Mom, 58, Used a ‘Miracle’ GLP to ‘Be Thin’ for Her Son’s Wedding. She Claims It Made Her So Sick She Almost Missed the Big Day

A Tennessee mom who turned to Ozempic in hopes of slimming down for her son’s wedding ended up facing a life-threatening medical crisis that nearly kept her from the big day. She believes the medication was to blame.

Ali Eastburn, 58, said she had struggled with persistent weight gain following menopause.

“My whole metabolism just changed and I had tried everything to lose weight,” the Nashville resident told the Daily Mail.

Worried about how she would appear in wedding photos, Eastburn—who wore a size 16 before starting the medication—was prescribed Ozempic by her doctor in April.

Ozempic, a semaglutide-based drug, is part of a growing class of medications originally designed to treat type 2 diabetes. Its active ingredient is also marketed under other brand names like Wegovy and Mounjaro. While not FDA-approved specifically for weight loss, it’s become a popular option for people looking to shed pounds due to its appetite-suppressing effects.

A Novo Nordisk spokesperson told PEOPLE, “Semaglutide has been extensively examined in robust clinical development programs, large real-world-evidence studies and has cumulatively over 33 million patient years of exposure.”

They added that semaglutide has shown “improvements in CV death, stroke and myocardial infarction,” and the company remains confident in the safety and benefit profile of its GLP-1 medicines “when used consistent with their indications and product labeling.”

Initially, Eastburn saw encouraging results. “At first, it seemed like a miracle. The weight was just coming off,” she said.

By early July, she had dropped 15 pounds and felt optimistic. But with her son’s wedding fast approaching, she became frustrated by a plateau.

“I knew I had to do something drastic as I was desperate to look better,” Eastburn said. “I didn’t want to hate the wedding photos for the rest of my life.”

So, she increased her dose—without confirming whether she did so under medical guidance.

The FDA issued a warning in 2024 noting that exceeding the recommended dose of compounded semaglutide can result in serious side effects, including “gastrointestinal effects (e.g., nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain),” along with “fainting, headache, migraine, dehydration, acute pancreatitis and gallstones.”

Eastburn said she felt the effects immediately.

“The first week the nausea was uncontrollable and I had no desire to eat or drink anything,” she explained. She also experienced severe heartburn, describing it as an “all-new level” of pain.

Despite feeling “sick as a dog,” she went shopping for a dress and began vomiting and dry heaving. Her symptoms escalated to include “violent diarrhea,” leading to two emergency room visits.

Still determined to make it to the wedding, she flew from Nashville to Orange County, California, on July 15. But the flight worsened her condition. Upon landing, she was rushed by ambulance to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed her with a burst appendix.

A burst appendix is a critical emergency, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It occurs when an inflamed appendix ruptures, releasing bacteria into the abdominal cavity and posing serious health risks.

Eastburn spent four days hospitalized and missed her son Chase’s rehearsal dinner. “I just cried as I felt like it was my fault… I did this to myself,” she said. “I missed all of this because I wanted to be thin, and it broke my heart.”

She barely made it to the wedding at all. “We went at the very last minute as I was in so much pain. Sitting on a chair was so painful and I could barely walk,” she recalled.

Her son’s emotional reaction underscored how close she came to missing it entirely. “When my son saw me sitting in the front row, he came over and hugged me for the longest time and bawled like a baby,” she said.

“We didn’t think I was going to be at the wedding, much less live to tell anyone about it. I didn’t care about my size—I was just so proud to be there,” she added. “It was hard to stand and do the mother-son dance, but I was so grateful. I was so swollen and my stomach was so puffy… my weight was the last thing on my mind.”

Eastburn believes Ozempic was the cause of her ordeal. While there are a few isolated case studies suggesting appendicitis might be a possible risk, no direct causal link has been proven between the condition and semaglutide.

“I will never jeopardize or endanger myself again with any drugs to lose weight,” Eastburn said. “That was too close of a call.”

“I would say think long and hard before taking a GLP-1 as it almost killed me,” she warned. “If you care about your family or people that you love, think about them having to live life without you as it might kill you. Being thin is not worth losing your life.”