I bought fat jab on Facebook for £150 then blacked out & almost died – when docs told me what was in it I was horrified

Scottish Sun

16-05-2025

Michelle issued a stark warning for anyone tempted to use so-called skinny jabs
WEIGHTY WARNING I bought fat jab on Facebook for £150 then blacked out & almost died – when docs told me what was in it I was horrified
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TEARS prick Michelle Sword's eyes as she scrolls through photos of herself in hospital, tubes snaking in and out of her body.
The 45-year-old wasn't there for a routine operation - she was fighting for her life after unknowingly injecting herself with fake Ozempic bought from a Facebook seller.
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Michelle Sword was left fighting for her life in hospital after unknowingly injecting herself with fake Ozempic
Credit: Supplied
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The mum-of-two bought the skinny jabs from a Facebook seller
Credit: Supplied
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Michelle collapsed on her living room floor after taking the injection
Credit: Supplied
Now, two years on, the mum from Carterton, Oxon, wants to warn others about the dangers of "skinny jabs".
She tells Sun Club: 'I'd never go anywhere near skinny jabs again - fake or otherwise. Being skinny isn't worth dying for.'
Michelle bought an £150 Ozempic pen through an online pharmacy site three years ago after she put on two stone following the breakdown of her marriage.
'I'd always been a size 8-10 but the weight had been slowly creeping on as I turned to comfort eating,' she explains.
'I no longer recognised myself when I looked in the mirror. I was in a bad place and had been gorging on lots of greasy takeaways and drinking far too much alcohol.'
Michelle said much of the instructions were in a foreign language but it said to inject once a week.
'The jabs really worked – my appetite simply disappeared,' she recalls.
'Within three months I'd dropped two stone, going down to my regular weight of eight stone and a dress size 8.'
Michelle tells how she managed to maintain her weight loss until she gave up vaping in the summer of 2022.
'I began to replace vaping with food,' she explains.
Weight Loss Jabs - Pros vs Cons
'The weight started to creep back on. I'm a petite 5ft2 so a few extra pounds really show on me.
'I panicked and looked online for the same Ozempic pens. But this time I couldn't find any pharmacies with any in stock.'
Desperate, in September 2023, she searched on Facebook and saw a company selling them.
'I paid £150 through Paypal, and two days later got a month's supply,' she recalls.
'I could have died'
"They looked exactly the same, apart from the needles being separate. I injected around 16 clicks, but the vial barely went down. I put it back in the fridge - then everything went black.'
Luckily, her daughter Cadie, 13, unexpectedly came home from her dad's house, and spotted her mum sweating and confused.
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Michelle's daughter Cadie, 13, called a friend when she saw her mum sweating and confused
Credit: Supplied
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Michelle reveals doctors later tested the pen and said it was full of insulin
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Today she warns of the dangers of the jabs and says there is no healthy and quick fix to being skinny
Credit: Supplied
'Everything went black and I collapsed on the living room floor,' she continues.
'She called my friend Victoria, who dialled 999. Paramedics battled for 90 minutes to stabilise me, eventually reviving me in hospital.
'My blood sugar level was 0.2 – near death! Healthy blood sugar should be between 4 and 7.'
Terrifyingly, doctors later tested the pen and it was full of insulin, Michelle says.
'I could have died,' she adds, choking back tears.
'My daughter could've found me dead on the floor. That thought haunts me to this day.'
There's no quick fix to losing weight, it's all about making sensible decisions and regularly going to the gym and eating a balanced diet
Today, Michelle is a healthy size 8-10, fluctuating between 9st and 9.5st.
'I'm much healthier,' she explains.
'There's no quick fix to losing weight, it's all about making sensible decisions and regularly going to the gym and eating a balanced diet.
'I'd never touch skinny jabs again - fake or otherwise - and want people to know the dangers.
"If I can stop one person from using them, then sharing my story is worth it.'