Mayim Bialik is opening up about what she described as a “nightmare” experience after trying a GLP-1 weight-loss drug. The “Big Bang Theory” star detailed the frightening uncomfortable side effects, revealing that after taking only one shot of the medication, she experienced severe symptoms that quickly spiraled into what she described as a medical ordeal. Mayim Bialik also shared that she experienced severe gastrointestinal distress.
“To say I had an hostile response can be somewhat of an understatement,” she wrote in a candid essay titled “My GLP-1 Nightmare” for The Free Press. “Cramping. Bloating. Full-body aching, as if I had the flu, and an inability to maintain down even small sips of water without sprinting to the lavatory with yet more explosive diarrhea.”
Bialik admitted the situation became so severe that she was unable to make it to the lavatory multiple times. “Greater than 3 times, I didn’t make it,” she revealed.
The actress said the response reminded her of a previous medical experience. “What followed was closer to an allergic response, the type I once needed to an antibiotic for a sinus infection, which led me to soil myself without notice and cancel a camping trip to spend the weekend on the bathroom,” she wrote. “This was that, but for 3 days.”
She also described additional uncomfortable side effects, including “sulfur burps so violent they left me afraid to open my mouth in public,” in addition to repeated sneezing episodes while attempting to eat or drink.
Why Bialik Tried The Drug
Bialik made it clear that her decision to try a GLP-1 medication was not rooted in pressure to shed extra pounds, despite years of public scrutiny over her appearance. “I grew up within the limelight, with my appearance scrutinized weekly from the time I starred in my very own NBC show at 14,” she wrote.
The actress reflected on how her relationship with body image shifted over time after being prescribed medication as a youngster to “manage my moods,” which she said contributed to weight gain. By her forties, Bialik said she had developed “a deep sense of shame around my body” and “felt obese” at a size six.
“By the point social media arrived, with its fixation on being thinner, more toned, more surgically perfected, that pressure tipped right into a disordered relationship with food that I actually have spent years attempting to untangle,” she explained.
Still, Bialik said weight reduction was not the first motivation behind trying the medication. As a substitute, she revealed that three different doctors encouraged her to think about the drug due to her ongoing health struggles.
Mayim Bialik Says Health Issues Prompted Decision
Bialik shared that she was diagnosed with Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disorder affecting the thyroid, at age 23. Through the years, she said she was later diagnosed with Sjögren’s syndrome, dysautonomia, connective tissue disease, and mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), following years of symptoms that included “4 unexplained hernias, full-body rashes and welts, severe histamine reactions to foods and smells, palpitations, hourly wake-ups for a complete 12 months” and “crying jags alternating with crippling depression.”
In keeping with Bialik, doctors suggested the medication not due to the “20 postmenopausal kilos” she had gained, but on account of growing evidence that GLP-1 drugs may help reduce inflammation tied to autoimmune disorders. “I used to be exhausted from being sick, from the infinite parade of specialists, from the diets, the protocols, and the guarantees. Possibly this may very well be the magic cure,” she wrote.
Bialik Says She Quit After One Shot
After experiencing the severe response, Bialik said her doctor and nurse told her that intense uncomfortable side effects should not unusual with GLP-1 medications.
“This drug has a really long half-life; my prescribing doctor had told me to expect no less than per week of this, if no more,” she wrote.
Mayim Bialik Was Told GLP-1 Drug ‘Did Not Meet That Bar’
Following the experience, Bialik visited a gastroenterologist, who reportedly warned that GLP-1 medications “are extremely disruptive to the body and mustn’t be used outside of a selected, regulated set of great medical reasons, namely, life-compromising obesity and its related health consequences” and that she “didn’t meet that bar.”
Despite the ordeal, Bialik ended her essay with an unexpected moment of reflection, admitting she noticed physical changes after stopping the medication. She recalled catching her reflection in a mirror and noticing that she “didn’t recoil” because her “second chin” had vanished and her skirt had began to sag.
Bialik is just not the one celebrity to talk openly about difficult experiences with GLP-1 drugs. Kris Jenner previously admitted Ozempic made her “really sick” and “nauseous,” while Amy Schumer described her own experience as “horrible” after coping with severe nausea and vomiting.