LOTTIE Moss has revealed she suffered a violent seizure in hospital after taking weight loss jab Ozempic.
The reality star and model, 26, took the controversial appetite suppressing jab despite only weighing nine stone.
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The medication, which she injected into her leg, was intended for someone double her weight and as a result left her with severe side effects that were so bad she said she’d “rather die than take it again”.
Speaking on her Dream On podcast, Lottie, who is the younger half sister of supermodel Kate Moss, said: “It made me feel so nauseous.
“I took it for two weeks. It comes with a pen and different doses, you take one injection one week, one injection the next week and you take every week, and I’ve never felt sicker in my life.
“I was throwing up, it was horrible. I took a lower dosage the first time I took it then I went up higher. I ended up being in bed for two days, felt so sick, my weight had dropped.
“I started at about 60 kilos, and I went down to 57 with the first dose, then I went down to 54.
“It was crazy, my lowest was 53. In terms of a few weeks, that’s not a healthy weightless, not a healthy drop.
“When I was in bed for those two days and it was at the end of it and I just wanted to come off it, because it’s not like you can stopping taking it, it’s not like a pill that you don’t take when you wake up in the morning, it’s in your system and it’s there.”
The severity of her symptoms escalated and led to a middle of the night dash to A&E.
It was in hospital that she learned she’d been taking a much higher dose than was safe for her body.
She continued: “I felt so sick one day I said to my friend, ‘I can’t keep any water down, I can’t keep any food down, no liquids, nothing. I need to go to hospital, I feel really sick’.
“We went to ER at three in the morning, we go and see one of the nurses and she’s like ‘how much of a dose are you taking?’ I was like however much and she was like ‘oh my god, that’s so not the amount you should be taking.’ She asked how much weight I’d lost in two weeks and I told her….
“She sent me to the emergency room, and I got wheel chaired through the hospital.
“At one point, I went to the bathroom, and I felt really sick, I felt like I was going to pass out, I thought something was happening, I didn’t feel good.
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“As soon as I got into the room where I was seen by another nurse, I literally had a seizure from how dehydrated I was, which was honestly one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me in my life.
“My friend Reece had to hold my feet down and it was just so scary, the whole situation, I didn’t know what was going on, my face was clenching up, my whole body was tense, my hands, it was so weird, your hands clench up and you can’t move them and it feels like you’re going to break your hand. It was honestly horrible.”
In the 90s, Kate Moss was the face of the ‘heroin chic’ style, which glorified an unhealthily skinny appearance in the name of fashion.
Her sibling Lottie has had a negative relationship with dieting for years.
She first started modelling seriously at 18 when she moved to London and was given a personal trainer who restricted her from eating certain foods.
It led her to binge on junk food after fashion weeks, which she had starved herself to be in amazing shape for.
Lottie said she hit her lowest ebb during the covid pandemic, gauging on food and not exercising. She gained over a stone and said she’s struggled to lose it ever since.
Meanwhile, medics have voiced concern over the growing number of people turning to ‘skinny jabs’ to get into shape.
They are supposed to be prescription-only for medical purposes but are easy to buy privately for people looking to shed a few pounds.
Everything you need to know about fat jabs
Weight loss jabs are a hot media topic at the moment, with hundreds of success stories from people who shed the pounds.
In March 2023, the NHS announced it would make Wegovy, a drug made by Danish firm Novo Nordisk, available on prescription to thousands of obese Brits.
It contains the drug semaglutide, which is said to have helped reality star Kim Kardashian and Twitter boss Elon Musk lose weight.
Wegovy, which helped a third of people reduce their weight by 20 per cent in trials, is now available from pharmacies like Boots.
How do they work?
The jabs work by suppressing your appetite, making you eat less and therefore lose weight.
To do this, semaglutide mimics the role of a natural hormone, called GLP-1.
GLP-1 is part of the signalling pathway that tells your body you have eaten, and prepares it to use the energy that comes from your food.
London GP and founder of wellgoodwellbeing.com, Dr Zoe Watson, said: “Your body naturally produces an appetite regulating hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1.
“These jabs work by regulating your appetite, which can lead to eating fewer calories and losing weight.”
Aren’t they diabetes drugs?
Semaglutide, the active drug in Wegovy, was originally sold under the name Ozempic specifically for diabetes patients.
But people started noticing it helped suppress their appetites, stopping them eating as much and helping them shed the pounds.
Novo Nordisk then developed Wegovy, which contains the same chemical but at higher doses specifically to aid weight loss.
Wegovy is not prescribed for diabetes patients.
Can I get them?
Wegovy is offered on prescription to obese adults given specialist weight loss treatment.
The NHS currently also offers a similar drug called Saxenda, or liraglutide.
Both are only available on Tier 3 and Tier 4 weight management services, which means you have to be referred to weight management clinics led by experts.
GPs can’t prescribe them on their own either, Dr Watson said.
The jabs have to be taken as part of an overall programme to help with lifestyle changes and psychological support to get the best effect from the medication prescribed.
Despite being approved for use, supply of Wegovy on the NHS has been postponed indefinitely because of a surge in worldwide demand.
Supply was also halved in the US because of the skyrocketing demand.
Are there any risks?
Like all medicines, the jabs do not come without side effects.
Around half of people taking the drug experience gut issues, including sickness, bloating, acid reflux, constipation and diarrhoea.
Dr Sarah Jarvis, GP and clinical consultant at patient.info, said: “One of the more uncommon side effects is severe acute pancreatitis, which is extremely painful and happens to one in 500 people.”
Other uncommon side effects include altered taste, kidney problems, allergic reactions, thyroid tumours, gallbladder problems and hypoglycemia.
What other options are there?
Mounjaro (brand name for tirzepatide) also came onto the market in early 2024.
Like Wegovy, tirzepatide stems from a drug originally designed to treat diabetes.
The weekly injection helped overweight people drop more than two stone in 18 months.
It is available with to order with a prescription online from pharmacies including Superdrug and LloydsPharmacy Online Doctor.
It works in a similar way to Wegovy and Saxenda, but is more effective.
Dr Mitra Dutt from LloydsPharmacy says: “Based on clinical trials, 96 per cent of people were able to lose more than five per cent of their body fat using Mounjaro. In similar trials, 84 per cent of people lost more than five per cent of their body weight on Wegovy, and 60 per cent on Saxenda.
“Mounjaro works by activating two hormonal receptors (GIP and GLP-1), which enhance insulin production, improve insulin sensitivity, and work to decrease food intake.”
NHS England’s medical director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, said: “Drugs including Ozempic and Wegovy should only be used by people prescribed them for obesity or diabetes.
“I’m worried about reports that people are misusing them – they are not intended as a quick fix for people trying to get ‘beach body ready’.
“Buying medication online without a doctor’s supervision can lead to complications and dangerous consequences.”
The popularity of the jabs is booming after trials showed they cause rapid weight loss and may bring a raft of other health benefits.
They work by mimicking a fullness hormone in the gut and reducing your appetite.
They can be bought online for about £150 per month or even from unlicensed beauticians.