A newly single mum almost died after a £20 skinny jab nearly killed her - leaving her schoolgirl daughter to call an ambulance. Stacey Smith said she got the injection at a salon just ten minutes after chatting to the owner over Facebook in a bid to shed some pounds ahead of her summer holiday.
The day after the 38-year-old had the GLP-1-class shot she started suffering with a pounding headache, vomiting and was left so weak she had to call her ex for help to move off the bed. Stacey's concerned 13-year-old daughter rang for an ambulance that evening and she was rushed to hospital where she was hooked up to IV drips and given pain relief.
A month on from her horror experience Stacey is still suffering from headaches, bloating, struggles going to the toilet and still hasn't regained her appetite. Now the dog walking business owner, who is 'well known' for her curvy bum and thighs, is urging people not to touch them claiming people may lose weight 'but you'll be skinny in your coffin'.
Stacey, from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, said: "I've never been that ill in my life and I don't ever want to be again. I thought I was going to die. The pain in my head, I'd never felt anything like it in my life. It was like somebody had taken a sledgehammer across my head.
"I couldn't get my head off the pillow and I couldn't have lights on. I've never ever been sick like this in my life, it didn't stop for days on end to the point where I couldn't get off the bed.
"I couldn't even hold down sips of water, I was constantly purging. I had to phone my ex partner and said 'I'm dying you're going to have to come'."
Stacey said she'd seen adverts for the so-called skinny shots on Facebook over a number of months. Intrigued by a string of glowing customer reviews and transformation pictures, Stacey contacted the salon on social media on June 21 and said she wanted to book in.
The 5ft 3in mum-of-three says she was told there was a vacancy so within 10 minutes popped into the salon and had it done, a process that took 'two minutes'. Stacey said: "I'm quite curvy, a size 12 top and a size 14-16 bottom. I'm well known for my bum and thighs, people are like 'I'd pay a fortune for that'.
"I'd seen adverts for it [the skinny jab] for a few months but because summer's coming up, I want to go on holiday and I want to feel confident and wear a bikini and summer dresses. I'd just gone through a break up too. I get my lips done, I get a bit of Botox so I'm not scared to do stuff but I'm also not an uneducated woman.
"I'm not an idiot, so I've actually surprised myself that I've done such a stupid thing. I think I'm going through perimenopause and I've put a bit of weight on.
"I'd been umming and aahing with the idea for a while. It's not like I don't go to the gym, or I'm unfit. I [messaged her and] said 'I'm going to do it' and she said 'I'm in the salon now if you want to come'. Within ten minutes of me messaging her I went.
"When I went for that jab, no word of a lie, I was in that salon for two minutes. I walked in, she asked if I had diabetes and asked if I was on things she listed, I said 'no'.
"She said 'yeah that's fine', I handed her £20, she stabbed me in the stomach and I left." Within 90 minutes of having the shot, Stacey started suffering from trapped wind and had reflux but says she was simply told by the salon that it was normal and to drink water.
But the next day Stacey, who suffered a stroke and blood clots on the brain two years ago, said she started to feel unwell and was admitted to Chesterfield Royal Hospital in Chesterfield, Derbyshire.
Stacey said: "I went to bed that night and couldn't sleep because of that feeling like I needed to burp, but the following day I started going downhill. I was really ill, I was projectile vomiting and had a pain in my head.
"My daughter rang for an ambulance, they took me to A&E. They gave me pain relief for my head and anti-sickness medication. I was hooked up to an IV drip and I had a suppository up my bum for pain relief.
"Doctors said it can happen [with this jab], that there was no quick fix and there's no reverse drug - it's just a case of waiting for it to get out of your system." After a few days in hospital Stacey was discharged and is still feeling the effects of the jab weeks later.
The business owner, who missed out on a week's-worth of work due to falling ill, is now sharing her ordeal so others don't have the same experience she had. Stacey said: "I take 50% of the blame myself for doing something so stupid.
"What's annoyed me the most is she's still promoting this stuff knowing I've just been in hospital, knowing she could have potentially killed me, but she's still advertising it. I still have pains in my head, I still feel sick and I can't eat as much. After all that sickness I've not even lost a pound, it's crackers.
"I still have that bloated feeling and I can't for the life of me poo properly. I wouldn't recommend anyone try this, you may as well just sign your death wish. You might lose your weight but you'll be skinny in your coffin. Don't do it."
