Mother’s plea after deadly ‘slimming pills’ kill her daughter

When 21-year-old UK student Eloise Parry ordered slimming pills online, she was convinced the dangerous side effects she had read about were an exaggeration.

Just days later, she died in hospital after "burning up from within" following an accidental overdose on the highly toxic pills. The tablets contained Dinitrophenol, or DNP, which is often touted as a 'fat-burning' chemical, but in reality is a highly dangerous drug that can overstimulate the metabolism to a fatal level.

Hours before her death on the afternoon of April 12th 2015, Eloise had messaged one of her university lecturers to say, "Binged/purged all night and took four pills at 4am. I took another four when I woke and I started vomiting soon after…I think I am going to die. No one is known to survive if they vomit after taking DNP. I am so scared. I am so sorry for being so stupid."

In another message she added that she had "screwed up big time." After taking the pills and beginning to vomit, Eloise was still well enough to drive herself to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital shortly after 9am but within hours her condition had deteriorated, as her metabolism soared and her body overheated. There is no known antidote for DNP, and despite attempts to stabilise her condition, Eloise died at 3.25pm, six hours after arriving at the hospital.

Speaking at her inquest into her death yesterday, Eloise's mother Fiona pleaded with anyone considering taking diet pills to avoid them at all costs. "I would implore anyone even considering taking DNP or something similar not to do so. These substances are sold by people who don't care about your health – they just want your money."

She said her daughter, who had a history of bulimia, had a made a "bad choice" and urged others in the same situation to seek help rather than resorting to illegal pills. "If somebody as capable as her can make that mistake it really worries me that other people will, so I want people to know how much it cost her, in the hope they will realise how serious those warnings are," she continued.

Explaining the events of April 12th, Fiona held back tears as she described how her daughter was "literally burning up from within," adding, "When she stopped breathing, they put her on a ventilator and carried on fighting to save her. When her heart stopped they couldn't revive her."

Eloise's tragic death is not the first DNP-related fatality in recent months. In May, an Irish man in his mid-20s was reported to have died after taking similar pills, just days after the State's medical watchdog issued an alert regarding diet pills bought online.

Irish Health Products Regulatory Authority chief Pat O'Mahony warned anyone attempting to buy slimming aids online to use extreme caution. "Bogus websites can be very sophisticated and appear to be legitimate. However, in reality they can be supplying unsafe and harmful products," he explained.