Published: 01:00 BST, 23 August 2026 | Updated: 01:00 BST, 23 August 2026
When a box containing Sophie Ashton’s first pack of Wegovy pills arrived on her doorstep, the 39-year-old felt a flicker of hope.
Finally, she thought, here was a way to control her weight – without the eye-watering cost of the injections she could no longer afford. Like thousands of others, she had been forced to stop taking weight-loss jab Mounjaro last year after its manufacturer dramatically increased the price from around £100 a month to more than £200.
Over nine months on the drug, the mother of one had lost one-and-a-half stone. But once she stopped taking it, inevitably, her weight slowly began to creep back up.
So when a pill version of Wegovy became available – containing semaglutide, the same drug used in the injection – for just £60 for a month’s supply, Sophie jumped at the chance to try it.
‘I just wanted to feel better in my body,’ says the content creator from Greater Manchester. ‘I was in quite a bad place, having been through a difficult break-up. I knew something had to change.’
She had recently been prescribed sertraline, an antidepressant, which helped steady her racing thoughts and lift her low mood. Losing weight felt like the final piece of the puzzle – or so she thought.
On Mounjaro, Sophie had barely been troubled by common side effects such as nausea, constipation and bloating. She assumed switching to a daily pill would be similarly straightforward.
When a box containing Sophie Ashton’s first pack of Wegovy pills arrived on her doorstep, the 39-year-old felt a flicker of hope
But just ten days into treatment, her mental health began to spiral.
‘My mind was racing constantly,’ she says. ‘I was waking up in the middle of the night, I couldn’t focus and just had this overwhelming feeling of anxiety.
‘The worst part was that even my three-year-old daughter could tell something was wrong. I became irritable and short with her. I just felt out of control.
‘I hate to think what could have happened if I stayed on the pill.’
When she reported her symptoms to the online firm that prescribed the drug, Sophie alleges she was advised to switch back to injections – after being told some patients may experience mood disturbances on the drug.
‘In my mind it wasn’t that simple – I don’t want to take another weight-loss drug. I know it means I’m likely to carry on gaining weight, but I just don’t want to take that risk again.’
