taking the injections.
Aimee was rushed to hospital just a few months after starting on the jabs, where doctors discovered a due to frequent vomiting, and .
Aimee told The Sun: “They were trying all sorts of things to get my liver levels back to normal. It was failing.
“They had said it was down to the weight-loss jab, but they didn’t know why or how to fix it.
“There was so little out there medical-wise, doctors didn’t know how to fix it.
“I was terrified. It all happened so quickly and I hadn’t realised how serious it was until I was transferred and it sunk in that it was worse than I thought it was.”;;
And months after her ordeal, Aimee’s waist-length began .
She’s now warning others against using the popular jabs.
The 34-year-old began using the in March last year.
She claims it was for her , as she’d been diagnosed with 15 years ago.
The condition causes widespread pain, , and mood problems, and is incurable.
But GPs advise exercise, therapy and antidepressants for managing symptoms.
Aimee, who lives in Southampton, , said: “I’d never even thought about it until I saw a post on social media saying you can just buy [weight-loss jabs].
“I noticed that as my weight changed, I was taken less seriously by doctors. My thinking was that if I could weigh less, I would at least get taken a bit more seriously.
“It wasn’t about getting thinner or looking better for me. That hadn’t even crossed my mind.”;;
The family of drugs known as GLP-1 RAs were originally developed to treat diabetes – one notable example is Ozempic.
Now, the same has been deployed for weight loss, in the form of drugs like Mounjaro and Wegovy.
They suppress a patient’s appetite, mimicking hormones naturally released by the gut to signal fullness.
‘In denial’
Aimee bought her jabs . She paid around £200 for a month’s worth of them.
She lost a whopping four stone when she first began using the injectables, dropping from 14 stone to just 10 stone in four months.
However, in June last year, Aimee – who is married to Christopher Chapman, 41, a security officer – began feeling unwell and was barely able to eat.
She says: “[After a few months of using the jabs] I started noticing I didn’t have a lot of energy, I couldn’t really do much. I was only eating a couple of times a week.
“I stopped being able to walk. I would take a couple of steps and have to stop.”;;
I was throwing up all the time and started throwing up blood. I was sick between 50 and 60 times
Aimee
But worryingly, Aimee .
Feeling and being sick are among the most common side effects when taking GLP-1s, thought to affect around one in 10 people on them.
“I was throwing up all the time and started throwing up blood,”;; says Aimee. “I was sick between 50 and 60 times.
“I collapsed a couple of times. My husband came home and found me passed out in the hallway one night.
“I was in a bit of denial about it being linked to the jab because I was fine up until now. I just thought I was poorly and it was some sort of virus.”;;
‘Could have died’
When Aimee began experiencing a month later, she went to Winchester Hospital’s A&E.
It was then that doctors discovered she had developed a hole in her oesophagus that was leaking air around her heart and lungs.
Aimee was admitted to the intensive care unit on July 12, and her blood pressure and potassium levels began to plummet.
Then, she was rushed to ICU at Southampton General Hospital when doctors noticed her liver function was deteriorating.
An was considered when Aimee’s liver began showing signs of failure.
But luckily, Aimee was able to return home after 11 days in hospital.
Her liver made a full recovery and the hole in her throat healed itself.
But the 34-year-old was told she would never be able to touch GLP-1 jabs again.
“After coming out of ICU, the nurse told me this has happened because of these jabs and I can never take one ever again even if I had type 2 diabetes,”;; Aimee says.
“I don’t think they know whether this was a general side-effect or whether this was a rare case. I was really surprised about how much of my body it affected.
“I was told the hole in the oesophagus can kill people and I may have needed a new liver. They said I could’ve died.”;;
Liver issues are not a common side effect of weight loss injections, but there have been a isolated reports of people developing liver injury after taking the jabs.
On the other hand, research has indicated that GLP-1s , as people with obesity have a higher risk of developing a particular type called fatty liver disease.
Some weight loss jab users develop gallstones or an inflamed gallbladder, which can be connected to liver function.
‘Don’t do it’
In September 2024, a few months after her ordeal Aimee began to notice her hair was coming out in clumps.
She believes this is related to a vitamin B12 deficiency linked to being on the weight loss jabs.
Aimee said: “[The hair loss] kept happening and the handfuls kept getting bigger. I would be so sad. My hair was just above my bum when I went into hospital.
“My husband just said why don’t you just cut it off? My hair was such a massive part of my identity and to cut it off just felt really traumatic. But I said to myself it was just hair, it’ll grow back.
“This feels like another result of the injections.”;;
The 34-year-old was diagnosed as vitamin B deficient after blood tests in October.
She now has to get quarterly vitamin B12 injections.
Aimee, who doesn’t work due to her , is now calling on others who are considering using the injectables to do their research and consult a doctor.
“I’m not going to tell people what they can and can’t take but I do believe more research needs to be done into these jabs,”;; she says.
“I regret ever taking them. I’d say to other people thinking about trying them, don’t do it online, go through your doctor who can give you blood tests and check how you’re doing.”;;
