From Hollywood stars to suburban moms, the diabetes-turned-weight-loss drug Ozempic has exploded in popularity across the nation.
Yet, as more and more people reach for the jabs, concerns are mounting over an ever-growing list of serious – even potentially deadly – side effects.
Nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea and fatigue are among the most commonly reported. Then there are the horror stories about thyroid cancer, pancreatitis, stomach paralysis and blindness.
Now experts and patients fear they have uncovered a new risk: deafness.
Slimmers on the drug are reporting severe problems including painful ringing sounds, disorientating muffled noises and, in the most extreme cases, full blown hearing loss.
Some doctors believe they may have worked out what is behind these alarming symptoms.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, New Jersey-based audiology consultant Dr Robert DiSogra says the issues being reported could be the result of a loss of fat in the ear.
Sudden and rapid weight-loss can cause the fatty tissue surrounding the Eustachian tubes, that connect your ears to the back of your throat, to shrink.
Ozempic patients are complaining of hearing issues after taking the medication
This can cause the tubes to stay open when they should be shut, and ultimately result in the hearing issues being reported by those on Ozempic.
Dr Tony Floyd, who is based in New South Wales, Australia, says he had one patient whose Eustachian tubes stayed open all the time after they lost a substantial amount of weight using Ozempic. He says their symptoms included the ‘sensation of pressure and muffled hearing in one ear’.
Experts at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston explain that when hearing tubes stay open due to a loss of fat, ‘it allows sounds to be transmitted directly to the middle ear.’ This condition is known as patulous or patent eustachian tube dysfunction.
Along with ringing sounds and muffled hearing, they warn that patients could also experience autophony – which is when you hear self-generated sounds such as your breathing, voice or heartbeat.
They advise: ‘Treatment includes avoiding triggers such as caffeine consumption (or a decreasing the amount), rehydration during vigorous exercise, or changing hormonal therapy. If medical treatment fails or symptoms recur, surgery to correct or modify the opening of the eustachian tube might be necessary.’
Ozempic was originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes, by lowering blood sugar levels. Diabetes can be genetic – known as type 1 diabetes, but around three quarters of the 38.4 million cases in the US are type 2 and caused by poor diet and lifestyle.
After studies revealed the drug – which falls into the category of glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist (GLP-1s) injections – was a highly effective appetite-suppressant, the weekly injections were repurposed to treat weight-loss.
In 2018, 92 percent of new Ozempic users had been diagnosed with diabetes. By 2021, this had fallen to 77 percent and continues to decline.
Research suggests patients taking Ozempic – which contains an active ingredient called semaglutide – can lose up to 15 per cent of their body weight within a year.
Those taking another GLP-1 drug, called Mounjaro, lose as much as a fifth of their body weight over the same time period.
New Jersey-based audiology consultant Dr Robert DiSogra said the issues being reported could be the result of a loss of fat in the ear
However, there are risks.
Around a fifth of people who take weight-loss injections suffer from nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. For most, these issues fade after several weeks.
Of greater concern are reports of pancreatitis. This causes inflammation of the pancreas, an organ in the abdomen which produces digestive hormones. In some cases, pancreatitis can be life-threatening and trigger organ failure.
Meanwhile, a study carried out by researchers at Harvard University last year concluded that taking Ozempic doubles the risk of a rare condition called non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, or NAION.
This medical emergency occurs when blood flow to the nerves of the eye becomes blocked, causing vision loss. But despite the increased risk, the condition is still thought to only occur in one in every 4,000 patients.
There are not yet any official warnings about hearing problems associated with Ozempic. But patients in online support groups are increasingly raising the alarm.
Some experts said there is no solid evidence to support Ozempic-induced tinnitus or hearing loss and claim the incidents are very rare
One Facebook user, Anna Helms, revealed that after taking an Ozempic shot, her tinnitus would ‘flare up bad for a few days’, while dozens of others say they developed the condition for the first after taking the weight loss drug.
Ken Myers, from Pennsylvania, said he experienced a ‘loud ringing’ in his ears, along with many other side effects.
Meanwhile, Dahlia Presley wrote in a Facebook group: ‘First time today and immediately after I had my Ozempic shot I started feeling a terrible migraine for the past four hours and it’s getting worse.
‘My head is throbbing and I hear a loud ringing in my ears!! Someone please help… Is this a bad side effect? My head feels like it’s gonna explode.’
On Reddit, there are similar complaints.
Redditor Lindainthemountains wrote: ‘I have been taking Ozempic for one month and have lost 7lbs. I love finally having control over my eating after over 30 years of trying every diet ever invented! I had the usual gastrointestinal issues the first two weeks, but those passed.
‘But I still have ringing in my ears and a weird taste in my mouth immediately after an injection.’
In a bid to stop the ringing in her ears, the Redditor said she cut her Ozempic doses in half and that seemed to help.
One Redditor said that along with ‘pretty bad’ tinnitus, they were also hit by ‘very mild hearing loss’ after using Ozempic.
Angie Dugdale, a singer based in Utah, says she experienced the sensation of pressure and muffled hearing in one ear after taking Ozempic for diabetes. She says the issue is now so severe, she can no longer sing.
Despite the complaints, some experts claim there is no solid evidence to support Ozempic-induced tinnitus or hearing loss and stressed that incidents are very rare.
They also highlighted that diabetes itself can cause nerve damage in the ears, which can lead to hearing loss and therefore could be behind the reported problems.
Dr Leonard A. Jason, a professor at DePaul University, Chicago, says he has ‘not seen any evidence in reputable outlets that would support this as a side effect of the medication’.
Dietician Carolyn Williams adds: ‘I’ve seen this claim made over the past few months and noticed that it seemed to pop back up recently. An increased risk of hearing loss is associated with numerous medications, but, to date, I have not seen evidence that hearing loss is a side effect of taking semaglutide drugs like Ozempic.
‘For most people, the health benefits that semaglutide drugs provide significantly outweigh the risks based on current research.’
Healthy Hearing, the largest hearing-focused consumer website, said Ozempic and other anti-obesity GLP-1 agonists like Mounjaro and Zepbound ‘do not appear to cause hearing problems, although there have been sporadic case reports of problems discussed on internet forums like Reddit’.
The Daily Mail has contacted Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic, for comment.
