Dad claims he went suddenly, permanently blind from Ozempic in one of hundreds of lawsuits against GLP-1 makers
Edward Gillen, 59, woke up one May morning last year and noticed a speck in his eye.The Massachusetts dad of four and beloved softball coach was just about the retire.Meanwhile, his sight was getting worse by the day.
He desperately tried to nail down the cause quickly, but his vision loss deteriorated even faster.“It was Memorial Day weekend, and by June 1st, I was blind,” Gillen told the The U.S.Sun.
After undergoing MRIs, CT scans and an exam from a neuro-opthalmologist, he got an answer.Doctors told him his vision loss was nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), linked to the Ozempic he’d been on for about a year to treat his diabetes.“You don’t accept it.You don’t believe it.
You’re just, ‘What the heck is going on?’” Gillen said.He’s trying to relearn all aspects of daily life as a blind person.
“Cooking, plating food, eating food, trying to sit at the table.You can’t go outside.”Now, he’s joining more than 200 other lawsuits against GLP-1 makers, alleging the drug caused NAION, a sudden and irreversible vision loss.“I knew there were some [side effects].
Because you hear it on the commercials, you hear an advertiser, your doctor tells you them,” Gillen told Boston 25 News.“But not this.
Not this.” Like Gillen, people with NAION usually notice they’re losing vision after waking up.It’s painless and sudden, and more commonly only affects one eye.Experts compare the condition to a “stroke” where blood flow to the optic nerve is blocked, starving and killing the fibers of the nerve.
It’s still a rare condition that scientists don’t fully understand.This kind of damage to the nerve is generally irreversible.
There is no treatment available.We are just learning about GLP-1’s potential connection to this condition.A 2024 study found that taking semaglutide, sold as Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus, was associated with an increased risk of NAION.
A July study confirmed this association, though...