A SINGLE mum nearly died in front of her children after injecting herself with a “counterfeit skinny jab” she bought online.
Doctors told Michelle Sword she was very lucky to be alive after self-administering the “dangerous” weight loss pen in September.
The parent, who lives in Carterton, Oxfordshire, said she previously tried the drug “legitimately” via an online pharmacy three years prior, but decided to give it a go again in a bid to shed a few pounds.
The family of drugs known as GLP-1 RAs, originally developed to treat diabetes, are now often used for weight loss as they were found to suppress a patient’s appetite.
The 45-year-old was able to purchase it “very easily” on the internet but never expected it would lead to her collapsing on the floor and suffering a seizure in front of her eldest daughter on September 20.
The receptionist feared she would never see her kids again after her blood sugars dropped to dangerous levels.
Michelle, who is mum to 13-year-old Cadie and Coen, 18, began feeling confused and disorientated 15 minutes after injecting the drug before losing consciousness entirely.
She was rushed to hospital, where doctors allegedly told her they had never seen someone survive a blood sugar level that low in their careers.
Michelle admitted to feeling “ashamed” of taking the risk and has apologised to her kids, and also warned others not to “gamble with their lives”.
She said: “When the jab arrived, it looked the same as before except the dial was different.
“Usually on a weight-loss pen, the click stops for you at 1ml and you take 1ml.
“I was turning the clicker and it wasn’t stopping. I must’ve turned it 17 or 18 times and I thought, ‘If I need more I’ll take it’.
“I was getting my daughter’s tea ready when I started to feel disorientated, strange and, unbeknown to me, I was sweating.
“Cadie said at this point I was mumbling, slumped over, wide-eyed and then unresponsive. I didn’t know what was going on.”
The teen phoned her mum’s best friend who rushed round and immediately clocked “this was something serious”.
By the time an ambulance arrived 12 minutes later, Michelle was completely out of it.
Paramedics administered liquid glucose to raise the mum’s blood sugars and help her regain consciousness.
But her health went from bad to worse as she began having seizures on the way to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
It was an out of body experience for me.
Michelle Sword
Michelle said: “Nobody could get anything into my veins so they started squeezing glucose gel in my mouth.
“It was an out of body experience for me. I could hear people saying my name but I was just mumbling.
“I was rushed into resus and apparently eight or nine people followed me and did everything they could.
“I think all my levels were going crazy at this point – my heart rate, sugar levels, potassium levels.”
Michelle said her blood sugar levels dropped to 0.6mmol/l.
According to the NHS, the target range for blood glucose is 4 to 7mmol/l.
The mum-of-two said the injectable she’d used actually contained pure insulin rather than the intended weight loss drug as she believed.
“I hadn’t eaten that day so my blood sugars were probably already on the lower side,” she added.
“It took about an hour but thankfully they came up and I got out of the danger zone.
“I regained consciousness and doctors said to me, ‘You are lucky to be alive’.
“They said they’d never seen anyone survive 0.6 blood sugar levels and that I was a miracle.
“I was told my children would’ve come home to a dead body if no one was in. I’d had a huge insulin overdose.”
Michelle first purchased a ‘skinny jab’ in 2020 after gaining a stone during lockdown.
The £150 shot suppressed Michelle’s appetite, causing the mum to lose what she described as “a lot of weight”.
Three years later, she’d regained some of it so decided to try it again.
She said: “It worked amazingly the first time and I felt great; I followed it to the letter and I had no adverse effects.
“A few months ago, I found myself in a bit of a slump again and eating a lot more.
“I was very concerned about putting weight on again so I thought I needed the drug.
“I knew it was very popular now and would be harder to get, but it was coming up on my newsfeed all the time.
“I contacted this one company and asked if it was the official weight-loss drug and they said, ‘Yes’.
“It looked exactly the same and two days later it was at my door.
“They asked no medical questions, and they didn’t even want to know how much I weighed.”
After injecting her first dose, Michelle said she suffered an insulin overdose and believes the jab was counterfeit.
The mum said she is “incredibly embarrassed” about using the drug and wants to warn others not to make the same mistake.
Michelle said: “Nothing is worth losing your life over.
“I apologised to my kids and said, ‘I’m so sorry’.
“I’m so angry and ashamed of myself.
“I will never do anything like this again. It’s not worth taking a gamble with your life.”
