Mum who lost 4st in five months on Mounjaro issues urgent warning after her eyes turned yellow and she needed an organ removed
A mother who used weight loss jabs to get a post-break-up glow-up ended up with her eyes ‘turning yellow’ and needing her gallbladder removed.
Jane Fennah from Blackpool, Lancashire, went on Mounjaro in February of this year, after seeing a myriad of success stories online.
The family of drugs known as GLP-1 RAs, originally developed to treat diabetes, are now often being used by people hoping to become slimmer as they were found to suppress a patient’s appetite.
Wanting to shed some pounds after coming out of a relationship, the 39-year-old ordered the £170 injections from an online pharmacy and at first just had the ‘normal’ side effects, including feeling sick.
Before long, she lost a whopping four stone within five months, dropping from 21 stone down to 17 stone, and continued to up her dose.
However, Jane has now revealed how one terrifying incident while using the jabs – which had her thinking she was going to die.
After the horrific health scare – and being hospitalised for nine days – she is now awaiting surgery to remove her gallbladder, but has been told she is also suffering from liver blockage and blood clots.
‘I was 21 stone and I was losing weight quite quickly,’ she explained. ‘I did what people said, drank plenty of water, and took my vitamins.
Mother-of-two Jane Fennah began taking Mounjaro after a break-up after seeing success stories online
But after several months of taking the drug, she developed gallbladder stones, liver blockages and blood clots – and even made her eyes turn yellow
‘Six weeks in I started to feel hungry again so I upped my dose to 5mg. I started getting really bad diarrhoea.
‘I looked into forums and people said that can happen so I carried on. I gave it a couple of months and went up to 7.5mg.
However, that’s when things got worse for Jane.
‘My urine was brown, the tissue was brown. I thought I had to drink water and that I was dehydrated,’ she explained.
‘I thought I might have a bug because I have kids in school. That went on for about two weeks and I started to get bad indigestion in the middle of my chest.
‘It started hurting my back and I had to walk bent over, I couldn’t stand straight, I couldn’t sit down.
Three weeks ago, Jane woke up feeling something ‘is not right’. The mother-of-two started getting an extreme ‘stabbing’ pain in the middle of her chest and – fearing she was having a heart attack – rushed to the hospital.
‘Even halfway through the breath the pain was horrendous and like stabbing,’ she continued. ‘The pain was stopping me from breathing.
The aesthetic practitioner will now have her gallbladder removed after she thought she was having a heart attack and was in pain while breathing
Jane spent nine days in hospital after she got an extreme ‘stabbing’ pain in the middle of her chest
‘They did a CT on me and my heart was okay and they did bloods, they said I have high blood levels in my liver.
‘I said I don’t know if this has anything to do with it but I’m on the skinny jab. He said there are three other people in A&E who are taking it.’
Jane revealed that she had ‘lots of gallstones’ and ‘blockage to the liver’.
‘They put me straight on blood thinners, they said I had blood clots but my gallbladder was so inflamed they couldn’t see it,’ she explained.
‘The doctor said to stop taking the jab because it’s not worth it. I’m waiting for surgery to have my gallbladder out.’
Mounjaro’s information leaflet warns that gallstones are a ‘common’ side effect of the medication and may affect ‘up to one in 10 people’.
The manufacturer of the jab said patient safety is a ‘top priority’ and they ‘encourage patients to consult their doctor about any possible side effects they may be experiencing’.
‘I thought I was going to die because I wanted to lose weight. It was horrific,’ she admitted.
The mother now believes weight loss drugs should not be as easily accessible as many people are influenced by the results they see online
Jane also said the jab had caused hair loss and made her ‘extremely’ tired – but she had put it down to being a mother.
‘Everybody is on the jabs and I’ve struggled with my weight,’ she said. ‘So when I split up with my partner last year I thought I need to sort myself out and it will help me because everyone is on it and I’ve seen so many success stories.
‘It’s not worth it. I started documenting my journey, I was happy to work on myself and my body. I felt amazing.
‘I won’t touch any weight loss thing again, I’m going to start the gym again and eat healthy, have my protein shakes and eat more veg and greens.’
Jane also think that there need to be more safeguards in place for the jabs/
‘There needs to be more tests before people get them, it shouldn’t be so easily accessible,’ she remarked.
‘People don’t understand that not everyone is going to suffer these complications but there’s a lot of people who are. It’s scary, it’s not worth it.’
A spokesperson for Lilly, who manufacture Mounjaro, said: ‘Patient safety is Lilly’s top priority.
‘We take reports about patient safety seriously and investigate and report safety events in accordance with regulatory requirements.
‘We encourage patients to consult their doctor or other healthcare professional about any possible side effects they may be experiencing.
‘Mounjaro (tirzepatide) must be prescribed by a licensed healthcare professional and prescriptions should be fulfilled and supplied only by registered pharmacies and providers.’
