A MUM’S bid to transform into a “slim powerhouse” almost killed her after she used a £150 “skinny jab“.
Kerry Boland collapsed in her bathroom after spending days doubled over in excruciating pain and unable to eat or sleep.
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Despite only being a size 12-14, the 34-year-old felt ‘like Bruce Bogtrotter,’ an overweight boy from Roald Dahl’s book Matilda.
In an attempt to shed some unwanted weight, she bought a month-long course from an aesthetician who is also a registered nurse.
The family of drugs known as GLP-1 RAs, originally developed to treat diabetes, are now often used for weight loss as they were found to suppress patients’ appetite.
Kerry, the founder and CEO of The Growth Coaching Collective, claimed she administered half a dose of the first injectable into her stomach and felt “zonked out” two hours later with excruciating headaches.
Over the next couple of days, 5ft 3in Kerry was left bedbound from extreme stomach cramps, retching and unable to eat more than a bite of banana at a time.
Just two days later, the mum-of-three collapsed in the bathroom and was shaken awake by her scared then eight-year-old daughter Isobel.
Kerry’s 35-year-old gas engineer partner, Matt Myerscough, scooped her up off the bathroom floor and rushed her to hospital, where doctors hooked her up to an IV drip for 15 hours.
It was really frightening, I just thought, ‘what have I done?
Kerry Boland
Now, Kerry fears she could have caused permanent damage to her organs and is sharing her terrifying experience from June 2022 to warn others against using the quick-fix products.
Kerry, from Denton, Greater Manchester, said: “I was a dress size 12/14. I wasn’t big, but my brain was telling me I was like Bruce Bogtrotter.
“I just didn’t feel great, and I wanted a quick fix. Being a busy mum, I couldn’t be bothered with going to the gym.
“I’d seen other people getting good results from it, and I just thought, ‘Well, if it works for them, why not work for me?’
“I was about to have a photoshoot for my business.
“I was quite new to the business at the time, and I had this image of how you had to be this ‘powerhouse slim’ woman in order to be taken seriously.
“When I think back to it, it’s absolutely barmy, but that was the chapter of my life I was in.
“Within two hours of taking it, I was zonked out. I drove to my sister’s to visit, but I couldn’t get off the sofa.
“I couldn’t lift my head up, it felt like a boulder on my shoulder, and I had really bad headaches.
“For the next 24-48 hours, I was in absolute agony, and I had to pretend I had a sickness bug.
“Nothing would come out, but I kept heaving and feeling sick. I can’t even describe the pain, I was rolling around on the bed. It was absolutely horrendous.
“I was doubled over; it was like someone was kicking me in the stomach, and I had constant diarrhoea.
“I was walking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame because I couldn’t stand up straight.”
Success doesn’t happen overnight, but the internet would have us believe otherwise, and I think that’s the problem
Kerry Boland
Kerry added: “My friend said, ‘You need to keep eating,’ but it just made me feel worse.
“I’d eat one bite of a banana at a time, and it would take me hours. I was up all night every hour on the toilet.
“I remember being bent over the toilet trying to make myself sick because the pain was that bad, and then I collapsed on the bathroom floor.
“I was gone for a few minutes, and then I remember my daughter Isobel touching me and saying, ‘Mum, are you ok?’
“I don’t think I was out cold for a long time, I was just so weak.”
Moments later, Isobel shouted for Matt, who whisked Kerry off to hospital.
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HOSPITAL STAY
At Wythenshawe Hospital’s A&E department in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, doctors hooked her to an IV drip to administer painkillers and fluids.
Kerry said: “They couldn’t get any blood out, I was that dehydrated. They put me on a drip and then put me on painkillers through the drip because I was in that much pain.
“It was really frightening, I just thought, ‘what have I done?’.
“I was worried about damaging my organs, especially after reading horror stories online.
“I did worry, ‘Oh my God, how long am I going to be in this state?’ because I couldn’t take the pain.”
A shaken Kerry was discharged the following evening and slowly started reintroducing small portions of food.
Kerry said: “It was a couple of days before I felt myself again.
“I slowly started introducing small portions of food, it was nothing like what I would normally shovel in.
“I felt tons better after being rehydrated, but I was still on painkillers. My partner came home and binned the lot.”
Now, Kerry is working with a nutritionist and hormone coach and is weight training five times a week in the gym to achieve her fitness goals.
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Kerry said: “I don’t recommend the jabs at all.
“My advice would be not to go near them.
“The quick fix to get into a dress doesn’t exist because you always end up putting it back on.
“I don’t think it is about the number on the scale, it’s how I feel.
“Success doesn’t happen overnight, but the internet would have us believe otherwise, and I think that’s the problem.”
DODGY JABS
Kerry did not give the name of the jabs she used, but there are numerous unregulated companies selling injections with potentially dangerous or deadly consequences.
A review in 2017 said that the side effects of the injections tend to be gastrointestinal.
This can include nausea, diarrhoea, stomach pain and constipation.
Other side effects could be more serious and lead to long-term complications.
GLP-1 drugs include semaglutide – the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy jabs – which the NHS says can help with weight loss.
The former, however, is only given to patients with type 2 diabetes.
Saxenda (liraglutide) weight loss injections are also available on the NHS.
You can only take liraglutide or semaglutide if they’re prescribed to you by a specialist weight management service, the NHS says.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
However, the drugs are being bought online from unregulated sources.
Last year, the Government warned that fake fat jabs were being imported into the UK.
Everything you need to know about fat jabs
What you should know about Ozempic, Wegovy, Saxenda and Mounjaro
Weight loss jabs are a hot media topic at the moment, with hundreds of success stories sharing how they helped them 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 calories and therefore lose weight.
To do this, an ingredient found in the fat-busting drug, known as 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 they started noticing it helped suppress their appetites, stopping them eating as much and helping them shed the pounds.
So Novo Nordisk 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.
But 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.”