Diabetic father says Ozempic left him fighting for his life with blocked intestine: ‘Very careful’

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By Andrew Court

An Oregon father of two believes Ozempic caused him to suffer two blocked intestines that left him fighting for his life.

Wilson “Bo” Muhlheim, 79, told the Daily Mail that he was prescribed the injectable late last year to help manage his type 2 diabetes.

Ozempic is approved by the Food and Drug Administration of the United States for people with the condition – it has recently become famous for weight loss.

It has also become controversial due to its reported side effects. Most significantly, the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System published 76 reports of deaths mentioning products with semaglutide — the active ingredient in Ozempic and its sister drug Wegovy — from 2018 to September 30.

Cases sent to FAERS have not been medically confirmed. The Post has reached out to the FDA for comment, as well as Novo Nordisk, the Danish maker of Ozempic and Wegovy.

The medications mimic the natural hormone GLP-1, which slows the passage of food through the stomach and intestines, making people feel fuller for longer.

The problems are, however, if the drug slows down the stomach too much or blocks the intestines.

Muhlheim is now sounding the alarm about Ozempic, encouraging potential users to think twice before making a prescription.

“The amount of weight you can lose by taking this drug is insignificant compared to the risks,” Muhlheim told the Daily Mail on Tuesday.

“People should be very careful,” he added. “This drug is not for something like weight loss.”

Muhlheim, who hails from Eugene, weighed 265 pounds when he was prescribed Ozempic to help regulate his blood sugar and shed unwanted pounds.

The diabetic dad said he felt no immediate side effects after starting his weekly injections and lost 14 pounds over the next six months.

But he claims that earlier this year he suffered severe stomach pains and was taken to the emergency room – where doctors discovered he had a blocked intestine that was on the verge of potentially fatal rupture.

Muhlheim had his stomach pumped and eventually recovered from the incident.

The doctors did not blame Ozempic, instead blaming a twist in Muhlheim’s large intestine.

He continued to use Ozempic for six more months before suffering another sudden blockage that landed him in the hospital.

Muhlheim believes the diabetes drug is responsible for his medical episodes.

“We all assumed [the first blockage] it was related to the twist in my intestine without even looking at other problems,” he explained. “But now they came back and looked at the images that were made, the point of the block has no relation to where I have this anomaly in the my gut.”

“This leads to believe that it is the same thing that causes it, and [Ozempic] It’s the only thing we can think of as the cause,” he said.

Muhlheim says he stopped using Ozempic and is slowly recovering from the second intestinal blockage.

He is not the first person to report major problems after injecting the drug.

In September, the FDA announced that ileus — the medical term for an intestinal blockage — would be listed as a side effect on Ozempic’s label.

At the time, the agency said it had received 18 reports of people taking Ozempic suffering from the condition.

In the United States, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly and Company, which makes the popular diabetes drug Mounjaro, have been sued over claims that the injectables can cause severe gastrointestinal problems, such as gastroparesis or “stomach paralysis,” which can lead to death.

Attorney Morgan & Morgan told the Post in August that it has received 500 similar accusations from customers in 45 states, along with claims of injuries allegedly caused by other weight-loss drugs, including Rybelsus and Saxenda.

In Australia, Ozempic is accused of the death of a woman trying to slim down for a wedding.