Are you dying to be thin? If you'd do anything to slim down, read this. Cosmo examines the weight-loss herb ephedra and its serious--sometimes fatal--side effects. (Warning to Women).(Brief Article)

* Three years ago, Dawn Shuster was a healthy 33-year-old who wanted to lose about 25 pounds. So she took an over-the-counter diet pill to speed up the process. Little did she know that this supposedly safe weight-loss aid would bring her to the brink of death.

Dawn followed the bottle's instructions, popping four pills a day for two-and-a-half weeks. On the 19th day, at the West Palm Beach, Florida, doctor's office where she worked screening patients for clinical trials, she complained to a coworker that she had a stomachache and felt like she was going to pass out. A few minutes later, her coworker heard a loud thump. When she turned around to see what had happened, she was horrified: Dawn had fallen on the floor and vomited and was in cardiac arrest. By the time she arrived at Columbia Hospital, Dawn had lost so much oxygen that she was blue from her navel to her head. She was deprived of air long enough that she could have sustained long-term brain damage ... but luckily didn't.

fighting for her life

On the way to the hospital, Dawn had to be intubated, a technique where a tube is inserted into the windpipe to help the patient breathe. However, during intubation, she threw up, and the vomit went into her lungs, which led to a severe bacterial infection. Doctors were forced to put her into a morphine-induced coma-like state for about two weeks so that she could fight it off. "I flat-lined three times and was declared dead. My family was asked to come in and say good-bye to me, and a priest even performed last rites!" says Dawn, who suffered a total of three heart attacks despite having no history of heart problems.

She spent a month in the cardiac intensive-care unit, then was transferred to another hospital, where she had a pacemaker and defibrillator surgically implanted. These devices help to regulate her heart rate and keep her alive, at least for now. Because the pacemaker is doing 97 percent of the work, Dawn's doctor told her that there's a strong chance she will eventually need a heart transplant.

"To think that I only wanted to lose some weight," laments Dawn. "Now I have to take up to 22 pills a day just to function --from blood thinners to beta blockers, which slow my heart rate and decrease the stress. I'm often so wiped out that I have trouble walking and breathing. Some days are so bad, I can't make it out of bed. I'm very grateful to be here, but I'm mad as hell that the manufacturers allowed me to play. Russian roulette with my life."

danger in the aisles