Alli/Xenical/Orlistat: Serious side effects
Seriously hurt by weight loss medicine Xenical

Svensk text

Photo taken 1999-10-24 Photo taken 2000-07-25

I want to make a reservation for my English not being medically quite correct, but my aim is to make most people understand this and of course I would be grateful if there would be someone in the world able to help me. I have studied nutrition for 20 years on my own, and now I have also studied several books about the body´s defense system. Before Xenical I had a strong immune system which is one of the reasons why I am still alive.

I took 4 months´ consumption of Xenical in 1999. Already during these months I got problems with eczema and stopped the treatment. The problems continued. No doctor was able to help me (or even knew what happened). I became a pioneer with information about side effects. The diagnosis is chronic urticaria, but I also got other side effects caused by Xenical, as exanthema multiforme, rash erythematous, skin redness, flush, cold perspiration, ague, oedema, itching over the whole body, heart palpitation and high blood pressure.

My body considers this medicine so poisonous that it continues to defend itself against Xenical, even though it is almost two years since I stopped to take Xenical. I am a living evidence proving that the defense system of the body causes these side effects. First I became allergic towards the food I ate when I was on Xenical: olive oil, linseed and all essential fatty acids. One of the pictures (1999-10-24) is taken after a reaction of 2 spoons of linseed, which I earlier consumed for years without any problems. Then I became allergic to all vegetable fats and then hardened fats. Now I become allergic to all food when the body recognize it. And also to water, all soaps, shampoos and creams - everything that comes into my body, except air. I can stand everything in an unknown environment when my brain is diverted by new impressions. If I eat something before going to sleep, my brain instructs the body to defend itself while sleeping and when I wake up I am swollen with eczema and look grotesque. When I see food or think of food my face is burning and perspiring. The defect is in the brain, which instructs the body to defend itself and consider all food as Xenical. If I e.g. drink a lot of water, the kidneys conduct the water wrongly in effort to neutralize the poison in the body and I swell. When I become swollen, my eyelids also swell inwards and hurt the eyes. I have permanent heart palpitation and high blood pressure. In the nights I am often awake with itching and heart palpitation. In the mornings when I think of breakfast my face is burning and perspiring. After shower the water (which comes inwards by the pores) starts the defense system of the body and I perspire for 15 minutes afterwards. Then body lotion starts perspiration another quarter in the same way. When I eat breakfast my face is burning and perspiring and after that I am freezing a.s.o. day and night. I have got no help, neither economically nor medically and my life is a daily torture coupled with enormous expenses.

Hospital (Huddinge dermatological clinic) treatment is a failure (like all other hospital treatments so far). Every attack when I look like the pictures shown, earlier lasted for about 2 weeks. After ordination of heavy amount of medicine against allergy, I am more swollen with increased heart palpitation and similar attacks now last for about 5 weeks. So, doctors are of no help, so far. These attacks make me more isolated than criminals in prison. I feel like being the only one having survived a big disaster and left so seriously hurt that no one is able to understand.

I wanted to believe in Xenical and got in touch with the Swedish Medical Products Agency before I took the medicine. After they told me that the only side effect could appear if you eat too fatty food, I decided to try. I am scared that less than one percent of all the doctors I met understand this or that it can be dangerous and also unethical to force a healthy organ (pancreas) to act in a wrong way by medicine. I want to warn others of the fact that this medicine is so dangerous that you can get a severe damage in the immune system of the body, which no doctor today is able to cure.

The text above was written on 2001-05-24.

Photo taken in April 2000

This photo is taken one day without anaphylaxis between those two pictures above

Continuation of my serious adverse reaction against Xenical (September 2002)

I am still suffering from the disorder in my immune system caused by Xenical, which made my immune cells constantly looking for enemies in my body to attack. From the beginning I (and also the eye doctors) thought that the attacks against my eyes were caused by the swelling. Then suddenly I was shocked when I read about myself in a scientific article in the newspaper (printed on 4th August 2001 after the immune conference in Stockholm in the summer of 2001) and the fact that there is a risk that I will become blind. When I was 2 years old, I got a pair of scissors in my right eye and have therefore had several eye surgeries. The immune cells looking for enemies now penetrate the right eye and reach the cornea. This is an abnormal situation and the immune cells believe that the cornea is an enemy and try to destroy it (them). Also the left eye is affected. Even showering causes heavy attacks against my eyes. The name of the article was "Civil War Inside Your Body" and in it was stated that the scientists do not know why this happens. But I know! In my case this was started by the weight loss medicine Xenical. In the article was also mentioned that this disease is considered as uncureable and the immune cells will keep on injuring the body in different ways. Noone told me what was happening with my eyes and I am lucky that I read about myself in the newspaper. When I several times asked the hospital why noone contacted me and warned me about this, I never got any answer. I feel certain that because I read about myself I have succeeded in saving my eyes. Sometimes I have to use 8 different eye medications to stop an attack against my eyes. I have also asked the doctors if they did not want to tell me about the immune attacks against my eyes, waiting in a scientific view to see how long it would take before I get blind!

The immune attacks are harmful and they now vary. When one kind is strong, the others are weaker. I always have heart palpitation, flushes with burning face and perspiration all days and nights and when I eat. I have attacks against my eyes, but also against my ears and asthma attacks. My relatives say that I do not hear well any more. If I should eat in a normal way I would also have constant anaphylaxis. I always have to vary the food to manipulate the immune cells. I have also heavy reactions against acupuncture, massage, yoga and meditation when the body recognizes the treatments.

This disease has become a part of my original immune system and it does not help if I eat healthy food or not. For example, if I try to increase my immune system, the disease will also be increased.

Before Xenical I had a low blood pressure and no problem with my heart. After Xenical I have a high blood pressure, always heart palpitation and about 120-130 heartbeats per minute when resting. My heartbeats are irregular and I have double beats. I do not know how long my heart will take this.

The doctors refused to show me any results of all the tests they did. I had to get in touch with authorities to get them. The results of all tests are perfect and according to them I ought to be as healthy as a person can be. Even the allergy blood test was negative. The IgE test showing if you have an allergic reaction in your body was negative despite I had anaphylaxis! The IgE showing allergy by the content of histamines in your body must be less than 120-130 IU/ml, because otherwise you have an allergic reaction. When I had anaphylaxis, my IgE test showed only 16 IU/ml and this is the reason why antihistamines are of no help! This is also the final evidence that I had no common allergic reaction. Be aware of the fact that dermatological clinics are of no help. I got anaphylaxis from the creams they ordinated for my skin!!

The drug company Roche who manufactures Xenical now admits that there are rare side effects with Xenical like pruritus (itching), skin reactions, urticaria, odema and anaphylaxis. I am sure that these adverse reactions are not so rare. I have got many mails informing about similar kinds of reactions but they have not been registered.

The Swedish Medical Agency admits that my problems are probably caused by Xenical, according to science and statistics. They also say that probably is the strongest expression they use. According to them I am entitled to get compensation.

The drug company Roche is in Sweden insured by the insurance company Zurich. They have found a Swedish doctor (so called dermatological specialist) who states that there are no skin reactions with Xenical, which is untrue. Therefore I am refused to get any compensation so far.

I have been in touch with many experts and scientists (with no connection to drug or food companies) all over the world through my web site. I will forward their message to all people and especially to the fat ones. If you want to live a healthy life, start with opening your refrigerator and throw out all light products, all margarines and all vegetable oils high in polyunsaturated fats (which have been used to depress immune system in connection with organ transplantation). Keep just virgin olive oil, cold pressed rape oil and butter. I have found a way of making my own tasty and healthy margarine by mixing room temperatured 2/3 butter with 1/3 olive oil and a little salt and squeezed lemon.

And the message to all fat people is: There is no diet or drug to help you lose weight and keep it. If you try that way you will have to continue with it for the rest of your life, because once you stop manipulate the body, you will get even fatter. Avoid sugar because this makes your body not feel when it is satisfied. Start cutting carbohydrates (bread and potatoes) not fat and do it in the way William Banting did. He succeeded in losing weight in the right way and kept it for the rest of his life. It is a matter of quality rather than quantity he also stated.

2004 - Still suffering

All homeopathics I tried made me better for longer periods but it never lasted. All pharmaceutical drugs made me worse at once.

In August 2004 my anaphylaxis and anaphylactic reactions became permanent until February 2005 when I had face inflammations all month and looked like this:

Beginnig of February 2005 Middle of February 2005 End of February 2005

Beginnig of February 2005

Middle of February 2005

End of February 2005

2005 - Recovering

In the end of February 2005 I came in contact with one of the world's most skilled doctors in medicine, the Finnish doctor Matti Tolonen, associated professor in medicine.The difference between Dr Tolonen and Swedish doctors is that dr Tolonen avoids trying to cure autoimmune diseases by medications before knowing the reasons for being ill. He immediately stated that he thinks he can help me in a new way. He said I was suffering from inflammatory cytocines, especially Interleucine IL8, caused by Xenical. This type of cytocines causes thousand times more severe inflammations and allergies than histamines (which I do not have despite anaphylaxis). He recommended me a.o. a superantioxidant food supplement developed by himself and able to depress these cytocines. I started to recover immediately in the way he suggested and looked like this in the beginning of March 2005:

Beginning of March 2005

Beginning of March 2005

It was quite obvious that I was poisoned by the pharmaceutical manufacturer Hoffman-La Roche and their drug Xenical. Dr Tolonen forwarded my case to a health magazine in Finland and they presented it in April 2005. Hoffman-La Roche denied to comment the article by saying that my case was not finished in Sweden - but it was. Already in the beginning and all these years I was refused any kind of compensation. This injury has cost me ca. 200.000 SEK to survive.

It came to my knowledge that Hoffman-La Roche's corrupted insurance company Zurich already in the beginning decided never to compensate my injury. They could not accept that, despite they acted so that their own doctors lied and the skin "specialists" at the Karolinska hospital in Sweden both lied and falsified test result, I succeeded by myself to make the Swedish authorities to believe in me. But Sweden has so easily influenced authorities that despite they are fully convinced that a drug they have approved has caused severe and dangerous adverse reactions, they have left the compensating decision to the medical industry's insurance company Zurich whether they want to compensate or not. It is not a matter of being injured or not! It is simple a matter of wanting to compensate or not! I had all the evidence on my side and Zurich had nothing. Dr Tolonen was prepared to make a statement in my favour for arbitration. Nothing could make Zurich compensate me. I was recommended by lawyers not to go to an arbitration. If Zurich has decided not to compensate, they are able to pay millions to the person who has the casting vote. To lose an arbitration would cost me at least half a million SEK.

During the 6 years I was injured I met 60 doctors in Sweden and noone could help me. Nobody could tell me what was happening. Being poisoned by a drug makes it totally impossible to recover by another drug. To add drugs in this situation will instead increase the inflammatory cytocines. Anaphylaxis caused by inflammatory cytocines are not treatable and therefore far more dangerous than those ones caused by histamines.

The hospital diagnosis of my injury was autoimmune disease - impossible to recover from. These inflammatory cytocines attacked my whole body and I was near getting blind. I am totally convinced that many autoimmune diseases are caused by the pharmacutical industry and their drugs.

My recommendation to all people is not to accept any medication manufactured by Hoffman-La Roche. If you get seriously injured they will not give you a single penny in compensation.

If all countries should have the Swedish unexisting way of compensating severe adverse drug reactions, the pharmaceutical industry would be free to poison all the world.

2010 - Still recovered

I am still recovered since April 2005. The content in the drug Alli is exactly the same as that in Xenical/Orlistat but half as strong. This means that it will take longer for an immune system not accepting Alli/Xenical to react. I received a mail from a desperate mother to a 1,5 year old boy who by mistake ingested 3 capsules of Xenical and got the same reaction as me. No doctor could help this child. He has now recovered but without any help from doctors.

2013 - Additional Information

I have received many questions from all parts of the world about my person and how I am doing today so I will try to give an answer. I have decided to continue presenting my website on the Internet to help and warn people about how dangerous medications can be. To survive dangerous diseases medications are necessary but the recovery is always made by the own immune system. Alli and Xenical are totally unnecessary drugs. I have permitted the usage of my pictures in the USA in encyclopedias showing anaphylaxis and for military education of doctors and nurses in the USA to show how anaphylaxis looks if it happens when treating soldiers in war by medications or injections. Because of my negative Xenical reaction, advertising Xenical to children has been forbidden by law in some countries. I have never given my permission to show my pictures in connection with anaphylaxis by food, animals or something in the nature. I can stand everything but poisons and chemicals and I struggled so many years to get doctors to understand this.

I had no problems with my looks when I was young and that is probably the reason why I could present all horrifying pictures of me. I have even more ugly pictures I have not showed - pictures of me waking up in the morning after having had anaphylaxis when I was asleep. The evening before I did not eat anything and looked normal when falling asleep. It is worthwhile to mention that anaphylaxis looks so awful that anyone with anaphylaxis looks like a monster. I am today quite free from all adverse reactions and my face looks so far younger than it is despite the problems I had. Some people have believed me to be the mother to my grand children, which would have meant that I should have given birth to a child when being 62 years old. This is totally impossible and confirms that I have no problems with my face. Standing near me it is possible to see wrinkles on their way but wrinkles and some overweight have never worried me. There are much worse problems on this earth. I could be healthy and happy today but have unfortunately got other health problems after having been stalked for many years by a neighbor who tried to end my life.

Several years ago I intended to write a book about my experiences of Xenical but this has been impossible because of my negative immune reaction. For the same reason I could not write about stalking. Many years ago I started to write funny books about our two cats to amuse small children. When both cats suddenly died I could not continue writing because of the stalking of me and my family. My mother wanted me to write a book about myself and all my experiences. All started with a pair of scissors in my right eye when I was 2 years old. (Do not keep scissors or knives in the kitchen so they can be seen by small children) I have not yet decided whether I am going to write a book or not.

I know that scientists and doctors around the world have used my information about Xenical in their work. The side effects of Xenical gave me a very interesting experience about the human immune system. I had anaphylactic reactions every week during 6 years. My disease made my defense system constantly prepared and I know exactly how it reacts. I have forgotten many of the places in Sweden and abroad where I had anaphylaxis. My eyes have not forgotten. When my eyes see some chair in some place where I had anaphylaxis 10 years ago my immune system suddenly reacts. This confirms how much more there is to be discovered about the human immune system. It stores every single experience for the rest of a persons life. Therefore it is essential that children when growing up have as many positive experiences as possible to make their immune system strong. Something very interesting is what would happen if I now ingested a capsule of Xenical. Would I die or would it all start over again and how long would it take this time to recover? I could but am certainly not prepared to find out.

I have had my website about 12 years on the Internet. Despite my photos having been abused I have not been harassed or received any mean messages. Something that scares me is the numerous unscrupulous drug sellers around all the world using my name, my website and words connected to it trying to make people buy Xenical and Alli. Lots of people all over the world have thanked me, supported me, prayed for me and sent me their best wishes. I want to thank Matti Tolonen, MD, who helped me to recover. Nobel laureates in medicine could not do it and neither could the 60 doctors I met in Sweden. I also want to thank Barry Groves, PhD, Second-Opinions, who was my first contact abroad and who believed in me. I am also grateful to my family who supported me during all these years. And of course I want to thank all the people around the world having sent me kind messages. Thank you all!

Warning! There are weight management drug sellers online who illegally use my words "Xenical: Severe side effects Seriously hurt by" to mislead people by trying to hide my serious reactions of Xenical and thus use my words for the opposite purpose. Beware of online pharmaceutical sellers who have many web-addresses to the same site. Do not buy anything from "physicians" who have no respect for a seriously hurt person and just think of making money.

Carita Övelius
Carita Övelius

This page has been accessed  times since 2001-05-24
Last updated 2013-01-29