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Mayim Bialik is speaking out candidly about a severe reaction she says she experienced after taking a GLP-1 medication, revealing that a single low-dose injection led to weeks of debilitating gastrointestinal symptoms.
In an essay that she penned for The Free Press titled “My GLP-1 Nightmare,” the 50-year-old actress admitted that she had grappled with body image issues since she was a teenager but emphasized that weight loss was not her primary reason for taking the medication.
“I went on a weight-loss drug because a doctor told me it might help ease symptoms I’ve struggled with for basically my entire adult life,” “The Big Bang Theory” star explained.
Bialik revealed that she had been diagnosed with the autoimmune disorder Grave’s disease at age 23.
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Mayim Bialik recalled how taking a single low-dosage GLP-1 injection led to weeks of debilitating side effects. (Aldara Zarraoa/Getty Images)
She wrote that in the 25 years that followed, she experienced unexplained symptoms including “full-body rashes and welts, severe histamine reactions to foods and smells, palpitations, hourly wake-ups for an entire year, crying jags alternating with crippling depression.”
The former “Jeopardy” host recalled that she went on to receive a series of diagnoses including connective tissue disease, mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), Sjögren’s syndrome and dysautonomia.
“But each was really just a label for a larger breakdown that no single specialist could quite explain,” Bialik wrote.
Bialik said she suffered from dehydration, cramping, bloating and full-body aching. (Nina Westervelt/Variety/Penske Media)
Bialik shared that a few months ago, she decided to take a GLP-1 on the advice of three different doctors, who suggested the medication because “the drugs have shown promise in reducing the systemic inflammation that drives autoimmune conditions.”
Bialik recalled that she had already tried several treatments that had proved unsuccessful at alleviating her symptoms. She wrote she was hopeful that taking a GLP-1 could be the “magic cure,” but the experience quickly took an unexpected turn.
“I took one shot of the lowest dose of a synthetic GLP-1, and to say I had an adverse reaction would be somewhat of an understatement,” she said. “Explosive, uncontrollable diarrhea. Sulfur burps so violent they left me afraid to open my mouth in public. Sneezing attacks every time I tried to eat or drink—which apparently has a name, snatiation.”
“Cramping. Bloating. Full-body aching, as though I had the flu,” she continued. “And an inability to keep down even small sips of water without sprinting to the bathroom with yet more explosive diarrhea. More than three times, I didn’t make it.”
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Bialik recalled that she struggled to hold down food or water and the ordeal left her so dehydrated she needed IV fluids.
“For the first two [days], I ate maybe one cup of rice and half a banana,” she said. “Also some broth, which promptly left my body. I couldn’t even keep electrolyte drinks down.”
“Everything exited with a rage that left me weak and debilitated,” Bialik continued. “I was in constant contact with my prescribing doctor throughout — and when I couldn’t keep even a sip of water down, a nurse came to my home to administer IV fluids”
Bialik said she was surprised by how unfazed her medical providers seemed by her reaction to the medication, recalling that they told her severe side effects were not uncommon.
She wrote that she later discovered gastrointestinal symptoms, including nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, are among the most commonly reported side effects of GLP-1 medications.
According to the Mayo Clinic, gastrointestinal side effects associated with GLP-1 medications are well documented and often occur when patients first start treatment or increase their dosage.
While Bialik described a severe reaction, the Mayo Clinic notes that side effects can vary widely in severity, and many patients experience symptoms that are mild to moderate and improve over time.
Bialik shard that her ordeal led her to reflect on her longstanding body image issues. (Mayim Bialik Screenshot/Club Random Media)
Bialik recalled that she spent days attempting to manage her symptoms but could not find relief.
“On day three, I started antidiarrheal medication, which gave me just enough reprieve to eat toast and applesauce,” she wrote. “As soon as it wore off, though, the siege resumed as if it never stopped. I took more antidiarrheals and rode that seesaw for days, trying to coax my body back to homeostasis.”
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“And yet, in the depth of my misery — my exhausted body, my aching joints, another pair of ruined underwear — a piercing, devastating thought occurred to me: At least you might lose some weight,” she remembered.
The actress wrote that her ordeal resurfaced her years of body image struggles, revealing how Hollywood’s emphasis on thinness and social media’s beauty standards contributed to feelings of shame and a “disordered relationship with food.”
Bialik, who rose to fame as a child star on the hit show “Blossom,” recalled that she began gaining weight as a teenager after being prescribed medication to manage her moods, and she had developed a “deep sense of shame around my body” by the time she was a working actress in her 40s.
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The Emmy Award nominee admitted that her body image issues were exacerbated after perimenopause caused her to gain 20 pounds that she has been unable to lose.
“Even when I was too sick to stand, drink water, or think straight, I was still chasing that dragon,” Bialik admitted.
Bialik wrote that she ultimately decided to discontinue taking the GLP-1 and gave her “remaining hundreds of dollars of shots” to a friend. She wrote that she “would not blame anyone for pushing through side effects far worse than mine” for the weight loss that had previously eluded them.
Bialik said she began gaining weight as a teenager after starring in “Blossom.” (Photo by Alice S. Hall/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
“But my body made its position clear, and I had learned, after decades of overriding it, to finally listen,” she said.
Bialik wrote that the experience offered insight into the daily struggles endured by those with chronic gastrointestinal illnesses.
“After the jab, I couldn’t leave the house for the better part of a week. When I had to go somewhere, I loaded up on antidiarrheals and avoided eating or drinking for hours beforehand,” she said.
“There are people who often live in shame of their gastrointestinal challenges, who seem vague when they cancel plans, who disappear from events without explanation,” Bialik continued. “I now recognize the deep pain and embarrassment that comes from a body that betrays you in ways you can’t explain to other people at a dinner party.”
She explained that she “finally went to see a gastroenterologist” after weeks of dealing with continued symptoms following her single injection.
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Bialik said that her gastroenterologist told her that “while my reaction was dramatic, it was not unusual.”
Bialik said she stopped taking the drug and gave her remaining medication to a friend. (Axelle Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
“These medications, he said, are extremely disruptive to the body and should not be used outside of a specific, regulated set of serious medical reasons — namely, life-compromising obesity and its related health consequences,” Bialik wrote. “I did not meet that bar. He told me to expect a full month of alternating diarrhea and constipation, hopefully at decreasing frequency.”
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Bialik explained that he also informed her that other medications she was taking could also be causing her gut health problems.
“I left his office feeling validated — a real doctor confirming I was not a freak, that the medication really had done this to me — and trepidatious that there was more to deal with in the coming weeks,” she wrote.
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“And then, on my way out, I caught a glimpse of my reflection, and I did not recoil,” Bialik continued. “I did not see under my first chin that second chin on which I had been fixating for months — because it wasn’t there.”
“My cheekbones were visible. I gazed for a moment, flashed a Mona Lisa smile, and headed to the parking lot, stopping briefly to hike up my skirt, which had started to sag at my hips ever so slightly.”