The drug hidden in her supplements could have killed her.

This article was translated from the CTV News website.

Magical is how friends and family of Carla Ann Ferguson from Manitoba described the Umary hyaluronic acid supplement.

From what he was told, the Umari supplement worked wonders.

“A friend of mine told me that someone who used a walker doesn’t use it anymore, walks great and is thinking about playing pickleball,” Ferguson told CTV News. “I felt like everyone accepted Umari except me.”

This Mexican-made dietary supplement contains natural ingredients that may help relieve pain. Ms Ferguson, who had difficulty walking, was hesitant at first. But after checking the supplement’s ingredient list and seeing no reason to worry, she decided to give it a try.

“I took one pill and felt great. It was like magic,” she said. “Within 20 minutes I could walk up and down the stairs without pain. I stood. I was able to exercise, which I hadn’t been able to do for a while.”

So Ferguson continued to take her medications—one 850-milligram tablet a day, sometimes two if she needed them.

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“I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”

While on holiday, Ms Ferguson began to feel strange: she had shortness of breath, chest tightness, a rash on her legs and blisters on her lips.

When she returned home, her symptoms continued to worsen.

“I started to feel a lot of pain in my chest and back, and eventually I couldn’t lift my arm,” she says. “I thought I was having a heart attack.”

Her daughter took her to the hospital, where she said staff asked her if she had done cocaine. But she said she had never taken drugs and was not taking any medication – the only thing she was taking was a starch-based nutritional supplement.

To find out, Ferguson sent her supplement to Get Your Drugs Tested in Vancouver, which offers free FTIR drug testing.

“The results showed that 40 to 45 per cent of the tablets I took were diclofenac,” Ms Ferguson said.

What is diclofenac?

Pharmacist Chirag Patel, owner of Brandt Pharmacy in Steinbach, where Ms Ferguson is from, explains that diclofenac is a powerful anti-inflammatory drug prescribed to treat chronic pain. It is approved for use by Health Canada and is more commonly sold under the name Voltaren.

“The maximum dose of diclofenac is usually 150 to 200 milligrams per day,” he said, adding that based on Ms. Ferguson’s test results, she was likely taking two to four times the recommended dose per day.

“If you overdose on diclofenac, it will affect your body in many ways, especially the gastrointestinal tract, and lead to internal bleeding,” he said. “It can also lead to heart attack and stroke, as well as kidney and liver toxicity.”

According to the Vancouver Drug Testing Society, Ferguson’s situation is not unique.

“We tested several samples sold to customers under the name “Umari supplement.” Results from our FTIR device consistently showed the presence of diclofenac in approximately 35-55% of samples,” Get Your Drugs Tested told CTV News in a statement.

So far, five samples specifically marketed under the name Umari have been tested, as well as numerous other samples matching the description of uniquely branded Umari tablets.

“We suspect that diclofenac may be hiding behind other ingredients such as nettle and, unfortunately, is not explicitly listed on the label,” Get Your Drugs Tested said in a statement.

When asked how confident it was in its results, the organization said the tests have limitations, such as identifying specific natural ingredients in complex mixtures. She added that she could not say with 100% certainty that any sample actually represented diclofenac.

Umari said the products could be counterfeit and did not say whether the supplement contained diclofenac.

CTV News contacted Umari’s company, which said it operates strictly within the current legal and regulatory framework set by Mexican authorities.

The company added that its commercial presence is limited solely to Mexico and that it does not sell products in Canada.

“As a result, any products labeled under our brand in Canada are not related to our business and we cannot guarantee their authenticity or quality,” the company said in a statement. “We are not responsible for any products that may be sold in this country under our brand without our consent and which may be counterfeit.”

When asked by CTV News, Umari’s company did not answer whether its supplement contains diclofenac.

“This could have catastrophic consequences.”

Health Canada confirmed that Umari supplement is not approved in Canada and warned Canadians that they should only use health care products approved by Health Canada, which evaluates their safety, effectiveness and quality.

The organization reminds Canadians to be careful when purchasing natural health products online, as some products may be counterfeit and a lack of information may lead to unwanted side effects.

More information on how to safely purchase natural health products online can be found on the Health Canada website.

“When you take a medicine and it takes 15 or 20 minutes to start working and you don’t feel pain anymore, that’s not a natural supplement,” Ms Ferguson said.

She is undergoing tests on her heart, kidneys and liver to check if there is any long-term damage. She urges others to be careful.

“The potential for massive damage could be catastrophic.”