A mum claims police seized skinny jab meds from her after she was hospitalised and left in pain “worse than childbirth” while trying to slim down for her family holiday. Nicole Wright claims she purchased the £120 weight loss injection at the end of August to lose a few pounds ahead of her trip to Turkey with her two daughters.
But after injecting herself with the product on September 1, the 31-year-old says she began to vomit and couldn’t even keep water down. As the week went on, the mum-of-two claims her symptoms got worse to the point where she started throwing up ‘fresh’ blood and believed she was going to die.
And following two trips to A&E where she was given fluids and anti-sickness medication, Nicole was then rushed back into hospital in agony. Fortunately, after being given further fluids and anti-sickness medication doctors were able to stabilise Nicole and flush the weight loss medication out of her system.
Now in recovery, Nicole says she would never use a skinny jab again and is “embarrassed” and “ashamed” she risked her health to lose weight. The stay-at-home-mum is now urging others to only take weight loss injections prescribed by a doctor or pharmacy as she says salon-sold alternatives might not always be safe to use.
Police Scotland confirmed they investigated the hospitalisation but no further action will be taken at this time. Nicole, from North Ayrshire in Scotland, said: “I had a holiday booked and I started taking them to curb my appetite.
“It was only to lose a few pounds and I wasn’t planning on being on it long term to get really skinny. I only took one small injection of 0.1ml. I took a really small amount.
“The first two days I just had no appetite and then by the third day I was sick and on the fourth day I was still sick and couldn’t eat anything or keep any water down. As the days went on I was getting worse and worse and I ended up in A&E as I was so dehydrated.
“I told them what I had taken and they gave me one bag of fluids and anti-sickness and sent me home. The injection was meant to wear off after a week but it didn’t and I just felt worse. I then went back to hospital and was given further fluids and anti-sickness tablets.
“I then ended up back in hospital again and an ambulance had to come to my house. I was still vomiting, my whole body was shaking and I had the worst stomach pains. My stomach was burning and I was in so much pain. I couldn’t even take a sip of water. At this point I started to throw up blood, loads of fresh, red blood and it was really scary.
“I thought I was going to die. It was getting worse and worse and the pain was worse than childbirth. I was rolling about my bed screaming in pain.
“The police came to see me at the hospital. I realised how serious it was and I told them everything and they came and they seized the vial. So they took the vial and stuff to test it and they went out to the salon that I bought it from.”
Nicole said the solution she bought to lose weight was claimed to be from the GLP-1 family of drugs – which is licensed to treat diabetes however many have found it can also help in weight loss. The former hairdresser and makeup artist now believes the injection was a counterfeit and says taking salon-bought skinny jabs rather than from the NHS is not worth the risk to your health.
Nicole said: “I feel embarrassed and ashamed that I risk my health. The lesson I’m going to teach my daughters is that you’re beautiful no matter how you are and there is nothing worth risking your health for.
“I would never take them again. I think if anyone is thinking of getting them go through a doctor or pharmacy and not through a salon as you don’t know what you are taking. Don’t trust anyone as you don’t know what is in them.”
Nicole claims she phoned the salon to tell them how ill she had been after using the weight loss medication she purchased from their business. She says Ayrshire Police seized the drug during her hospital stay on September 8 and went on to visit the premises, but their investigation into her hospitalisation has now been concluded.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “A thorough investigation was carried out and all enquiries have concluded. No further police action will be taken at this time. If anyone has any further information, they should contact Police Scotland on 101.”