‘Everybody was happy — except my GI tract’

Vicki Webb Pouncey, a 58-year-old breast most cancers affected person from Melbourne, Florida, tried three of the medication over the previous couple of years, beneath the supervision of each her nurse practitioner (who found Pouncey was insulin resistant) and her oncologist, who frightened her further weight would possibly drive a recurrence.

She first tried the low-dose capsule 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 lost 40 pounds right away and my numbers all started to improve,” she stated. “Cholesterol, blood sugar, insulin resistance — that all looked better. But then the coupon ran out and I couldn’t get any more so I went back on the Rybelsis.”

Again, her weight reduction stalled. So her suppliers prompt she strive Ozempic. Immediately, kilos began to come back off once more.

“I lost weight and my labs looked great,” she stated. “Everybody was happy — except my GI tract.”

The medication can have appreciable uncomfortable side effects. Ozempic lists the most typical as nausea, diarrhea, stomach ache, vomiting and constipation. Zepbound lists the identical plus indigestion, injection website reactions, fatigue, allergic reactions, belching, hair loss and heartburn. It additionally mentions the potential for kidney failure; gallbladder issues; pancreatitis; low blood sugar; modifications in imaginative and prescient and melancholy.

At first, Pouncey solely had nausea and diarrhea a couple of days after her weekly shot; then it began taking place extra usually.

The drug “absolutely” diminished her meals cravings and her candy tooth, she stated, and he or she felt more healthy, a minimum of for some time. But Ozempic could have been too efficient.

“There were days when I had to make myself eat,” she stated. “At one point, I think I became malnourished because of all the nausea and diarrhea. But my lab numbers were beautiful so I stayed on it.”

After a number of months, although, the GI points turned a day by day ordeal and he or she began to have ache on her proper aspect. Now, there have been solely “good hours, not good days,” she stated.

She stopped the Ozempic and went to her physician in regards to the ache. He ordered a CT scan, considering she’d developed pancreatitis, one of many famous uncomfortable side effects. Instead, 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 major concern, she stated.

She completely doesn’t attribute her metastatic recurrence to the weight-loss medication.

“I understand the difference between correlation and causation,” she stated. “The thyroid nodules are the only thing I would associate with it. And it lists that in the risk factors on the label.”

“Even with the all the suffering,” Pouncey stated the medication have been helpful. All advised, she misplaced 80 kilos; her ldl cholesterol, insulin resistance and blood sugar improved dramatically and he or she was even freed from the joint ache brought on by her anti-hormone medication.

“Once I got rid of processed sugar and carbs, my joint pain almost resolved itself,” she stated. “And losing the weight took the pressure off my knees.”