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Mounjaro and other weight-loss jabs have taken the UK by storm - changing lives beyond just reducing people's waistlines. But not everyone who takes them benefits, and there are reports of people suffering hair loss - and even teeth falling out - as well as nausea and diarrhoea so bad they've had to come off the drugs.
Here four people tell their more unusual stories - both good and bad...
I lost 4st and was able to donate my kidney to save my son's life
Michelle Giles, 42, a behaviour support assistant at a school, lives in Sutton, Greater London, with her partner and her sons, aged 20 and 17. She says:
I started weight-loss jabs as I had a chance to save my younger son Leo's life by giving him a kidney - but while I was a match, doctors feared I was too heavy to survive the operation.
Leo was born with only one kidney and at eight was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, and had only had 25 per cent kidney function. Doctors said that by the time he hit puberty he would likely only have 5 per cent function.
They were right. As he got older, he grew worse. By the time he was a teenager, he was on 15 tablets twice a day and was very limited in what he could eat and drink.
His dad and I were both tested to see if we were a match to donate a kidney. His dad wasn't but I was. The problem was I weighed 110kg at 5ft 3in and was a size 20.
I broke down, devastated, when the surgeon told me I was too overweight to risk surgery as anaesthetic in overweight people can cause complications. I could save Leo's life - but I was too fat.
I tried to lose weight, dieting and going to the gym six times a week, but it wasn't shifting fast enough. In two years, I lost about 6lb. I was in a race against time to save Leo. I was so desperate I nearly booked a gastric sleeve operation in Turkey.
Then my boss told me about Mounjaro and I started in July last year, prescribed by an online pharmacy. At last, the weight began to shift - by the start of this year, I'd lost 30kg (around 4st 7lb), reaching my target weight of around 12st.
Then in February we were told that Leo had dropped to 5 per cent kidney function. That was the week doctors told me I was slim enough to undergo surgery - I could be a living donor for Leo. I cried with joy.
I stopped the jabs that same month as I needed to get my creatinine levels (a marker of kidney function) down as they were high - I was told it would improve once I stopped the Mounjaro, which it did.
I had the operation in April. The recovery was hard - not only painful, but I was totally separated from Leo, as he had to stay in hospital for two weeks, while I went home after two days.
But Leo's body accepted my kidney. Within weeks, he was so much healthier and happier. He's now fit and well and doctors have said he will live a full life.
I've put on around 7lb since the surgery, but I haven't gone back on Mounjaro - I'm keeping my weight down with swimming and other exercise. Losing weight hasn't just been good for me - it saved my son's life.
Expert comment: 'Higher weight significantly increases the risk of complications during any surgery including clots, and anaesthesia complications,' says Simon Davies, an emeritus professor of nephrology and dialysis medicine and a Kidney Research UK Trustee.
'Avoiding complications during surgery means a smoother and safer transplant, which often means better outcomes for the recipient.
'Maintaining a healthy weight also protects the donor's own long-term kidney health, especially important when living with one kidney. So it's a win for both sides.
'I'd like to congratulate Michelle for losing this weight for her son. It's encouraging to see people taking steps to improve their health, including with weight-loss injections, which are showing real promise in supporting both weight management and kidney health.'
I lost 3st but ended up in hospital with pancreatitis
Julie Bishop, 55, works at a 'recovery' college helping people manage their mental health conditions and lives in North Tyneside with her husband. She has a grown-up daughter. She says:
The intense pain first hit nine weeks after an online pharmacist had prescribed me Mounjaro.
After years of being overweight and having struggled with every diet I tried, I was excited when the jab worked almost straight away. All my cravings - even for chocolate - went away. I shed 2st 7lb in the first six weeks and 3st in total.
After two months the dose was raised from 2.5mg to 5mg, which is standard. But a week later I was hit with pain out of nowhere: I'd been driving and turning to chat to a friend in the back seat and thought I'd twisted a muscle.
But over the next 24 hours the pain only got worse - it was right at the top of my stomach where my ribcage ended and radiated through to my back.
I took paracetamol and codeine, but they didn't touch the pain, and I couldn't lie down so that night I dozed sitting up.
The next morning, I was still in such agony - it was like a drilling pain through my core - so I drove to the walk-in clinic at the hospital.
The pain radiating from my abdomen was so intense that as I pulled up at the hospital I couldn't focus enough to park my car. I just left it on the side of the road and staggered in.
Straightaway they did an ECG (an electrocardiogram), thinking I was having a heart attack. But when that came back clear and I said I was on Mounjaro the doctor simply said one word: pancreatitis (an inflamed pancreas).
I was sent to a bigger hospital that was better equipped to deal with this. They ran tests to check my levels of amylase (a digestive enzyme), which is how they diagnose pancreatic conditions. Apparently the usual level is 60 to 100 - mine was over 500.
I was admitted to a ward and put on a drip for fluids, and morphine for the pain - and was told to stop Mounjaro immediately.
I was allowed home the next day, but ten days later the pain flared up again and I was back to A&E and on morphine. The same happened two days later.
Since then I've had ongoing pains and bloating, and other digestive issues and fatigue - though controllable at home.
Three months on, I'm awaiting on results for a more in-depth scan of my pancreas. I've not taken Mounjaro since.
I still believe it is a wonder drug for many people. It is such a shame I've had to stop - I'd definitely try it again in future under GP guidance.
Expert comment: 'GLP-1 agonist drugs such as Mounjaro are being investigated to see if they directly cause pancreatitis,' says Christian Macutkiewicz, a consultant in general, hepato-pancreatico-biliary and hernia surgery at Manchester Royal Infirmary.
'Gallstones are the most common cause of pancreatitis, accounting for about 60 per cent of cases. GLP-1s don't make gallstones themselves, but the slowing of digestion and of gallbladder emptying can cause gallstones to form.
'Small gallstones can then pass from the gallbladder to the main pancreatic duct, blocking the opening to the pancreas and leading to inflammation, though sometimes pancreatitis can occur with no identifiable cause.
'While most people who have it will have mild pancreatitis which - although painful - has no long-lasting effects, the danger is it can progress to severe pancreatitis, and this can be life-threatening.'
My asthma's gone and now I do park runs
Michelle Holmes, 57, a training consultant, lives in Durham with her husband. She says:
I've been asthmatic for ten years and always had to use my inhaler - I thought that was it for life, until I started on Mounjaro.
My weight had crept up over the years, until I was 15st (I'm 5ft 2in). I always kept active - jogging and walking my dogs - and cooked from scratch, but no matter what I did I couldn't lose weight.
Then I read about weight-loss jabs and went to see a private consultant in April last year. He prescribed Mounjaro and the weight began to drop off slowly and steadily.
Now 18 months on I have lost 3st sensibly and slowly. I feel amazing - but also noticed something else: my asthma has diminished drastically.
Previously, when I ran or even walked my dogs I'd need several puffs of my inhaler before, during and after exercise.
Suddenly I was power walking, running - even doing park runs - and didn't need my inhaler. My asthma nurse says it's amazing.
Now I am 12st and still losing weight slowly. I still take my inhaler with me and have a puff before exercise, as advised, but I no longer find myself needing it during or after exercise. It's a huge improvement. Who'd have thought weight-loss jabs could do this?
Expert comment: 'About a month or so ago, I was in our GP practice meeting and a couple of our nurses said patients who had been put on Mounjaro for their weight found all of a sudden their asthma felt better,' says Dr Andrew Whittamore, a GP and clinical lead for the charity Asthma and Lung UK.
'They were still needing their medication but were getting fewer symptoms - and this was before they were losing any weight. What we don't understand is why.
'We know that patients with asthma who are overweight are generally prone to getting more symptoms, more flare-ups and do less well than people who are not overweight. So if you are overweight and have asthma, then usually the symptoms improve with weight loss.
'Secondly we know that these drugs, initially designed for type 2 diabetes, have an anti-inflammatory effect. And because asthma is an inflammatory condition the theory is that perhaps that's why some patients feel better before they've even lost weight.'
The jabs banished my menopause fat and meant I could have a vital operation
Lisa Bell, 58, a senior manager for a communications company, lives in County Durham with her husband. She says:
I was 20st and wanted to lose weight, but once I hit menopause it became impossible. No diet or exercise seemed to work. Then I was told at a scan that I had a cyst in my womb. I needed a hysterectomy but would need to lose 18kg for surgery to be safe.
Now I had to lose weight. But dieting would take too long and just never worked. So in October 2024 I found a private doctor who prescribed me Mounjaro.
I started on 2.5mg a week gradually increasing to 7.5mg - I lost 4st in six months, and was finally ready for my surgery.
While I healed, I came off Mounjaro for a few weeks before starting again - but I then switched to Wegovy as it was cheaper. I wanted to lose more weight, but I've plateaued at 16st.
My hysterectomy was a long recovery but necessary for my health and Mounjaro got me there. As a plus point my blood pressure has also come down from 160/90 to 120/75.
Expert comment: 'Patients are increasingly being referred - or self-referring - to my clinic for help with weight loss prior to surgery - particularly for procedures such as a hysterectomy, joint replacements or plastic surgery,' says Zaher Toumi, a consultant bariatric surgeon and obesity expert at Spire Washington Hospital in Newcastle.
'There is often a BMI threshold, below which patients must fall before they can safely be operated on.
'Weight loss is important before surgery because excess fat makes the surgery itself technically more difficult and results in longer operating times, higher risk of bleeding and higher likelihood of accidental injury to nearby organs. It also raises the risk of post-operative complications such as infections, blood clots and even heart attacks or strokes.
'Every complication - during or after the surgery - is more likely in someone with obesity.
'In some cases, the risk of proceeding with surgery at a high weight may outweigh the potential benefits, making the operation inadvisable.
'For some, losing weight is the only way they can safely access the treatment they need.'