Man Hospitalized After Taking Unapproved Weight-Loss Drug

GLP-1s are close to a miracle for people with obesity trying to move the needle on the scale and for people who have diabetes. One in eight people is taking one form or another, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

But getting FDA-approved medications is key, because there are a lot of copycats on the market that aren’t safe.

One man found out the hard way, and it sent him to the emergency department.

A 32-year-old man with a history of high blood pressure arrived at his local hospital with a bout of diarrhea that lasted a week. His symptoms started are giving himself a 10 mg shot of retatrutide, which is not FDA approved. After a few weeks, he increased the dose to 20 mg. The next day, he repeated the dose and started to feel incredibly sick. He was having bowel movements every 20 to 30 minutes and became weak.

When he arrived at the hospital, his potassium was low, his sodium was borderline, and he was "profoundly dehydrated," showing signs of early kidney injury as a result, said Opeyemi Komolafe, MD, of the Medical University of South Carolina in Florence, in Annals of Internal Medicine: Clinical Cases."So, we had to focus on rehydrating immediately."

What is Retratuitde?

According to GoodRx, it’s similar to Wegovy and Zepbound. Retatrutide acts like natural hormones found in the body to lower blood sugar and slow down digestion. It’s being tested in clinical trials, but it not yet approved by the FDA.

The man recovered, but the case highlights growing concerns about people accessing unregulated or experimental weight-loss drugs online and using unsafe doses without medical supervision.