‘Everyone was blissful — besides my GI tract’
Vicki Webb Pouncey, a 58-year-old breast most cancers affected person from Melbourne, Florida, tried three of the medicine over the previous few years, below the supervision of each her nurse practitioner (who found Pouncey was insulin resistant) and her oncologist, who anxious her further weight would possibly drive a recurrence.
She first tried the low-dose tablet Rybelsis, however after a number of weeks had zero outcomes. So she tried Wegovy utilizing a reduction coupon for a six-month provide.
“On the Wegovy, I misplaced 40 kilos instantly and my numbers all began to enhance,” she mentioned. “Ldl cholesterol, blood sugar, insulin resistance — that every one appeared higher. However then the coupon ran out and I couldn’t get any extra so I went again on the Rybelsis.”
Once more, her weight reduction stalled. So her suppliers advised she strive Ozempic. Instantly, kilos began to return off once more.
“I misplaced weight and my labs appeared nice,” she mentioned. “Everyone was blissful — besides my GI tract.”
The medicine can have appreciable unwanted side effects. Ozempic lists the commonest as nausea, diarrhea, belly ache, vomiting and constipation. Zepbound lists the identical plus indigestion, injection web site reactions, fatigue, allergic reactions, belching, hair loss and heartburn. It additionally mentions the potential for kidney failure; gallbladder issues; pancreatitis; low blood sugar; adjustments in imaginative and prescient and melancholy.
At first, Pouncey solely had nausea and diarrhea a number of days after her weekly shot; then it began occurring extra usually.
The drug “completely” diminished her meals cravings and her candy tooth, she mentioned, and she or he felt more healthy, at the least for some time. However Ozempic might have been too efficient.
“There have been days once I needed to make myself eat,” she mentioned. “At one level, I feel I turned malnourished due to all of the nausea and diarrhea. However my lab numbers had been stunning so I stayed on it.”
After a number of months, although, the GI points turned a each day ordeal and she or he began to have ache on her proper facet. Now, there have been solely “good hours, not good days,” she mentioned.
She stopped the Ozempic and went to her physician in regards to the ache. He ordered a CT scan, pondering she’d developed pancreatitis, one of many famous unwanted side effects. As an alternative, the CT scan discovered metastatic breast most cancers in her liver, which led to extra scans and extra tumors.
The scans additionally detected nodules on her thyroid, which have but to be biopsied. The metastatic breast most cancers remedy is her main concern, she mentioned.
She completely doesn’t attribute her metastatic recurrence to the weight-loss medicine.
“I perceive the distinction between correlation and causation,” she mentioned. “The thyroid nodules are the one factor I’d affiliate with it. And it lists that within the danger components on the label.”
“Even with all of the struggling,” Pouncey mentioned the medicine had been useful. All advised, she misplaced 80 kilos; her ldl cholesterol, insulin resistance and blood sugar improved dramatically and she or he was even freed from the joint ache brought on by her anti-hormone medicine.
“As soon as I removed processed sugar and carbs, my joint ache nearly resolved itself,” she mentioned. “And dropping the load took the strain off my knees.”
