Poison Control warns about uptick in medication overdoses

SALT LAKE  CITY — The Utah Poison Control Center has seen an uptick in calls related to overdoses of weight loss and diabetes medication.

Since 2020, there has been a 640% increase in people calling because they have used too much medication.

Director of the Utah Poison Control Center, Amber Johnson said with the shortage of drugs like Ozempic, people are given compound forms of the drug. These compound forms can also be more confusing to use.

“These compounded forms are more dispensed in like a vial and a syringe,” she said “The amount that patients are supposed to give to themselves don’t really match up.”

She said this makes it easier for people to accidentally take too much of their medication. In some cases, people have accidentally given themselves 10 times the recommended dose. This can cause side effects like vomiting, nausea and Diarrhea.

It’s been especially bad in the last 9 months, Johnson said.

“We have seen a large increase in exposures to these types of medications,” she said. “We’ve had about 300 cases reported to us since 2020. And, about 100 of those have been in 2024.” 

To contact the Utah Poison Control Center call 1-800-222-1222.

Josuee Sanchez is a reporter for KSL NewsRadio.

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