A 19-year-old college student died after taking a popular GLP-1 weight loss drug
Josephine Nasr, a law student from Corona, California, died in her London dorm room after taking tirzepatide on Sept. 23, 2025
The popular appetite-suppressing medication, which belongs to the GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist drug class, is sold under brand names Mounjaro and Zepbound
According to the Gallup National <a href="https://healthylife7.com/the-cold-facts-about-heat-and-mental-health/” title=”The cold facts about heat and mental health”>Health and Well-Being Index, 15 percent of Americans have taken a weight loss medication, including “semaglutide (brand names Ozempic and Wegovy), liraglutide (brand name Saxenda), or tirzepatide (brand names Mounjaro and Zepbound).”
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Nasr was prescribed Zepbound by a U.S. doctor who reported that Nasr started taking the drug in the summer of 2025. Nasr was not obese, but her BMI was categorized as “overweight.”
The evening of her death, Nasr, who was in her second year of international law and legal studies at the University of East London and planned to graduate in 2027, told her family she was vomiting and feeling nauseous
Both nausea and vomiting are possible side effects of GLP-1s, according to the Cleveland Clinic
Nasr’s sister, Anastasia Nasr, worried that her sister might experience dehydration and ordered IV fluids for Nasr. But after she was unable to reach her sister by phone, she contacted the college security team
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The team entered Nasr’s dorm room and discovered her on the floor of her bathroom. This happened around two hours after Nasr had last spoken on the phone with her family
Next to her was an empty
After an ambulance arrived, Nasr was declared dead at the scene
An inquest on Nasr’s death was held at East London Coroner’s Court on August 3. Coroner Graeme Irvine found her cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia, an abnormal heart rhythm
Pathologist Alan Bates found in his post-mortem that Nasr had a congenital heart condition known as myocardial bridging. Usually, the coronary artery runs over a muscle in the heart, but for people with this condition, it runs through
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Myocardial bridging typically does not affect a person’s health, although it can cause chest pain. Between 16 and 30 percent of people are estimated to be born with this condition
Bates said that the vomiting triggered by tirzepatide could have caused low blood sugar, leading to an electrolyte imbalance that could have triggered arrhythmia. He said Nasr was “an otherwise healthy young woman,” but that her heart condition might have negatively contributed to the end outcome
Nasr’s mother, Lorin Mansour, reportedly fainted when she heard the news
“She was full of joy and always helped others before herself. She loved traveling and the ocean,” Nasr’s father, George Nasr, said
Mansour added, “We are part of the Coptic church, and the way Josephine was willing to help people showed that she lived her faith.”
