Ozempic warning: 21 year-old woman develops deadly blood complication after taking Mounjaro for just three weeks [Video]

11:06 EDT 16 Apr 2024 , updated 11:14 EDT 16 Apr 2024

A 21-year-old woman developed lethal toxic blood after taking a popular weight loss drug for just three weeks. 

The unnamed patient, who had been injecting a medicine in the same class as Ozempic, was admitted to the hospital after two days of abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea.  

Blood tests revealed that she was suffering a potentially fatal condition called ketoacidosis – which happens when fat-melting proteins called ketones build up in the blood.

In small, short-lived doses, ketones are relatively harmless, and can speed up weight loss. But in large quantities, they cause the blood to become too acidic, causing catastrophic heart problems. 

The patient, whose case was documented in the European Journal of Case Reports in Internal Medicine, was found to have 26 times the normal level of ketones in her blood.