u/Appropriate-Phase-86

This might be a pretty niche side effect since it doesn't seem to affect many people, but it's something I've definitely experienced since starting reta, and I'm 99% sure it's related because I've never experienced anything like this in my many years lifting weights and working outdoor blue-collar jobs.

This doesn’t get talked about ever and I spent months trying to figure out the issue and I believe I’ve narrowed it down. I hope this can inform others to a reasoning of why they have this issue.

I lost about 85lbs in 8 months, and around the 3-4 month mark I started randomly getting a weird blocked feeling in my ears. It's especially noticeable when I'm working outside or after the gym—any kind of hard, physically demanding work seems to trigger it every time. It also happens randomly after showers or just randomly in general. The best way I can describe it is like when you're on an airplane high in the sky and your ears feel the need to pop, or when you're underwater. My own voice sounds muffled, and if I open and close my jaw, I can actually feel my ears popping inside. It can last anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 hours and happens randomly throughout the day, and there is absolutely nothing that will cure it from nasal sprays and ear drops I've tried OTC. It's honestly pretty annoying because it makes talking feel weird and kind of difficult at times because i hear my voice very muffled.

After looking into it, I found that rapid weight loss can sometimes be linked to Eustachian Tube Dysfunction (ETD) or Patulous Eustachian Tube (PET). As body fat is lost, the fatty cushion around the Eustachian tubes—especially the Ostmann's fat pad, which helps keep the tubes closed at rest—can shrink. That can leave the tubes too open or cause pressure imbalances, leading to the blocked, popping, and muffled-ear sensation.

Obviously, these are research chemicals with limited data and no long-term studies, so you have to kind of expect and understand that you are putting youself up to possible risks. I mainly wanted to bring some awareness to this. It's not the end of the world, but it's definitely something I think should be talked about. When most people research the side effects of reta, they usually only find the standard ones like nausea and constipation. There seem to be other side effects that don't get mentioned nearly as often, such as this and even anhedonia.

I'm cant say for 100% certain reta directly caused it, because it could just be from rapid weight loss in general. Has anyone else who's lost a lot of weight on reta or even other glps experienced this?