Mayim Bialik stops GLP-1 drug after severe reaction

Actress and neuroscientist Mayim Bialik has publicly described a severe adverse reaction to a single injection of a GLP-1 medication, detailing a week of debilitating gastrointestinal and flu-like symptoms that forced her to stop the treatment. Bialik, 50, recounted the experience in a personal essay, explaining she was prescribed the drug not primarily for weight management but in hopes of alleviating symptoms from multiple autoimmune conditions.

Bialik wrote that after taking one shot of the lowest available dose, she experienced what she termed an "adverse reaction." The symptoms she listed included explosive and uncontrollable diarrhea, violent sulfur burps, sneezing attacks triggered by eating or drinking, cramping, bloating, and full-body aching akin to influenza. She described an inability to keep down even small sips of water without immediate urgency to use the bathroom and noted that on more than three occasions she did not make it in time.

The former star of "The Big Bang Theory" has a complex medical history, having been diagnosed with Graves' disease at age 23 and later with connective tissue disease, mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), Sjögren’s syndrome, and...