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Source trail What to avoid

Risk notes · what to avoid

# What needs a pause—and what needs urgent help?

Some questions belong before you pay. Severe symptoms need help right away.

Urgent help comes first

## Is breathing or swelling severe?

Trouble breathing, a swollen tongue, or a swollen face can be signs of a severe allergic reaction.

Call 911 for help, or go straight to the nearest emergency room.

The National Library of Medicine describes this reaction as life-threatening and says it can begin within seconds or minutes.

Get urgent help for these signs; do not try to work out the cause on your own.

Pause over these offers

## What can I check before I pay?

For named medicine uses, the US review agency is the Food and Drug Administration, known as the FDA.

### The offer skips a prescription.

Under US law as of September 26, 2026, handing over a prescription medicine requires a prescription. It must come from a doctor or another person licensed to write prescriptions.

Leave an offer that skips that step.

### Custom-made is called approved.

A compounded medicine is made to meet a patient’s needs by a doctor or pharmacy.

As of September 26, 2026, calling that medicine FDA-approved is false.

### Who made it is unclear.

At the September 26, 2026 check, FDA described fake labels that named nonexistent pharmacies or named pharmacies that did not make that product.

Ask who will prepare it, then check that name in the state pharmacy records.

### Questions after delivery get no answer.

One warning sign listed by FDA is having no licensed doctor available for questions after the medicine arrives.

Ask how to reach a licensed doctor if a health problem starts after delivery.

Check the delivery too

## What if an injection arrives warm?

GLP-1 medicines act like a signal your body makes naturally that affects blood sugar and hunger.

For an injectable GLP-1 drug that arrives warm or without enough refrigeration, FDA’s advice is to leave it unused.

Poor chilling can affect the medicine’s quality. Raise the delivery problem with the pharmacy that sent it.

Ask about an unclear label

## What if the amount is unclear?

At the September 26, 2026 check, FDA had received reports of mistakes in the amount used for compounded semaglutide injections. Some of these mistakes led to hospital care.

Bring the label to the person who writes your prescription or to a pharmacist. Ask them to explain it. Ask for clear instructions that do not make you work out the medicine amount by changing from one kind of measurement to another.

Sources to open

## Where can I check these answers?

National Library of Medicine: severe allergic reactions

The emergency guidance behind the first answer.

FDA: checks for an online pharmacy

Prescription, license, and pharmacist checks.

FDA: reach your state’s pharmacy records

Check the pharmacy name against the state’s own record.

FDA: delivery and product concerns

Warm deliveries, false labels, and help after delivery.

FDA: mistakes with compounded semaglutide

The report behind the advice to ask about an unclear label.

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