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I lost 12lbs & full dress size in weeks on Mounjaro after changing jabs but surprising side effect transformed my life

I lost 12lbs & full dress size in weeks on Mounjaro after changing jabs but surprising side effect transformed my life

The Irish Suna day ago

IRISH mum
Sandra Keogh spent hundreds of euros EVERY month on Doritos as her eating "addiction" spiralled out of control.
But now the mum-of-four is thriving thanks to a "bizarre" fat jabs side effect and her weight loss has given her husband "a renewed twinkle in his eye".
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Sandra was a big fan of 'trash food' but she's now saving a fortune
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The mum, 37, said her food bill was 'through the roof'
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She has lost 12 pounds in just 8 weeks
The former weight loss consultant, 37, said she needed to urgently make a change but had already tried all of the usual routes.
She said: "I felt unable to find the will to care what I was shoving in my mouth.
"It was compounded by the fact that I knew what I should be doing I just felt useless. I had to try something else."
But she had a light bulb moment one day after sitting down to watch a bit of reality TV.
The
"So after a while when I heard about availability here, I went and spoke to my doctor because I haven't had diabetes but I just needed something.
"I knew what had to be done, but I didn't have the willpower or the motivation to do anything.
"I started Ozempic in November 2023, after the doctor thought it was a great idea.
"I was on it until February this year and when I heard Mounjaro was coming in, I was eager to swap because I had lost 33 pounds on Ozempic and I kind of had stalled.
"When I heard that Mounjaro was going to be approved for a weight loss here in Ireland, I thought, 'Right, I'm going to try and get it'.
"I started taking it on the 25th of March and I began losing weight again."
Sandra, who shares her journey on TikTok, said she was addicted to eating Doritos daily but a positive side effect of Mounjaro means she no longer has the desire to eat them.
She said: "As far as day to day, you are probably wondering what exactly it does to me, but I find personally, it takes away all kind of interest that you would have in food.
I lost 98lb on Mounjaro but it's surprise side benefit that's been life-changing
"I was a grazer, food was so urgent, Doritos, especially.
"I was getting up every evening, dragging my young one to the shop and just to go get Doritos. It felt like an urgency, a need.
"I'd have a bag every night plus a Marvellous Creations bar – the big one, I didn't do small.
"I was desperate for it, and the medications just take all that away, but I haven't changed what I eat.
"I just eat when I'm hungry and I would fill my plate the way I always used to, but I would never ever get through a full plate of dinner the way I used to and I've lost 12 pounds now in the last 8.5 weeks.
"So, it's been really, really positive."
Sandra, who has lost three stone in total, said her grocery bill was "through the roof" as she satisfied her cravings.
She said: "My husband was like, 'Where's all the money going?' and I was like we go to the shop every day after school and then I could have been back at the shop in the evening so it could have been €20 a day just on trash.
"A bag of Doritos is €4, and a bar of Marvellous Creations is €4 and you're buying a can of Red Bull or Coca Cola and then stuff for the kids, it was easily €20."
What are the side effects of weight loss jabs?
Like any medication, weight loss jabs can have side effects.
Common side effects of injections include:
Nausea
: This is the most commonly reported side effect, especially when first starting the medication. It often decreases over time as your body adjusts.
Vomiting
: Can occur, often in conjunction with nausea.
Diarrhea
: Some people experience gastrointestinal upset.
Constipation
: Some individuals may also experience constipation.
Stomach pain or discomfort
: Some people may experience abdominal pain or discomfort.
Reduced appetite
: This is often a desired effect for people using Ozempic for weight loss.
Indigestion
: Can cause a feeling of bloating or discomfort after eating.
Serious side effects can also include:
Pancreatitis
: In rare cases, Ozempic may increase the risk of inflammation of the pancreas, known as pancreatitis, which can cause severe stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting.
Kidney problems
: There have been reports of kidney issues, including kidney failure, though this is uncommon.
Thyroid tumors
: There's a potential increased risk of thyroid cancer, although this risk is based on animal studies. It is not confirmed in humans, but people with a history of thyroid cancer should avoid Ozempic.
Vision problems
: Rapid changes in blood sugar levels may affect vision, and some people have reported blurry vision when taking Ozempic.
Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)
: Especially if used with other medications like sulfonylureas or insulin.
Sandra also revealed her overall health has also improved as a result - and would recommend it to anyone looking to shed the pounds.
She said: "As a former weight loss consultant a lot of what we did was educating people around eating cleanly and of course that's 100 per cent the right thing to do.
"But sometimes when you eat cleanly, you start to think about the things you shouldn't and can't have.
"Whereas with the weight loss medication, those thoughts and obsessions around food are gone.
"I can't explain it, it's just the most bizarre feeling. I suppose it's addiction really isn't it?"
And Sandra said her husband has noticed her progress - and has been showering her with compliments.
She said: "My husband thankfully met me at my heaviest and has been supportive and loving no matter what weight I've been.
"However, he does have a renewed twinkle in his eye and compliments come a bit more regular. I notice him noticing.
"I'm not unrecognisable just yet but on my way there, but confidence wise though, people are definitely noticing the difference."
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Sandra is feeling happier and healthier since starting her Mounjaro journey

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FactCheck: Have one in eight women in Ireland visited an emergency department after an abortion?
FactCheck: Have one in eight women in Ireland visited an emergency department after an abortion?

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FactCheck: Have one in eight women in Ireland visited an emergency department after an abortion?

THIS WEEK, AN anti-abortion group called for a meeting with the Minister for Health over concerns about a study into medical outcomes of Irish women who had abortions. The Pro Life Campaign highlighted the study to claim that the legalisation of abortion in 2018 has led to 'adverse consequences' for women that are not being acknowledged. They claim that the study reveals one in eight Irish women has visited the emergency department after having an abortion. But is this figure accurate? The Claim The Pro Life Campaign claim that one in eight – or 12% – of women in Ireland have visited a hospital emergency department after having an abortion. An article on the group's website is headed: ' One in Eight Women in Ireland Visited Emergency Department After Abortion '. It also refers to a study of Irish women carried out between 2019 and 2022, and states that '12% of the women who underwent abortions during this period presented to an emergency department on an unplanned basis'. Pro Life Campaign Pro Life Campaign The Evidence The study referenced in the article called 'Termination of early pregnancy in Ireland: Review of the first four years of inpatient service at a tertiary maternity unit', which was published in the Irish Journal of Sociology on 28 May. The study analysed outcomes for 149 women who had abortions at a single, unnamed maternity hospital in the south of Ireland between 2019 and 2022. It is a broad study that looks at the experiences of the women, where they came from, whether they had been pregnant before, the length of time that they had been pregnant before seeking an abortion, whether they experienced any complications, and other aspects of their care. It is not a nationally representative survey, such as those carried out for opinion polls in newspapers or occasionally for advertising purposes, both of which involve carefully weighting responses by categories such as gender, age, or social class. The findings are instead based on the medical outcomes of a select group of women who attended one hospital over four years; those findings cannot be extrapolated to the wider population to represent the experience of all Irish women. The study is not even representative of all women who had an abortion during the years 2019 to 2022. It only looked at women who had what is called a medical abortion – a termination of pregnancy that is induced by taking medication – after they presented to a hospital to receive one (as opposed to doing so in a community setting). It did not include women who had a medical abortion after being prescribed medication by a GP in a community setting, which is permitted when pregnancies are under nine weeks. This is crucial, because the study says that 90% of terminations in Ireland are community-based, which is relatively unique by international standards. Hospital-based terminations of pregnancy – such as those analysed in the study – make up just 10% of abortions in Ireland. Furthermore, the study excluded those who first presented to the hospital for surgical abortions, which involve the use of instruments and women going under anaesthetic. It is therefore completely false to suggest that one-in-eight women who had an abortion in Ireland since the procedure was legalised had to go to an emergency department afterwards. So where did the figure come from? Advertisement The Journal contacted the Pro Life Campaign, who referred us to a sample size outlined under 'Table 4′ of the study, which deals with 'complications' that resulted from some abortions. The section on 'complications' describes how some of the women involved in the study required blood transfusions and extended hospital stays after receiving an abortion, while there were also a small number of admissions to high-dependency units. The group of women who were recorded as suffering 'complications' was 34 – the majority of the 149 women did not. Those 34 women – or 23% of the women in the study – were counted because they sought a medical review after they were discharged from the hospital. Of those 34 women, 18 involved unplanned presentations by individuals to the emergency department (the other 16 attended for scheduled clinic appointments). That is the figure referred to in the claim by the Pro Life Campaign: 18 out of 149 women – equivalent to roughly one in eight, or 12% – made an unplanned presentation to an emergency department after terminating their pregnancy. The study states that these presentations were 'primarily due to concerns regarding infection or heavy/irregular vaginal bleeding'. In response to the query about its headline, a spokesperson for the Pro Life Campaign said the group was 'not referring to the entire female population of Ireland, whether or not they had abortions'. 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The authors of the study concluded that there were 'low complication rates' among the women whose abortion procedures were analysed, something that is in keeping with international studies that show that early abortions (ie before 12 weeks) are safe. It should be noted that in any area of healthcare, complicated outcomes are – because of their nature – more likely to be seen in a hospital setting rather than by a GP in the community. Rather than suggesting that the complicated outcomes were a cause for concern about abortion services, the study concluded by suggesting there should be more open access to abortion in Ireland, and pointed to the negative impact of the mandatory three-day wait that women must undergo between being certified by a GP and having an abortion. The Verdict The Pro Life Campaign claimed that one out of every eight women in Ireland has visited an emergency department after an abortion. The group also said that '12% of the women who underwent abortions' between 2019 and 2022 made an unplanned visit to an emergency department afterwards. The figure is based on 18 (or 12%) of 149 women who had abortions at one hospital in the south of the country over a four-year period, whose experiences were analysed as part of a recently published study. It is not a nationally representative sample, and did not include those who specifically presented to the hospital for surgical abortions or the 90% of women whose terminations take place in a community setting. In responses to queries from The Journal , the group said it was not referring to the entire population of Ireland, and defended its wording about the study's overall findings about 'women in Ireland' as normal practice by the media. We therefore rate the claim that one-in-eight women who had abortions in Ireland over a four-year period as FALSE . As per our verdict guide , this means the claim is inaccurate. 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Multinational nursing home operators do not deliver lower standards of care, says spokesman
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time4 hours ago

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Multinational nursing home operators do not deliver lower standards of care, says spokesman

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Taoiseach calls for HIQA's regulations to be examined following RTÉ nursing home investigation
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