[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-569228-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":81,"doc-detail-569228-en":126},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","self-reported-side-effects-among-reddit-users-taking-unapproved-retatrutide","Self-Reported Side Effects Among Reddit Users Taking Unapproved Retatrutide","","Gray-market retatrutide use is increasing, yet real-world patient safety experiences remain insufficiently characterized. This cross-sectional analysis examined Reddit posts and comments from retatrutide-specific and broader peptide or weight-management communities through December 2025. A validated large language model classified self-reported retatrutide use and extracted author-attributed symptoms mapped to MedDRA Preferred Terms. Among 13,589 users reporting current use, 7,823 had at least one mapped symptom after exclusions, with frequent reports of appetite increase, fatigue, increased energy, nausea, cravings, insomnia, and elevated heart rate.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/","Template",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/general/","General",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/self-reported-side-effects-among-reddit-users-taking-unapproved-retatrutide/569228/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/self-reported-side-effects-among-reddit-users-taking-unapproved-retatrutide/569228.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Kurz","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-27","2026-10-13",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",5,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What data source and study design were used to characterize retatrutide safety experiences?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"The study used a cross-sectional analysis of Reddit posts and comments from retatrutide-specific and broader peptide or weight-management communities through December 2025.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How were self-reported use and symptoms extracted in the analysis?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"A validated large language model classified author self-disclosed retatrutide use and extracted dose and demographic details when disclosed. A second pipeline extracted author-attributed symptoms and mapped them to MedDRA Preferred Terms.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What symptom patterns were reported most often compared with phase 2 trial findings?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Unlike phase 2 trial results dominated by gastrointestinal events, Reddit reports most often described appetite increase, fatigue, increased energy, nausea, food craving, insomnia, and elevated heart rate.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},569228,1792093500,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,89,94,99,104,109,114,119,123],{"id":85,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":86,"show_sort_weight":87,"slug":88},11,"Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":90,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":91,"show_sort_weight":92,"slug":93},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":95,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":100,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":105,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":110,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":115,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":120,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":122},21,"Paper Templates","papers-templates",{"id":124,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":125},158,"general-158",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":127},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":128,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":22,"category_id":124,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":120,"language":135,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":136,"faqs":137,"seo_title":138,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":139,"read_time":140},2336478945635,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","medRxiv preprint doi: [https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.05.28.26352819](https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.05.28.26352819); this version posted June 3, 2026. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.  \nIt is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license .  \nSelf-Reported Side Effects Among Reddit Users Taking Unapproved Retatrutide  \nNeil K. R. Sehgal, ME 1,2 , Jena Shaw Tronieri, PhD3 , Benjamin Rader, PhD4,5 , Lyle Ungar, PhD 1 , Sharath Chandra Guntuku, PhD 1,2  \n1Computer and Information Science Department, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA 2Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA 3 Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA  \n4 Innovation and Digital Health Accelerator, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 5 Department of Anaesthesia, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA  \nABSTRACT  \nGray-market retatrutide use is increasing, but patient safety experiences remain poorly characterized. This cross-sectional analysis examined Reddit posts and comments from retatrutide-specific and broader peptide or weight-management communities through December 2025. A validated large language model classified self-reported retatrutide use and extracted author-attributed symptoms mapped to MedDRA Preferred Terms. Among 13,589 users reporting current use, 7,823 had at least one mapped symptom after exclusions. Unlike phase 2 trial findings dominated by gastrointestinal events, Reddit reports most often described appetite increase, fatigue, increased energy, nausea, food craving, insomnia, and elevated heart rate. Findings are hypothesis-generating and warrant pharmacovigilance attention.  \nIntroduction  \nThe gray-market trade in unapproved peptides has expanded rapidly alongside the rise of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA), creating a population of patients whose safety experiences remain largely invisible to regulators and clinicians [1] . Retatrutide is an investigational once-weekly agonist of the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide, glucagon-like peptide 1, and glucagon receptors. The US Food and Drug Administration has warned that unapproved products containing retatrutide are being sold directly to consumers, including products labeled for research or not for human consumption, yet no systematic characterization of symptoms among real-world, unregulated use exists [2] . Public interest has also expanded rapidly: in U.S. Google Trends data, relative search interest for retatrutide rose from near zero before mid-2023 to over three-quarters of semaglutide search interest by April 2026 [3] . In a phase 2 obesity trial, gastrointestinal (nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and constipation) adverse events were most common, with phase 3 trials ongoing [4] .  \nNOTE: This preprint reports new research that has not been certified by peer review and should not be used to guide clinical practice.  \nmedRxiv preprint doi: [https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.05.28.26352819](https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.05.28.26352819); this version posted June 3, 2026. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.  \nIt is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license .  \nWe characterized self-reported symptoms among Reddit users describing personal retatrutide use, including discussions likely to reflect nontrial use of unregulated, unapproved products, to identify potential safety signals warranting formal pharmacovigilance attention.  \nMethods  \nWe conducted a cross-sectional analysis of Reddit posts and comments from 6  \nretatrutide-specific and 21 broader peptide or weight-management communities. We collected content from May ","cbCaipKMXQZXfUYO","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaipKMXQZXfUYO","pdf",609922,"English","# ABSTRACT\n# Introduction\n# Methods\n# Results","[{\"question\":\"What data source and study design were used to characterize retatrutide safety experiences?\",\"answer\":\"The study used a cross-sectional analysis of Reddit posts and comments from retatrutide-specific and broader peptide or weight-management communities through December 2025.\"},{\"question\":\"How were self-reported use and symptoms extracted in the analysis?\",\"answer\":\"A validated large language model classified author self-disclosed retatrutide use and extracted dose and demographic details when disclosed. A second pipeline extracted author-attributed symptoms and mapped them to MedDRA Preferred Terms.\"},{\"question\":\"What symptom patterns were reported most often compared with phase 2 trial findings?\",\"answer\":\"Unlike phase 2 trial results dominated by gastrointestinal events, Reddit reports most often described appetite increase, fatigue, increased energy, nausea, food craving, insomnia, and elevated heart rate.\"}]","Self-Reported Side Effects Among Reddit Users Taking Unapproved Retatrutide | PDF",1791874667,7]