Ozempic Side Effects Triggered Fatal Heart Condition In Woman

Susan Saunders spent decades fighting her weight, trying everything from Slimming World to Weight Watchers before developing type 2 diabetes in her forties. At seventy-seven years old, the former teacher finally found hope when her doctor suggested Ozempic injections. She was delighted by the prospect of a solution she had long sought.

Months later, however, Susan began suffering bouts of vomiting. This is a well-known side effect affecting up to four out of ten patients on weight-loss jabs. For most, it is an unfortunate but manageable nuisance. For Susan, it triggered a deadly chain reaction leading to a rare and fatal heart condition.

As her dose increased, the exhaustion became debilitating. She kept a bowl by her bed just in case she needed to throw up again. 'It was horrid,' she admits today. 'I would often retire to bed early.' Many patients accept nausea as a small price for a slimmer physique, but Susan paid too high a cost.

One afternoon in November 2021, the symptoms took a dramatic turn while she visited her sister. She endured a violent bout of vomiting that seemed endless. 'I threw up until there was absolutely nothing left,' she recalls. 'I was throwing up pure bile.' By the time it finished, she felt utterly drained and curled up on the spare room bed.

The following morning at 5am, Susan woke in panic with pain spreading from her left shoulder into her upper arm and across her chest. She called her doctor immediately. The medical professional urged her to go to A&E without delay. Hospital staff suspected a heart attack after finding raised troponin levels in her blood. These proteins enter the bloodstream when heart muscle is damaged.

Doctors transferred her to a specialist cardiac hospital for further tests. They discovered her arteries were not blocked, which contradicts the typical hallmark of a standard heart attack. Furthermore, the damage to her heart muscle did not follow the usual pattern seen in other cases. The doctor came to Susan's hospital bed as though a lightbulb had gone off in their minds.

Thousands more could be at risk from this little-known condition. Regulations regarding these medications must ensure public safety before widespread distribution continues. Access to medical information remains limited for many patients who suffer silently until it is too late.

He said, 'You've got takotsubo.'" Those words landed with the weight of a verdict. Takotsubo syndrome, also known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy, is a potentially life-threatening condition in which the heart's main pumping chamber suddenly weakens. While its exact cause remains unknown, experts believe a sudden surge of stress hormones, such as adrenaline, can temporarily disrupt the heart's ability to pump properly. Emotional stress is a well-known trigger – earning the condition its nickname, 'broken heart syndrome'.

The main symptoms are sudden, intense chest pain and shortness of breath, meaning the condition is often mistaken for a heart attack. Less common signs include heart palpitations, nausea and feeling faint. And while the syndrome – which affects around 5,000 people in the UK each year, most of them postmenopausal women – is rare, it can have devastating consequences. It causes a sudden change in the way the heart muscle contracts, reducing its ability to pump blood effectively around the body. In severe cases, this can lead to complications including stroke, heart failure and even fatal cardiac arrest.

Susan's doctors said her condition was likely triggered by the intense vomiting caused by the weight-loss injections, which are taken by an estimated 2.5 million Britons and work partly by suppressing appetite and making people feel fuller. 'Takotsubo happens when a sudden flood of stress hormones like adrenaline sends the heart muscle into shock,' Dr Oliver Guttmann, a consultant cardiologist at HCA's Wellington Hospital in London, tells the Daily Mail. 'Emotional shocks can cause it, but physical stress is also a common trigger.'

Severe vomiting – one of the most commonly reported side effects of the jabs – could provide just such a trigger, Dr Guttmann explains. 'This leaves you dehydrated and low in salts like potassium, which the body responds to by pumping out adrenaline,' he says. 'For some people, that is enough to trigger the syndrome.' Earlier this year, doctors at Inspira Medical Center in the US highlighted a possible link between takotsubo syndrome and weight-loss injections in a medical paper published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. They described a 56-year-old woman who developed uncontrollable vomiting and nausea after starting a high dose of Ozempic. Tests carried out after she was admitted to hospital revealed the telltale signs of takotsubo syndrome.

The doctors warned that patients should start on the lowest appropriate dose and that potentially concerning symptoms, such as persistent vomiting, should be closely monitored as doses are increased. Importantly, large-scale studies have found that GLP-1 receptor agonists can reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, by around 15 to 20 per cent. However, rare case reports have raised the possibility that severe side effects from the drugs – particularly prolonged vomiting – could, in some patients, trigger acute heart problems such as takotsubo syndrome.

Writing on the social media forum Reddit, one user said the injections triggered vomiting accompanied by chest pain, heart palpitations and a rapid heartbeat. Another described symptoms that mimicked a heart attack after taking Wegovy, which also contains semaglutide. 'I was on the floor/doubled over/crying and considering going to the emergency room,' they said. The reality is stark: common medications for weight management can unleash hidden dangers when the body reacts with a violent storm of stress hormones. Patients must listen to their bodies, not just the promises in an advertisement.

I felt exactly like being stabbed in the chest," one woman said. She thought she was having a heart attack but sat still until her symptoms faded after about 14 hours. A separate report from scientists at the University at Buffalo last year described takotsubo syndrome in a woman using tirzepatide, sold under the brand name Mounjaro. The 44-year-old bought the drug for weight loss and developed vomiting and stomach pain before being rushed to A&E. Researchers concluded that the high dose triggered the symptoms leading to takotsubo.

Official UK drug safety data show that since 2019 there have been 443 reports of suspected cardiac reactions involving these injections, with more than 300 occurring in just the past two years. Of those cases, 210 were classified as serious and 14 involved a fatal outcome according to reports logged under the Government's Yellow Card scheme. Patients, medical professionals, and drug manufacturers can submit Yellow Card reports to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. It is important to remember these submissions do not prove that a medicine caused the reported problem, only that the person submitting them suspected a possible link.

Dr Guttmann says certain patients may be at greater risk of takotsubo syndrome, including older people who can be more vulnerable to dehydration. Most sufferers make a full recovery as Susan did, with regular monitoring and measures to reduce stress. She quit Ozempic almost immediately after her diagnosis but began using Mounjaro early last year, fearing she might regain the weight she had fought hard to lose. She says the nausea has been non-existent and she hasn't vomited once since starting it.

The case comes amid growing scrutiny of other potential complications associated with weight-loss jabs. Earlier this month, the Daily Mail revealed reports from patients who developed thyroid cancer and suspected their injections may have played a role. Early safety studies found the drugs caused thyroid tumours in rodents. Experts have not established a clear increased risk in humans. Meanwhile, a study published this week found patients taking the drugs were 11 times more likely to suffer a potentially deadly complication during surgery than those not using them.

British experts said patients on these injections must be warned about the risk of regurgitation when food or fluid in the stomach travels back up towards the throat while a patient is sedated. This can lead to pulmonary aspiration, where stomach contents enter the lungs and potentially block airways, causing serious lung damage, infection, and death in severe cases. Susan urges those starting the drugs to take it very slowly. Enjoy the weight loss but stick to the minimum amount you can manage with comfort, she says. If you do get chest pains, go to A&E immediately.

A spokesman for Novo Nordisk, maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, said: Like all medicines, treatments used for chronic conditions can have side effects that vary from person to person. That is why medicines should be prescribed by, and used under the supervision of, a healthcare professional who can consider potential benefits and risks for each individual. While gastrointestinal side effects are well characterised and described in the Summary of Product Characteristics, available data do not support a causal relationship between semaglutide and takotsubo syndrome.