Ex-EastEnders star Cheryl Fergison lost 3st but had side effects...

Cheryl Fergison has revealed she’s lost three stone on weight-loss injection Mounjaro - but says the so-called 'wonder drug' have her some side effects...

Side Effects...

The actress, 60, best known for playing Heather Trott on EastEnders between 2007 and 2016, told how she was prescribed the jab after being diagnosed as diabetic and 'clinically obese.'

But she now admits she’s now questioning whether it’s worth the toll on her body after devastating side effect has seen her hair fall out in clumps.

Cheryl Fergison has revealed she’s lost three stone on weight-loss injection Mounjaro - but says the so-called 'wonder drug' has left her battling devastating side effects.

‘I’m on Mounjaro. It doesn’t really agree with me, so I think I’m going to probably come off it,' Cheryl said on the Secure the Insecure podcast. 

'I was on quite a big dosage. The doctors put me on it because I’m diabetic. I was clinically obese, as they would say.

'They said this was this wonder drug, and I took it and then they upped [the dosage] again.'

She explained that at first, the injection appeared to work exactly as promised. ‘It was suppressing my appetite,’ she said. 

‘It stopped me from feeling hunger. I felt full. I realised I wasn’t really eating things I used to enjoy before. I could eat a whole pizza before - now I can only eat a slice.’

But the reality has been far less glamorous than the hype. ‘The side effects are, I think, worse,’ Cheryl admitted. 

‘There are fluids coming out from both ends a lot of the time. I’m sick, I’ve got diarrhoea with it. My hair... I can pull it out in clumps. Luckily, I’ve got a lot of hair. But there’s a lot of stuff I’m not sure about with it. I’m not sure it agrees with me.’

Mounjaro - the brand name for tirzepatide - has become one of the most talked-about 'fat jabs' alongside Ozempic and Wegovy in a wave of injectable appetite suppressants. 

The medication mimics the naturally occurring GLP-1 hormone, which helps lower blood sugar and can increase feelings of fullness.

Cheryl said she lost 'nearly three stone' at first, but her health struggles - including a stroke earlier this year - have impacted her progress. 

An unrelated stroke hindered her progress...

In May, Cheryl was rushed to hospital after suffering a stroke, which she later described as ‘one of the lowest times in my life’. 

‘I’m on Mounjaro. It doesn’t really agree with me, so I think I’m going to probably come off it,' Cheryl said on the Secure the Insecure podcast

She’s since been rebuilding her strength from her home in Blackpool, where she lives with her husband Yassine Al-Jermoni and her son, Alex.

'I've probably put on a stone since the stroke, because I was not exercising,' she added. 'And when I say exercising, I don't go to the gym - I'd ride my bike and [go] swimming.

'I haven't been doing that, so I put another stone on. I don't walk now as well, because I'm walking with a stick and I walk quite slowly at the moment. That will get better, but I've got to listen to my body at the moment.'

She continued: 'It's hard to listen to my body and do what everybody's telling me to do with it - take the injection, only eat this, do that - I can't do everything. 

'I know what I need to do, and I've had lots of chats with the Stroke Association and all of my physios and people that come to know what I can cope with and not at the moment. 

'In the beginning, I could only have an hour and a half before I had to go and lay down in a dark room because talking to somebody was really difficult. It was really hard.'

As well as her stroke, Cheryl previously battled cancer and has spoken publicly about binge eating and trauma, and was left broke after her accountant stole her savings.

Earlier this year, she told The Sun she was 'just surviving' financially and had turned to food banks for support.

Last week, she was spotted selling clothes and household goods for as little as 33p at a car boot sale in Blackpool.

Cheryl said coming off Mounjaro might not be such a bad thing for her career as she admitted: 'I keep thinking, “Carry on jabbing everybody else and give the fat [acting] parts to me!”'

But now she is fighting back...

Cheryl reflected that coming off Mounjaro might not be such a bad thing for her career.

‘Since the stroke, I’ve realised how much I need to be fit,’ she said. ‘At the same time, I’m a bit rebellious. I keep thinking, “Carry on jabbing everybody else and give the fat [acting] parts to me!” The world takes all sorts. If you haven’t got enough fat people left to play parts, I’m still around.’

She added: ‘I’ve been big all my life. I remember Dawn French saying when you’ve been bigger and you lose weight, there is something about you, your personality, that you lose. 

'It’s really difficult to change that about yourself. It’s a mind change and a re-education of yourself. And I don’t know if I want to. I quite like me.’

Despite her recent health scares, Cheryl remains as ambitious as ever. She said: ‘I still want to go in the [I'm A Celeb] Jungle. I want to be parachuted out of a plane with a man strapped to my back! And I love singing. I’d love to collaborate with Lewis Capaldi. The world is my oyster.’

She’s also planning a belated 60th birthday celebration next year - a hot air balloon ride with her son, Alex, after her original plans were derailed by the stroke.

‘Nobody wanted to come with me,’ she said. ‘They were all going, "Oh no, we don’t want to go in a hot air balloon." But my son said, "I’ll come with you, Mum." So I said, "Okay, me and you next year in a hot air balloon."

Experiencing Side Effects?

If you are experiencing side effects, including hair loss, nausea, headaches or any other side effects, please get in touch with us via telephone or email. Our dedicated professional team of experts can help advise you on how best to deal with side effects whilst our clinicians can help advise on your dosing regime to help reduce any unpleasant side effects.