“I lost an organ and the weight loss jab left my tongue black and I couldn’t walk.”

Sarah Jayne Crawford turned to Wegobee to lose weight for her wedding, but suffered horrific complications that required emergency surgery.

A woman who switched to weight loss jab ahead of her wedding has issued an urgent warning. After her tongue turned black and her organs were forced to be removed.

Sarah Jayne Crawford, 32, started taking Wigoby in August 2024, when she weighed 19 stone 9 pounds and was a UK size 20. She is due to meet in November 2025 and paid £199 for a month’s supply of the entry-level 0.25mg jab through an online pharmacy.

Over the next few weeks, Sarah Jayne paid a further £350 to Wegovy to have her dose increased to 1mg. However, after 12 weeks of receiving the jab, she began experiencing “attacks of severe pain” in her upper abdomen and “attacks of vomiting”. It quickly progressed to an “unbearable” feeling of trapped wind, leaving her tied to the bed. Within 24 hours, the mother was shocked to discover that her tongue had turned black.

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She suffered from eating spicy foods, peppers, and onions, suffering from severe mouth sores and “egg-smelling” sulfuric burps. “At first, everything seemed fine,” she said. “My appetite gradually went away and I felt great heading into the wedding, but I didn’t notice any major changes.

“I knew something was going on when I couldn’t get out of bed because of the pain. The black tongue looked like a cherry on top, like a warning of what was to come. It all happened so fast. I went from really sharp pain that kept me out of bed to sulfur burps, the smell of eggs, and a black tongue. It was really bad.”

“The pain was excruciating and I couldn’t walk. I’d rather have five children at once than go through the pain again.” Sarah Jayne immediately stopped taking the jab and rushed to A&E at Antrim Regional Hospital, where an emergency MRI and CT scan revealed she had multiple gallstones blocking her bile duct and was at risk of pancreatitis.

She was scheduled for a total cholecystectomy (a procedure to remove the gallbladder) on February 10, 2025, but the surgeon advised her to refrain from Wegovy so she could go under anesthesia.

“At this point I was 18 stone and had lost very little weight,” she said. “The surgery took about an hour and I am recovering well. I am gradually getting back to normal and am eating more now, but I am still far from normal.”

The NHS personal secretary from Antrim, Northern Ireland, added: “Wegoby was my last resort. I know a lot of people who have had the jab and it’s worked like a dream for them. I’ve been battling weight for what feels like forever and wanted to lose weight in time for the wedding, but dieting, exercise and fasting haven’t helped. I’ve heard stories about the risks before and friends have even joked about gallstones.”

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, semaglutide (Wegovy’s active agent that promotes blood sugar control and weight loss) is known to cause dry mouth, bad breath, sulfur-smelling burps due to delayed digestion, and may cause a darkened tongue.

Sarah Jayne, who is married, said her tongue had regained its color but the scars from the trauma were still visible. “I looked it up myself and thought it was OK,” she recalls. “But it was just the opposite. It’s just not worth it. The weight loss jab is a temporary solution and the risks are not clear. I have proof that once you inject yourself anything can happen and now I think differently.”

“Please do your research before you act. I cannot stress enough how much women are putting themselves at risk.”

A spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Wegoby, said: “Patient safety is of paramount importance to Novo Nordisk. Side effects observed in clinical trials are detailed in the Summary Product Characteristics (SmPC) of our medicines to help healthcare professionals understand the safety profile of our medicines in detail.”

“In a registration trial of this drug, cholelithiasis (acute cholelithiasis) was reported in 1.6% of patients and caused cholecystitis in 0.6% of obese patients treated with semaglutide 2.4 mg.

“Acute cholelithiasis (gallstone disease) is therefore listed as a ‘common’ potential side effect of Wegovy (semaglutide injection) in the UK SmPC for this product and should be considered when patients are evaluated for this drug. As part of this effort, we also monitor reports of adverse reactions through routine pharmacovigilance.

“If you know someone who may be experiencing side effects from any medication, we encourage them to report this to their healthcare provider through the MHRA Yellow Card Scheme.”