Emma put her daughter on Mounjaro as a last resort to manage her weight struggles. Though unconventional, she has no regrets(Picture: Getty Images)
Asking her daughter Hayley* to look away while she’s injected is the hardest part of Emma’s week. There’s always a wince of pain and sometimes tears.
But Emma* isn’t giving Hayley jabs through necessity – the 13-year-old is perfectly healthy. Instead, she is injecting her daughter with Mounjaro which she bought over the internet after lying about who it’s for.
‘We’ve tried everything to get Hayley’s weight down. Diets don’t work, she exercises but it never changes her weight and she’s miserable about her size compared to her friends,’ explains Emma, 43.
‘Our GP always suggested diet and exercise, but that hasn’t been that helpful at all. Mounjaro is a last resort, yes, but it’s working and she’s already lost almost a stone.’
At 5ft 4in and 80kg, Hayley is obese according to the NHS BMI calculator, but with a BMI of 30.3 she doesn’t qualify on the NHS for the weight loss injections which are costing Emma, a teaching assistant from Plymouth, hundreds of pounds.
According to NHS statistics, the teenager is one of 15% of children aged between 2 and 15 who are living with obesity in the UK.
While some NHS Trusts approve sameglutide GLP1 injections for children and teenagers, Psychologist Dr Carolyne Keenan is horrified by Emma’s actions and says that illegally buying these drugs online could be catastrophically damaging for a child’s mental health.
Hayley* is obese per the NHS BMI calculator but didn’t qualify for NHS injections, so Emma* bought the drug online, lying about the recipient (Picture: Peter Dazeley via Getty Images)
‘When considering pharmacological interventions, it is crucial that these are closely monitored by doctors and delivered on a case-by-case basis,’ she explains.
‘Children are still developing physically and emotionally, and any medication must be used with great caution. Identity formation during childhood and adolescence is deeply tied to body image and self-worth. Introducing weight loss injections could inadvertently reinforce harmful beliefs about food and body image, leading to long-term issues with self-esteem and disordered eating patterns.’
While it’s estimated around 2.6% of teens in the UK are living with an eating disorder – an increase from 0.5% in 2017 – Dr Keenan warns weight loss jabs for teens will have long term effects, whether they’re prescribed or bought illicitly online.
‘We’ve seen the negative consequences of well-intentioned but poorly managed approaches in the past. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the US trend of sending children to “fat camps” aimed to tackle weight concerns through intensive diet and exercise regimes was popular,’ she explains. ‘However, many of those children reported long-lasting shame, body dissatisfaction, and unhealthy relationships with food as a result.’
Despite keeping the injections from her family,Emma* believes that the weight loss drug has been transformative for Hayley’s confidence (Picture: Getty Images)
While Emma has decided to keep Hayley’s injections a secret from her extended family, the mum strongly believes she’s doing the right thing.
‘Hayley was so low about her weight for years. She’d cry and get upset that she couldn’t buy or wear the same clothes as her friends because of her weight,’ she remembers. ‘That’s changing now. I’m losing the sullen, quiet, sad teenager and she’s growing in confidence, that’s the only measure I need that I’m doing the right thing.’
The teenager tells Metro that she hasn’t told her friends about her injections either. ‘It was my idea and I asked Mum if we could look into it. I was a bit worried about being injected and I couldn’t do it myself but I love the fact I’m losing weight,’ she adds. ‘My friends have all noticed and are complimenting me on it which feels really nice.’
Psychologist Dr Joanna Silver – who specialises in eating disorders – says weight loss jabs aren’t the right answer for children like Hayley who need help improving their own body image. ‘It makes sense to want to ease your child’s pain, but before trying medication, it is important to find out why your child is struggling,’ she explains.
‘Have they faced bullying? Do they feel ashamed of their body? Are they using food to handle emotional pain? GLP1s might help with weight but they don’t fix the deeper emotional issues. The best way is a team approach that includes psychological support.
‘Giving medication without knowing the root of their pain can make shame worse and suggest the body is the problem. Similarly, leaving children with insecure body issues is worrying. We need to help children find healthy coping mechanisms to manage their challenges.’
Weight loss injections were approved by NHS watchdog the National Institute for Clinical Excellence in 2022 and figures from last December show over 500,000 people in the UK are using the jabs with a staggering 95% percent of them buying the medication online like Emma does.
Despite being approved by the NHS watchdog, professionals are concerned about the physical and mental health side effects that come with the injections (Picture: Getty Images)
Nutritionist Marcelle Rose tells Metro that she’s witnessing more people who have decided to ditch the weight loss injections after ending up with mental health issues as a consequence of their use. ‘I’m seeing an increase in clients who have tried these medications and stopped due to side effects,’ she says.
“Once discontinued, many experience rapid weight regain and a sense of feeling completely out of control around food. Their body image often deteriorates because they were sold the idea that the injection would solve all their problems.
‘More worryingly, I’m beginning to see people who became addicted to the weight loss itself. For some, the sense of control or validation they felt led them to push their weight lower and lower and they’ve ended up with an eating disorder.’
While Emma insists this isn’t the situation for her daughter, she is aware of potential issues. ‘I know Hayley’s confidence and self-esteem improvements have come from her weight loss,’ she admits.
Emma* plans to maintain Hayley’s weight with diet and exercise, and hope that she will never regain after coming off the drug completely (Picture: Getty Images)
‘While I love how happy she is, I don’t like that it’s tied to her body image but then she’s not alone in that – we all feel more confident when we look good.
‘I’ve never bought up her weight with her, we only ever talk about it if she raises it and make sure I praise her for other things outside of her appearance. When she said she wanted to try them I did a lot of research online and yes, I had to pretend they were for me, but they’re from a reputable online chemist.’
Emma adds that she hasn’t thought too much about what they’ll do when Hayley gets to her target weight. ‘We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. I know we can go down to a maintenance dose but at some point she’ll have to come off them all together,’ she explains.
‘Right now, I make sure her diet is as healthy as I can and we exercise together, so I hope the injections are enough of a reset that maybe coupled with a growth spurt, she’ll never put the weight back on.’
However, regardless of Hayley’s well-meaning intentions, Dr Keenan warns that any parents thinking of getting weight loss injections illegally for their children should exercise extreme caution. ‘
Addressing childhood weight issues, particularly through medical interventions like weight loss drugs, is highly complex and must be approached with sensitivity and a strong, evidence-based framework,” she says.
‘For weight loss injections to have genuine long-term benefits for children, they would need to be integrated into a multidisciplinary care plan.’
*names have been changed to protect identities
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