Suzi Winpenny was desperate to lose weight for an operation on a hernia she had developed after bowel surgery.
The 51-year-old Aberdonian had put on weight because the hernia — which was the size of a rugby ball and weighed more than two stone — had confined her to a wheelchair.
Doctors told her she had to slim down before they could operate. But for house-bound Suzi, exercise was out of the question.
So, in desperation, she spent £600 at Boots on three months’ supply of controversial weight-loss injection Wegovy.
The cost was high and she had heard of the drug’s potential side effects such as nausea and stomach pain. But she felt she had no choice.
“That’s how determined I was,” she says. “But when you’ve no other options, you’ll resort to stuff like that.”
Weight loss jabs were a sign of Aberdeen mum’s frustration
Suzi’s decision to use Wegovy is different from the usual reason people turn to the treatment.
The injectable drug is a semiglutide — a so-called ‘miracle’ weight loss drug reportedly used by Hollywood celebrities that is also sold under the brand name Ozempic.
It is approved for use in the NHS in Scotland alongside diet and physical activity to manage excess weight and obesity.
But press reports mainly focus on A-listers using it to slim down for a new role or to squeeze into an outfit for a high-profile event. This year’s Met Gala, the New York charity show famous for its celebrity-packed red carpet, was dubbed by some on social media as the “Ozempic Olympics”.
Suzi felt forced into using it out of sheer desperation after she was told she was removed from the waiting list for a hernia operation because her BMI is above 32.
She says the hernia is an incisional hernia resulting from an operation she had in April 2020, at the start of the Covid lockdown.
The experience has left her frustrated and angry.
“I’ve just exhausted every avenue I can think of,” she says.
“They tell me my weight needs to be addressed. But I’ve only put weight on because of the fact I can’t get out of the house and I’m not mobile.”
Suzi is speaking to the P&J because of the impact the hernia has had on her life. She wants support to help lose weight so she can have the operation.
“There’s such a ripple effect on my life,” says the mum of two. “I don’t see my children as much, as I can’t go out. My mum’s worried sick, she’s scared this thing bursts.”
Hernia means Suzi can’t tie her shoelaces
Suzi says losing the weight needed for the operation feels impossible.
The hernia means she is “90% housebound”.
She can’t tie her shoelaces and needs help to climb the stairs back to her flat.
“I’m not so bad coming down,” she says, “but I can’t see over the hernia to see my feet.”
Meanwhile, her three months of Wegovy injections ultimately ended in failure.
At £200 a month, the injections could not last indefinitely and Suzi had to stop.
“I lost 12 pounds,” she says. “But I regained it as soon as I came off it.”
Conversation