Our Lives
Worried about putting on weight again, I made a decision. But it almost cost me everything.
Staring at myself in the mirror, I gave my belly a pinch and sighed. ‘I’ve definitely piled on a few pounds lately,’ I said to myself.
At a size 10, I knew I wasn’t big, but I’d struggled with my weight in the past, fluctuating between a size eight and a 14. The biggest I’d ever been was during lockdown, which coincided with my marriage ending, too. Feeling miserable, I’d turned to food and alcohol for comfort.
Realising I needed to take myself in hand, I’d read about the so-called ‘skinny jabs’ — injections that helped suppress your appetite — and I’d ordered some from an online pharmacy.
They were expensive, but they did the job and I had quickly shed the unwanted pounds I’d gained.
So now, I thought I would order some more and nip this latest weight gain in the bud.
Looking online, there were loads of places selling them. So, I picked a website that I thought looked OK, added the jabs to my basket and filled out their quick questionnaire, ignoring the fact that it didn’t ask anything about my current weight or BMI.
The jabs arrived two days later and I thought I’d get started right away.
Just like before, they looked like a pen and I prepped the first one, turning the sides of a clicker that measured out the correct dose.
But the numbers looked different to the ones I’d used before, and when I didn’t hear the distinctive ‘click’ which meant the right dose was in the syringe, I turned it a few more times.
‘That should do it,’ I said before sinking the needle into my tummy.
Just then, my daughter, Cadie, 13, called me. Her big brother, Coen, 18, was staying with his dad, so Cadie and I had planned a mummy-daughter evening. With my first dose done, I headed downstairs. ‘I’m starving. Can we have my favourite tea?’ Cadie asked. ‘Of course,’ I replied, heading to the kitchen.
But as I poured the mac ‘n’ cheese mix into the saucepan and reached for the pasta, a wave of dizziness suddenly hit me and I grabbed the kitchen table to steady myself.
‘Are you OK?’ asked Cadie.
‘Yes, I must be coming down with something,’ I replied.
But after serving up the pasta, the dizziness hit me again.
‘I’m going to go and lie down,’ I told Cadie.
Then, before I knew what was happening, I collapsed.
‘Mum!’ Cadie screamed, running over.
But I couldn’t speak to reassure her.
While she went to fetch me some water, I somehow crawled to the sofa, desperately looking for my phone.
When she came back, she took my phone and said: ‘This isn’t normal. I’m calling Vicky.’ Vicky was my best friend and she’d recently worked as an ambulan
