Mom Vomited Blood, Left 'Screaming in Pain' from Weight-Loss Injectable She Bought at a Salon: 'Worse than Childbirth'

11/15/2024 01:02 PM

Nicole Wright ended up in the hospital after buying what she thought was weight-loss medication for $150 from a beauty salon

A 31-year-old mother of two ended up in the hospital, "screaming in pain" from weight-loss injectables she bought from a local beauty salon.

Nicole Wright, from North Ayrshire, Scotland, wanted to lose weight before an upcoming vacation to Turkey. In August she bought weight-loss injectables from a local beauty salon for £120 (about $150 USD), she told Kennedy News and Media via The Daily Mail.

Wright said she took half of the lowest dose, and quickly started vomiting — unable to keep even water down.

She went to the local emergency room and was sent home with anti-nausea medication. Four days later, Wright began vomiting blood.

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She returned to the hospital — this time, in an ambulance.

"My whole body was shaking and I had the worst stomach pains," she told the outlet. "My stomach was burning and 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," said Wright, who was admitted to the hospital as doctors worked to purge her system of the medication she took.

The medication, she says, was a knockoff.

While she was in the hospital, Wright says that police officers "came and seized the vial [of medicine for] testing, and I told them everything." 

"I realized how serious it was."

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It's an example of an ongoing problem: Fake versions of the in-demand semaglutide drugs — which work in the brain to impact satiety — have flooded the market. People have been hospitalized after accidentally overdosing on the medication or by getting sick from questionable knock-off versions.

A police spokesperson told the outlet "a thorough investigation was carried out."

Wright said she shared her experience with the salon where she purchased the medication, and said, "If anyone is thinking of getting the jabs go through a doctor or pharmacy, not through a salon. You don't know what you are taking."

"The lesson I'm going to teach my daughters is that you're beautiful no matter how you look," Wright added. "There is nothing worth risking your health for."

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