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A woman with type 2 diabetes has revealed she feared for her life after Ozempic severely burned her genitals and caused “pieces of skin” to fall off her body.
Dr. María Rosas, a professor in Texas, was prescribed the medication once a week for her type 2 diabetes in the hopes that she would no longer need to take multiple medications twice a day.
The first week went well, he said, and his blood glucose levels were well controlled. Although she felt slightly depressed, she said this improved quickly.
However, the following week, Dr. Rosas said he felt a burning pain in his back, genitals and buttocks. The areas also began to turn a deep red, as if they were in the sun “for days.”
And then she noticed “bits of skin” starting to appear on the toilet seat and toilet paper every time she cleaned those areas.
Dr. Maria Rosas, who lives in Texas, said she broke out in a skin rash (pictured) a week after she started taking Ozempic. She also experienced a burning sensation in her back and genitals.
Dr. Rosas, pictured above, stopped Ozempic after suffering side effects and says her health is now improving. She follows a strict diet to control her type 2 diabetes.
When she examined his genitals, anus and buttocks, Dr. Rosas said the skin appeared to be charred and sunburned.
Just 20 days after using the drug in August 2023, she called her doctor to inform him of her condition and he told her to stop using Ozempic immediately.
Write a piece in first person in news weekDr Rosas said: ‘Ozempic helped me, but at one point I thought I was going to die because of what was happening to my body.
‘In August a worse burning pain appeared in the genital area and buttocks.
‘I noticed “chunks” of skin on the toilet seat and tissue paper when I cleaned the area.
‘I checked him and his genitals, anus and buttocks were severely burned, some areas with charred skin.
“It was like I had been exposed to sunlight for days.”
Her doctor diagnosed her rashes and hives as an allergic reaction to the medication, a possible side effect of Ozempic.
In cases where this occurs, the drug’s package insert says patients should stop taking Ozempic immediately and contact their doctor.
Dr. Rosas called Ozempic’s 1-800 number and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to report her experience.
In clinical trials of semaglutide, the drug used in Ozempic, 108 of 1,306 patients (or eight percent) were found to have an allergic reaction to the drug.
In the FDA’s system for reporting side effects, there have been 15 reports of allergic reactions, although this may be an undercount because most cases are likely not recorded in the system.
Dr. Rosas, a counselor at Texas South College in McAllen, on the Texas-Mexico border, says she is now improving after stopping the medication, although she still has pain in her back.
He said that because of the medication’s numerous side effects, he does not recommend that people take it.
Dr. Rosas is now on a strictly controlled diet to help her control her blood sugar levels and says she does not plan to take any more medications until she fully recovers.
Ozempic and Wegovy, which use semaglutide, were originally approved to help manage diabetes, but were soon found to also help users lose weight. Then doctors began prescribing them off-label for weight loss.
Wegovy has now been approved by the FDA for this purpose.
Data shows that there were more than four million prescriptions for weight loss drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro in 2022, with Ozempic behind the largest number of prescriptions.
Estimates suggest that thirty-seven million American adults have diabetes, which is when the body no longer produces insulin or no longer recognizes its own insulin, causing cells to stop absorbing sugar from the bloodstream.
A spokeswoman for Novo Nordisk, which makes Ozempic, told DailyMail.com: ‘At Novo Nordisk, patient safety is a top priority.
‘We work closely with the US Food and Drug Administration to continually monitor the safety profile of our medicines.
‘Specifically for Ozempic, the most common side effects may include: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach (abdominal) pain, and constipation.
“We recommend that any patient who experiences side effects while taking Ozempic® contact their healthcare provider.”
Patients have also revealed other side effects caused by the injection, including vivid dreams, repulsion from favorite foods, and rapid loss of muscle mass.
Some have also said that they have lost weight so quickly that they have had sagging skin in some areas of their body.
Several patients have also reported depression, suicidal thoughts, and rapid regain of lost weight and more after stopping Ozempic.