A Massachusetts man says a medication he had been taking to manage his blood sugar was followed by a devastating and permanent loss of vision, leaving him to rebuild nearly every part of his daily life while also joining a lawsuit that argues patients were not adequately warned about a possible eye-related risk.
In an extended interview with Boston 25 News reporter Lisa Gresci, Dedham resident Ed Gillen described how his vision began to fail around Memorial Day 2025, starting with what looked like a small speck in one eye and progressing with frightening speed until, within roughly two weeks, he could no longer see at all.
Gillen, who had been taking Ozempic for about a year to manage his A1C, said he knew the drug came with possible side effects, but permanent blindness was not one he recalls being warned about.
A Small Speck Became Total Darkness
Gillen told Gresci that the first sign came when he woke up one Saturday morning and noticed a speck in his vision.
He contacted his eye doctor and was seen within days, but the problem worsened quickly, and the sight in the affected eye was soon gone.
The situation became even more alarming when Gillen began losing vision in his other eye while his daughter was driving him to the hospital for further testing.
He remembered telling her they needed to get there quickly because his remaining sight was fading.
By the time he arrived, he said he needed help walking because he could barely see.
A CT scan did not show an obvious cause, so doctors sent him for an MRI and more specialized testing.
On the way to another hospital, Gillen said the remaining vision disappeared completely.
“Boom, lights out,” he recalled.
The speed of the decline is what makes his account so unsettling, because Gillen said there was no long warning period and no painful progression that clearly signaled how serious the problem was becoming.
Doctors Investigated A Possible Optic Nerve Injury
Gillen said he was eventually evaluated by a neuro-ophthalmologist at Mass General Brigham who had been involved in research examining a possible connection between semaglutide drugs and a rare optic nerve condition.
He said the doctor initially considered non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, often referred to as NAION, a condition that can cause sudden and irreversible vision loss.
According to Gillen, however, his case did not follow the typical pattern closely enough for doctors to give him a simple answer.
He said he has undergone repeated CT scans, MRIs, biopsies and eye examinations, yet physicians still have questions about the exact diagnosis because of how rapidly his vision disappeared.
Gillen described the doctor as telling him that his symptoms were consistent with what he called “Ozempic blindness,” though he also acknowledged that doctors had not settled on a final explanation.
That distinction is important because Gillen is describing what he says physicians told him about his individual case, not a settled conclusion that GLP-1 medications generally cause blindness.
Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic, has disputed similar claims and has said its own safety analyses did not find an increased risk of vision loss associated with the medication.
“I Knew There Were Some Risks — But Not This”
Gillen told Gresci that he was aware of more familiar warnings associated with the drug through advertisements and conversations with doctors.
What he says he did not understand was that permanent vision loss might be part of the discussion.
“I knew there were some,” he said. “But not this. Not this.”
That gap between what a patient believes he was told and what later happened to him is now central to the lawsuit he has joined.
Gillen is part of broader litigation involving patients who allege that manufacturers failed to adequately warn users and medical providers about the possibility of severe optic nerve damage and blindness.
The legal claims are still being contested, and the lawsuit itself does not establish that the medication caused his condition, but Gillen said his purpose in speaking publicly is less about telling others to stop taking GLP-1 drugs and more about urging them to understand the possible risks and ask more questions.
“Be careful,” he said.
That is probably the most reasonable takeaway from his story: patients should not panic over one person’s experience, but they also should not assume that a medication’s risk profile is irrelevant simply because a serious complication is rare.
A Career And Daily Routine Changed Overnight
Before losing his sight, Gillen had spent 39 years working for the state, much of that time operating highway equipment and machinery.
He was also a skilled handyman and longtime softball coach, and much of his identity was tied to being physically capable, independent and useful.
After becoming blind, that changed almost immediately.
“I was very good at my job,” he told Gresci. “And now I got to learn this, a new job of being blind.”
Because his work required vision, Gillen could no longer simply return to the same position and continue as before.
He said the financial consequences became almost as urgent as the physical ones, particularly because he was approaching retirement but had not yet reached the point where he could simply stop working without concern.
The loss therefore reached far beyond eyesight alone, touching his income, mobility, use of technology and ability to perform ordinary tasks that once required almost no thought.
Learning How To Live Independently Again
Gillen began attending the Carroll Center for the Blind in August 2025, where he spent 14 weeks learning basic skills for independent living.
He graduated that December, but said returning home made clear that classroom training was only one part of adapting.
Using a phone, navigating a computer, walking independently and handling everyday errands all had to be relearned.
Gillen said technology has helped, but he also emphasized that the world is not designed with blind people in mind and that assistance from sighted family members and friends is still necessary in many situations.
He credited his support network, including people he met at the Carroll Center, with helping him through the hardest periods.
“Without them, I’m not here today,” he said.
That part of the interview was especially striking because Gillen did not describe adaptation as a simple success story in which determination solved everything; instead, he spoke openly about frustration, dependence, money worries and the mental work required to accept a completely different life.
Lawsuit Is Also About Awareness
Gillen said he hopes the lawsuit will help him financially as he approaches retirement, but he also wants it to create more awareness for others who may face sudden vision loss.
He said he would eventually like to advocate for people in similar situations, perhaps through a podcast or support group, because the emotional adjustment can be as difficult as learning the practical skills.
His message was not that patients should automatically stop taking GLP-1 medications.
Instead, he urged people to understand their health, follow possible risk factors and avoid assuming that an uncommon complication could never happen to them.
“It’s not going to happen to me,” Gillen said he once believed.
Now, he says he wants others to think more carefully about that assumption.
Gillen Says He Is Learning To Accept A New Life
Doctors have not given Gillen much reason to expect his vision will return.
He said they have not made an absolute prediction because medicine and technology continue to advance, but the probability, as he understands it, is that his blindness will be permanent.
That has forced him to think differently about what independence means.
He said he is still learning how to live without sight and still struggling with acceptance, but he no longer sees blindness as the end of his identity.
“I’m blind for the rest of my life, but I’m still me,” Gillen told Gresci.
For now, his focus is on securing his financial future, becoming more independent and helping others who suddenly find themselves facing the same kind of loss.
His story does not settle the larger medical debate over GLP-1 drugs and vision problems, and the manufacturer disputes that the medication carries an increased risk of blindness, but Gillen’s experience has left him convinced that patients deserve to know as much as possible before deciding what risks they are willing to take.
A former park ranger and wildlife conservationist, Lisa’s passion for survival started with her deep connection to nature. Raised on a small farm in northern Wisconsin, she learned how to grow her own food, raise livestock, and live off the land. Lisa is our dedicated Second Amendment news writer and also focuses on homesteading, natural remedies, and survival strategies. Lisa aims to help others live more sustainably and prepare for the unexpected.
