Posted on 10/01/2026 6:01:20 AM PDT by Red Badger
Edward Gillen, 59, woke up one May morning last year and noticed a speck in his eye.
The Massachusetts dad of four and beloved softball coach was just about the retire. Meanwhile, his sight was getting worse by the day. He desperately tried to nail down the cause quickly, but his vision loss deteriorated even faster.
“It was Memorial Day weekend, and by June 1st, I was blind,” Gillen told the The U.S. Sun. After undergoing MRIs, CT scans and an exam from a neuro-opthalmologist, he got an answer.
Doctors told him his vision loss was nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), linked to the Ozempic he’d been on for about a year to treat his diabetes.
Edward Gillen, 59, is suing the drug maker of Ozempic alleging the medication caused him to go permanently blind. Boston 25 News / YouTube
Edward Gillen, 59, is suing the drug maker of Ozempic alleging the medication caused him to go permanently blind. Boston 25 News / YouTube
“You don’t accept it. You don’t believe it. You’re just, ‘What the heck is going on?'” Gillen said. He’s trying to relearn all aspects of daily life as a blind person. “Cooking, plating food, eating food, trying to sit at the table. You can’t go outside.”
Now, he’s joining more than 200 other lawsuits against GLP-1 makers, alleging the drug caused NAION, a sudden and irreversible vision loss.
“I knew there were some [side effects]. Because you hear it on the commercials, you hear an advertiser, your doctor tells you them,” Gillen told Boston 25 News. “But not this. Not this.”
Do GLP-1s cause NAION?
Like Gillen, people with NAION usually notice they’re losing vision after waking up. It’s painless and sudden, and more commonly only affects one eye.
Experts compare the condition to a “stroke” where blood flow to the optic nerve is blocked, starving and killing the fibers of the nerve. It’s still a rare condition that scientists don’t fully understand.
This kind of damage to the nerve is generally irreversible. There is no treatment available.
We are just learning about GLP-1’s potential connection to this condition. A 2024 study found that taking semaglutide, sold as Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus, was associated with an increased risk of NAION. A July study confirmed this association, though authors emphasized risk is low.
Gillen says doctors connected his sudden vision loss to his GLP-1 medication, Ozempic. Boston 25 News / YouTube
Gillen says doctors connected his sudden vision loss to his GLP-1 medication, Ozempic. Boston 25 News / YouTube
In May, the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society and the American Academy of Ophthalmology concluded “the overall magnitude of the risk of NAION remains low.”
“While many report a small possible increased risk of NAION in patients taking GLP-1 RAs such as semaglutide, some studies report no correlation,” they wrote.
Part of the difficulty with teasing out whether GLP-1s are to blame is that the people taking the meds are often at a much higher risk of NAION before taking the drug. Risk factors for NAION include diabetes, obesity, hypertension, elevated cholesterol, heart disease and sleep apnea.
Hundreds plaintiffs sue over vision loss
There are over 200 lawsuits alleging that GLP-1 drugs caused NAION now pending in federal court. Plaintiffs are suing Novo Nordisk, which makes Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus and Saxenda; and Eli Lilly, which makes Trulicity, Mounjaro and Zepbound.
Plaintiffs say that manufacturers should’ve known about the risk and didn’t adequately warn them, and that the drugs are defectively dangerous.
“Novo believes the personal injury lawsuits filed in the U.S. are without merit and we are defending them in court,” Liz Skrbkova, the head of US media and stakeholder relations at Novo, said in a statement to the U.S. Sun.
She added that patient safety is a “top priority” for the company and that semaglutide, the drug Gillen took, has a “well-established safety profile,” supported by “robust clinical development programs, with exposure from post-marketing use of over 58 million patient-years across oral and injectable formulations in obesity and type 2 diabetes.”
Meanwhile, Gillen’s community is raising money for Coach BlindEd Foundation, which aims to “support individuals who are blind or visually impaired, raise awareness about vision loss, and help fund critical research.”
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another link: https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/dad-claims-went-suddenly-permanently-171044594.html
Is he blind in both eyes? The article says NAION typically affects one eye 👁️. Is he carrying the “white cane” to boost his court case?
My son (42) had the highest strength rating at his Crossfit but for all his cardio he counted lose weight.
Since taking a GLP, he (6’1”) has dropped from 255 to 195. He’s no longer tops in strength, but he still works out five days a week. His sleep and his joints have vastly improved.
For all the dangers, there are real, life-changing benefits. I hope screening for the risks improves. Just last evening, I met a visiting out-of-town client for a beer. He told me he’s been microdosing GLPs (20% of the standard dose,) and has seen vast improvements in his quality of life. Maybe microdosing is a safer of introducing the usage.
And a hand full of Viagra daily will do that...
*** He’s trying to relearn all aspects of daily life as a blind person. “Cooking, plating food, eating food, trying to sit at the table. You can’t go outside.”***
Sounds like both eyes.
“For all the dangers, there are real, life-changing benefits.”
Correct. Diabetes and cardio problems are greatly reduced. Also, it has had a marked impact to WMT and fast food bottom lines.
His other option was eliminating carbs from his diet, but he chose medication instead. His rolled the dice...and lost.
You would think viagra (increases blood flow) would keep this from happening or help.
All that said, the biggest risk factor this kind of blindness is diabetes. The guys is diabetic. I’m questioning the link.
Eliminating all carbs is helpful for diabetes but is frequently not sufficient.
It’s also not practical unless they intend to live off fish and green vegetables.
Wow. I feel really bad for this guy. But from everything I can see there is poor evidence at best this is linked to GLP-1 use.
95% of all cases (before and after GLP-1) occur in Caucasians and the mean age of onset is 66. On the order of 10 in 100,000 will get it.
“A ‘crowded disc’ (small cup-to-disc ratio) is present in 80–90% of the fellow eye in NAION patients, suggesting a strong anatomic predisposition.”
Would GLP-1 exacerbate that? No one seems to have defined a clear metabolic pathway for that.
Article also said he had diabetes, and blindness is an effect of diabetes in some people. A former brother-in-law was blind from diabetes........
That’s the problem - if there’s a link - great - discontinue the product or get the warnings (AND LEGAL BUY IN ON THE RISKS FROM THE PATIENT) clearly laid out before prescription.
But that’s not remotely what will happen. Some jackass jury will say, “poor guy - not my money,” and award him a boatload. And EVERYTHING ELSE in their life will get more expensive, and then they’ll bitch about Trump.
The main problem with these drugs is people developing a dependency on them.
You should be using mainly lifestyle and diet, while musing these drugs in 5lb allotments.
Lose 5lbs and get off for a couple of months.
When I research side effects, usually they are associated with rapid weight loss, not directly from the GLP-1. The exception is the supposedly rare thyroid cancer.
For example, GLP-1 is associated with loss of muscle. However they say that’s because some of the weight lost is muscle. I’ve read similar explanations regarding this blindness being related to diabetics rapidly reducing their blood sugar.
I think it was Nutrisystems that faced class actin Law suits because even though it just involved eating low calorie meals, the rapid weight loss and low dietary fat led to a need for gall bladder surgery. At the time they didn’t have arthroscopic surgery yet and the patients were left with big scars. So they sued simply for being put on a diet, with no drug involved.
Interesting. Thanks to all posters. Health / life BUMP!
Mr Gilen, what were your last 3 A1CS? I’m betting 8.0 and above.
Anyone that messes with that stuff is a fool. It’s a life sentence to keep taking it once you start, and millions will suffer long term damage, including decreased bone density and muscle loss, organ damage, and a host of other problems.
People are too lazy to put in real work to improve health.
“Eliminating all carbs is helpful for diabetes but is frequently not sufficient. It’s also not practical unless they intend to live off fish and green vegetables.”
Almost all carbs, a few can sneak by (probably up to 20 grams per day). Nothing wrong with red meat, unless you’re allergic to it...and if you do have that allergy, you might as well consider yourself to be a Type 1 and shoot drugs, although insulin alone would likely be sufficient if you’re minimizing carbs.
Virta proved it worked quite well, with over 50% getting off all insulin drugs and only requiring Metformin, and often not even needing that. The bigger problem is that Big Pharma and Big Food, along with the Vegans, would rather not have people doing that diet.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39433217/
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