Retatrutide: Irish hospitals treating gym-goers who bought unapproved drug

Why Retatrutide is turning up in Irish gyms

A leading obesity consultant has warned of a rise in patients presenting with side effects, RTÉ News reports.

Often shortened to “reta”, the drug is an injectable peptide in clinical trials with Eli Lilly.

It cannot be sold lawfully anywhere, yet it is traded online and on social media, and has caught on with gym-goers chasing a leaner physique faster.

Common side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and constipation, and it can affect the liver, pancreas and kidneys.

Professor Donal O’Shea said trainers are handing it out with no warning about what follows.

“We had somebody in at the weekend who was getting Retatrutide twice a week in the gym from their personal trainer, and they were in hospital with vomiting and kidney disease," said O'Shea.

Some patients will not admit to it, he added: “They are too embarrassed to say they are taking it, leaving us blindfolded.”

‘I nearly collapsed’

Online fitness coach Shauna Louise Cleary began injecting twice a week in February, ahead of a gym photoshoot in Marbella.

“Within half an hour of me injecting I would start to get sick, and I wouldn’t be able to stand,” she said. She was eating under 500 calories a day and could not keep food down.

She stopped after upping her dose. “I nearly collapsed in the gym and that was when I decided to come off it, because my body just rejected it,” she said.

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