- After taking Munjaro twice, the 38-year-old father suddenly started vomiting violently.
- Doctors diagnosed him with gastroparesis, or paralysis of the stomach.
- He may have to live with this condition for the rest of his life, and he wishes he had never taken the drug.
Blake was having a normal day at his desk when it happened.
Suddenly, “someone flipped a switch,” he said.
He jumped up and hurried to the bathroom. But before he could go to the bathroom, his body violently vomited the contents of his stomach.
“It was a sputtering vomit like nothing I’ve ever experienced before,” he said. “I didn’t feel sick. Without any warning, I started throwing up and it lasted for the better part of nine days.”
Blake, who asked Business Insider not to use his last name to protect his privacy, recently began reporting for the weekly magazine. Diabetic drug MunjaroIt is also widely used. weight loss. He had only had two doses so far and had not yet felt any noticeable effects of the drug.
After about 10 days of severe dehydration, an emergency room visit, an overnight hospital stay, a feeding tube, and a stomach exam, doctors diagnosed him with gastroparesis, a type of gastroparesis. He said doctors suspect Munjaro, which he took twice, was the cause of his new symptoms, and that he will likely have to live with the problem for the rest of his life.
“I had no intention of losing weight or anything,” Blake told BI. “I had no intention of shedding 25 to 30 pounds in two and a half weeks. That wasn’t my goal.”
Blake said she is trying a new drug that doctors believe will help control her blood sugar levels, which are caused by type 2 diabetes, which she has had since her 20s. He didn’t expect the drug to interfere with how his stomach processes food.
So earlier this month, Blake filed a lawsuit against drug company Eli Lilly, alleging that she was not properly warned about the potential for serious, lifelong stomach problems associated with Munjaro.
“I want someone to take responsibility.”
“I want someone to take responsibility,” he said. “I wouldn’t touch this with a 10-foot pole. I would encourage anyone who will listen to try everything they can before considering this. ”
Both Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk told BI that delayed gastric emptying is only part of their contracts with GLP-1 drugs. This is well known, they say. This is actually part of the drug’s action, slowing down the digestive system.For some people, their stomach feels a little slower, for others. a lot. It can also cause stomach pain in some patients, like Blake. completely shut down. Therefore, GLP1 is not recommended for people with a history of gastroparesis or severe gastrointestinal disease.
Regulators could put in place basic guardrails aimed at keeping GLP-1 away from patients with medical histories that suggest they may have an adverse reaction to this class of drugs. However, in reality, almost impossible Doctors can accurately predict which patients will develop this type of complication when trying a new drug.
Morgan & Morgan, the law firm representing Mr. Blake in his case, has tested for more than 10,000 cases of gastroparesis nationwide that may be related to GLP-1 use and is currently actively investigating the case. He said that there is. They have filed more than a dozen lawsuits so far, including Blake’s and another woman’s. Jaclyn won both Ozempic and Munjaro. (Novo Nordisk is motion to dismiss her lawsuit. )
Eat less meat and get used to surviving bad days.
Blake, a former “meat and potatoes guy” from the South, is now spending a month trying all kinds of diets he’s never heard of before, aiming to find what his stomach can best tolerate. Continuing to explore different types of food. So far it hasn’t been smooth sailing.
“We’ve been cycling through a gluten-free diet for a bit and then trying a lower protein diet,” he said.
He said he still has bad days. He calls it a flare-up. His employer is now allowing him a more flexible schedule, so if he needs to come home and take a shower or clean up after missing the bathroom, he can do that.
“I’m a 40-year-old man and I’ve had accidents at work because I wasn’t given any warnings. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone,” he said.
Blake was on a lunch break and paced around the office, breathing heavily, throughout the phone interview. He said he has been trying to exercise as much as possible these days because his stomach can no longer tolerate metformin, a drug he previously used to control his blood sugar.
Instead, he takes insulin, a frustrating change for someone who hates needles, he said.
“I’m well educated,” Blake added.
He is starting to recover financially from when he took time off from work and has learned a lot about dietary restrictions and intolerances. However, there were dark days in the summer and fall of 2023, when he became worried about providing for his family and felt that death was very close. When his wife had to take care of their three sons at her home.
“This was the greatest defeat I’ve ever felt or experienced in my life,” he said. Mr. Blake, who had never been a particularly religious person, turned to a friend of his who is a pastor for spiritual support. “He accepted me and tried to talk to me to keep his head up.”
“I really wish no one knew and told me how serious this was,” he said.
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