When to Seek Urgent Help

Urgent guidance first

In the United States, call 911 now if someone has signs of a severe allergic reaction, a seizure, loss of consciousness, trouble breathing, or any other life-threatening problem after taking or injecting any peptide product. MedlinePlus says anaphylaxis is an emergency and to call 911 or the local emergency number immediately. [1] Outside the United States, use your local emergency number.

US Poison Help: 1-800-222-1222. The prescribing information for semaglutide and tirzepatide medicines names this line for overdose questions. [2][3] For other countries see Poison Help by Country.

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US): call, text or chat 988 for emotional distress or thoughts of self-harm. It is available 24/7/365, free and confidential. [4]

This page is general information. It cannot tell you what is happening in your body, and it does not tell you to start, stop or change any medicine. Ask the prescriber or pharmacist about that.

Why "peptides" needs care here

"Peptides" is not one product type. It covers approved prescription medicines, unapproved compounds sold online, and cosmetic ingredients. The warning signs below come from the labels of specific approved medicines and from the FDA. For unapproved compounds, safety information is often missing, so any new symptom deserves attention. The FDA says it found no, or only limited, safety information for the proposed routes of administration of BPC-157, for example. [5]

Call 911 (or your local emergency number)

• Signs of a severe allergic reaction, which can start within seconds or minutes: hives or itching, swelling of the face, eyes or tongue, difficulty breathing or wheezing, trouble swallowing, dizziness, a racing heartbeat, or fainting. [1]
• A seizure or someone who cannot be woken. Severe low blood sugar is a medical emergency and can cause seizures. [6]
• Any sudden severe symptom you fear is life-threatening.

Serious allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis and angioedema, are listed in the labels of semaglutide and tirzepatide medicines. [2][3]

Get urgent medical care the same day

Contact a clinician right away, or go to urgent care or an emergency department if you cannot reach one, for:

• Severe or lasting belly pain, especially pain that spreads to the back, with or without nausea or vomiting. These are the signs the semaglutide label lists for acute pancreatitis. [2] MedlinePlus says to contact your provider for intense, constant abdominal pain. [7]
• Cramping pain in the middle or upper right belly, or yellowing of the skin or eyes, which MedlinePlus links to gallstones. [8] Labels of semaglutide and tirzepatide medicines report gallbladder disease in trials. [2][3]
• Persistent vomiting or diarrhea with dehydration, or urine that slows or stops. Labels report acute kidney injury, sometimes needing dialysis, mostly in people who became dehydrated from stomach and bowel side effects. [2] MedlinePlus says to contact your provider if urine output slows or stops. [9]
• Signs of low blood sugar, such as shaking, sweating, a pounding heartbeat or unclear thinking. [6] The label says the risk is higher when semaglutide is used with insulin or sulfonylureas. [2]
• A lump, mass or growing redness, swelling or pain at an injection site. The FDA described reports of redness, swelling, pain and a red lump at the injection site with a product labeled as compounded tirzepatide. [10]
• A lump in the neck, trouble swallowing, shortness of breath or lasting hoarseness. The semaglutide label lists these as symptoms of possible thyroid tumors to report. [2]

If someone took too much, or took an unknown product

• Call US Poison Help (1-800-222-1222) or emergency services. The semaglutide label says overdoses of GLP-1 medicines have caused severe nausea, severe vomiting and severe low blood sugar, and that effects can last because the medicine stays in the body for about a week. [2]
• Keep the vial, pen, box, receipt or message that came with it. FDA warns that counterfeit products can contain the wrong ingredients, too little, too much or none of the active ingredient. [10]
• Tell responders exactly what was used, how, and when, even if the product is unapproved or was bought online. Clinicians treat symptoms either way.
• Dosing errors with compounded semaglutide led to adverse events, some needing hospitalization, according to FDA. [10]

Before an operation or procedure

Semaglutide and tirzepatide slow stomach emptying, and there are rare reports of food or liquid entering the lungs during anesthesia or deep sedation. [2] Tell the surgical team about any peptide medicine or product you use.

After the emergency

Reporting helps regulators spot patterns. See Reporting Adverse Events for Peptide Products. For wider context see Peptide Safety: Adverse Events, Contamination and Injection Risks and Safety and Legal Basics for Specialty Topics.