WEIGHT LOSS AND GALLBLADDER REMOVAL - WHATS NEXT?

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]Hello again, welcome back to MyLifeStory with me, Neil. This is just going to be a quick update for the people that have been following and just a little bit of advice from just a layperson's point of view about if you have to have your gallbladder removed like I just did this time by 50 minutes well, just under 24 hours ago. So, as you can probably tell, it's all gone okay.

[00:00:27]Um and we are at risk if we lose weight quite quickly of gallstones occurring.

[00:00:35]And it's sort of um the thing that we thought was pancreatitis at first, the gallstones were initially missed, which can happen.

[00:00:41]Uh but luckily they were found and uh because I kept getting episodes of it inflaming and traveling stones and just pain a lot. Luckily, unlike some, I've managed to get mine removed fairly quickly really on the NHS over here in the UK.

[00:00:58]Fairly smoothly yesterday, I did try and um get a vlog started on it, but it was just it was never going to happen. I I was never alone and I don't really want to I'm not one of them that record in front of people and it was a bit odd, but um so I thought I'd tell you about it now. It might be useful information for some people and as well as like the serious side effects and I always put them up, so I'll do that again for you now. Please take care of them because there's a lot to consider when we take any of these weight loss injections. Um it's great for us. I really wouldn't change anything about using Mounjaro or Wegovy cuz Wegovy still works for a lot of people. And just on the Wegovy thing do you do you remember me talking to my brother Russell that lives in Australia?

[00:01:44]He's also a paramedic, but he's on the ambulances in Perth in Australia. Well, he tried Wegovy, but he had a lot of nausea from it. He's back on Wegovy now cuz he really wants to do something about his weight, but he's sort of trying to keep it a lower dose of that.

[00:02:02]But I spoke to him only yesterday and he was saying he's still having like sort of tummy pains and a lot of like toileting habit changes loose to constipated and whatnot. So it's one of the things. So he might he might try the split dosing with the Wegovy. So if I remember to, I'll try and keep you updated on that. Maybe get Russ back on the channel again to see how he's going cuz a lot of people enjoyed that when I interviewed him. It was good just to chat to him anyway. But moving on.

[00:02:27]So there was a lot of waiting around yesterday. I was literally first one in the department of the hospital. I like to be prompt for any any appointment times, things like that.

[00:02:35]And yeah, you might Well, no, there was a lot of people by the time they sort of opened the doors and yeah, I wasn't the first one in.

[00:02:43]Doesn't work like that, but hey ho. The main thing is I got sorted. So I um was taken down at 10 to 2 yesterday afternoon. Remember coming round at about 10 to 4. I wasn't under the knife or having the surgery. It isn't under the knife even. It's laparoscopic, which is keyhole. I think what's the terminology? Laparoscopic cholecystectomy or cholecystectomy as a lot of people say.

[00:03:11]Which is basically keyhole surgery. I'll put a little picture up of our scars looking for those that may need to have this procedure done.

[00:03:18]And I rightly or wrongly had done a lot of reading and spoke to a lot of people that have well, they're in the same boat really and have had the procedures done.

[00:03:28]Many people having no problems at all, but having the people that do have like after effects and things.

[00:03:36]It's sort of should we do that?

[00:03:39]I'm really sort of I'm that way inclined anyway, so I'll always read up or ask questions. So I went in sort of I I like to think that I was expecting a heck of a lot of pain from the people that I've spoke to.

[00:03:52]And don't get me wrong, it's not comfortable.

[00:03:55]Um but straight after the surgery, yeah, I was in a lot of pain, but I was hell-bent on getting moving, getting to the toilet, eating, drinking like they wanted me to as soon as possible.

[00:04:05]And by 6:00, I was calling Rachel to come and pick me up from home. And she arrived about half past 7:00 to come and get me. So, it all went quite well.

[00:04:15]I'm coping literally on at the moment paracetamol and ibuprofen.

[00:04:21]Um I do have codeine if I needed to. And tell a lie, I needed a walk up at 2:00 this morning, the early hours of this morning, with the same sort of pain that I used to get when it went bad. And I was thinking, "Oh, no."

[00:04:36]And one of the sort of things that is a bit of a a warning precursor is that when they remove the gallbladder, smaller gallstones can still be left behind. And when they travel, that tends to be when we feel a hell of a lot of the pain when the when the stones travel down the bile duct.

[00:04:53]And I think that's what it was. So, I just grinned and bear it, and I took one codeine with two paracetamol at 2:00 this morning.

[00:05:02]And rode it out, to be honest with you.

[00:05:03]I wasn't going to go in just just for that. But I was keeping a close eye on myself. Had a warm drink, cuz sometimes that sort of helps as well. I wasn't sick like I normally was. I didn't vomit.

[00:05:14]And it passed. Um but one of the other things to really be aware of is once they pump your tummy, they pump it up with carbon dioxide to sort of give them like a a tent to work in. I guess that's the best way of explaining it.

[00:05:30]And they obviously deflate you at the end of the surgery, but there's still a lot of trapped sort of carbon dioxide in there, and that can sort of go into your shoulder, and you get a lot of that pain. So, when I woke up, I had right severe right shoulder pain. It was like um like cramp in the soft bit of my shoulder here.

[00:05:50]And it changes over. And I can feel it if I move about, the pain moves around.

[00:05:58]But, disgusting as it sounds, burping helps alleviate that pain. So, I'm sort of sucking up water and taking a little bit a bit of air in and focusing on sort of getting that gas out.

[00:06:10]Not to uh beat around the bush, but I haven't been for a poo yet. Um so, I'm expecting, especially having had a codeine to have troubles that way. But, I've been given the Laxido, which is um same as Movicol, to sachet that helps you sort of rehydrate your bowel and and go. Cuz a lot of us suffer with that, don't we?

[00:06:30]Even just on the Mounjaro and the Wegovy, we we suffer with that type of thing anyway. Other than that, it's the other end, isn't it? I don't tend to hear that many people having decent bowel movements. It's usually one extreme to the other, the diarrhea or the constipation.

[00:06:46]And where else can we talk about it but here on My Life's Toil?

[00:06:50]We're all open, we're all honest, because this is life.

[00:06:54]There was a time, years ago, that talk about this, oh, keep it to yourself. No, we need to talk about these things and get these things out in the open. As long as we're not scaremongering, we're just literally putting the facts out there for people to be aware of, so we can all make our own minds up, all make our own judgments, and be prepared for what might come. And I'm glad I did, certainly around the aftereffects. Don't get me wrong, I'm struggling a little bit today. I'm painful.

[00:07:20]Pretty much my whole tummy's painful.

[00:07:23]And like I say, the scarring, you know, it's going to take a little while. I'm really going to miss the gym.

[00:07:28]Um I spoke to the consultant, and he said at least 2 weeks. But, he's he did say, when I feel up to it, very gentle walking on the treadmill.

[00:07:38]Which, just to be in the gym environment, would be good if if if you're like me. I know there's a lot of people that don't want to go to the gym.

[00:07:46]Um they're part of the community as well. And and fair enough.

[00:07:49]But I just being in the environment cuz we've had a bit of a makeover at the gym where I go to in Sheldon, the gym group.

[00:07:55]I'm dying to see what they've done.

[00:07:57]That's another story for another time.

[00:07:59]There's a couple of other things that I want to sort of um mention as well that I'm going to do hopefully in the next few weeks as I start to recover. I'm still not completely ruling out I've managed to stay on plan with my eating really well, but the cravings are driving me absolutely nuts. Last night I came home literally had a ham cup. I had a cheese Yeah, listen to this. I'm going off on a tangent again. You know me, it's the waffling time again.

[00:08:25]Nurse came round and she was absolutely lovely. Ann, the nurse. So, if Ann ever sees this, thank you so much for looking after me, but I had to chuckle because we went through this scenario of things if they happen and guidance about the after effects.

[00:08:40]Talking particularly a little bit about diet and you know, particular foods to avoid.

[00:08:46]As soon as we And you can imagine it's like a low-fat diet, which which we know. And luckily, I've been sort of used to.

[00:08:55]And as soon as we finished talking about this, right, we need you to eat something. Um we'll get you something now. Just And I says, "Oh, just yeah, anything whatever you got really." She says, "Well, we've got some cheese sandwiches left." It just made me chuckle cuz I'm thinking you've just gone through all this thing about low-fat. It wasn't a low-fat. It was a white bread cheddar cheese sandwich. But I ate it anyway and I enjoyed with two packets of biscuits.

[00:09:18]Now, for those that don't know around the world what biscuits are. Yes, it's a French word, but it's basically a pastry like cookies.

[00:09:24]And and a packet of digestives and a packet of bourbon creams, which are chocolate sort of one of my favorite biscuits ever. And I hadn't had a bourbon cream for many, many months. Not saying I haven't had it while I've been on the diet cuz yes, I have, I had a treat, but God, it just made me chuckle.

[00:09:40]But I'd walloped them. I was absolutely famished only about an hour after the surgery. So, I had that with a cup of coffee, full-fat milk, which I hate. I'm only on semi-skimmed milk now, but anyway, I'm waffling again. So, I just found that funny. And when I came home then, all I fancied I had a ham salad sandwich, which right, ham salad um granary cob when I got home, um and one of my low-fat yogurts, which was really nice as well.

[00:10:05]And that's all I had yesterday. Haven't yet eaten today, but I've been drinking plenty of fluids. I got myself one of these big bottles here. It tells you how much you're having through the day, which is really good to know. So, that was filled up this morning, and I've been supping at that, and it's now just after lunchtime on the Saturday. So, I'm just making sure I get plenty of fluid in, and it's sometimes I'll just have water, which we've got a big water filter. Sometimes I'll just have squash.

[00:10:29]So, that's good, but fluids is important anyway, isn't it, as we know, as I keep going on about.

[00:10:34]Um so, yeah, getting back to recovery, I've just got to ride with it, really.

[00:10:40]I'm going to try and only take the pain relief when I need to.

[00:10:44]Dying to do some jobs around the house.

[00:10:46]I've got so much that's still to do.

[00:10:48]I'm going to be off work for 2 weeks.

[00:10:51]I'm not going to be able to do the jobs around the house like I thought I would be. Not No spring chicken now, that's the problem, isn't it? You know, as we get older, we still think we can do it.

[00:11:00]We can't Don't write us off yet, but you know what I mean.

[00:11:04]Yeah, so there's a few things I've got to put on the back burner.

[00:11:07]But um yeah, as I say, and as I was touching upon, I haven't ruled out for um the suppression to maybe if someone will let me go back on a very small dose of Mounjaro, like a lot of people use, if I need to in the future. Cuz a lot of people are asking that and suggesting that. And some people are doing really well without it. Some people are struggling without it as well. So, that's what I'm worried about.

[00:11:36]And although I'm going to be hopefully back to sort of full medical health, I need to make a decision then rather than now. So, it's an open book at the moment. But, the other thing um I think it was Marina that sent in a message and she's on the berberine um which is a herbal supplement.

[00:11:57]And Diana rightly pointed out that you've got to be careful with some of these over-the-counter herbal supplements because they can still impact on the medications we already already have. And she rightly pointed out that it can have a massive impact on blood thinning medication like rivaroxaban and apixaban.

[00:12:17]And it can really sort of increase the way that it works and create a risk of bleeding.

[00:12:26]I'm not on apixaban anymore because I was on it initially because they they I still am classed actually as AF.

[00:12:35]They've classed me as and diagnosed me with paroxysmal AF you know issue.

[00:12:41]But, I only had that one episode.

[00:12:43]And I can understand why they're reluctant to just totally remove it off me. Although, they still agreed when I had the consultation with the cardiologist, they still agreed that they think it was down to when I had a flare-up of the cholecystitis and the imbalances that raised um infection markers can cause arrhythmias.

[00:13:03]And I've seen that a lot and I didn't even think about it at at the time myself until a long time after when I was just sort of going through all my own notes really.

[00:13:13]So, I can understand why I'm still classed as that. Although, I don't think there's no no one's concerned about it at all. But, it's just something to maybe keep an eye on and maybe it'll be one of those things that raise its head in in later in life. But, as long as we all stay as fit and healthy as we can and I'm still using the gym and still keeping the weight off. Hopefully we can manage it well. My blood pressure's absolutely spot on. I think one of my blood pressures yesterday was 120 over 81.

[00:13:39]And textbook is 120 over 80.

[00:13:41]Absolutely chuffed chuffed to bits with that. Haven't done my cholesterol for a little while.

[00:13:45]But it was right down wasn't perfect, but it was right down from what it had been when I first started using the jabs uh that being one of the reasons why I was using the jabs. But we tend to have a Mediterranean style diet if you know what that means. So any fats that we use we use more olive oils than anything. Um we still have a lot of full fat things as well because there's a lot of research into that now saying that there's a lot of guided and divided opinions on what fats that we should use. So I Do you remember the terminology? Pretty much everything in moderation. Sort of that really and and common sense which unfortunately not not everyone has do they? But even so.

[00:14:28]So that's a little bit about how yesterday has gone.

[00:14:32]I have loads and loads still of the progress pics and I'm dying to get them sorted for you. It takes a lot of editing to do them. So I'll have a lot of time to do that, but I want to do it right and want to do a good job of it.

[00:14:44]So this is more just of a bit of an update on me really and where we're going to be.

[00:14:49]The berberine thing I want to do. I'm going to I'm really thinking before I make a decision to go on to Manjaro or Wegovy even I could try again. If I needed to and that will be a lot longer down the line I think if I do do that.

[00:15:03]I'm going to give this berberine a go when I feel a bit better. Not going to do it straight away obviously because Marina and thank you Marina for sending these details through.

[00:15:12]Um said that it's working really well for it. She struggled with the maintenance and she won't mind me saying this I'm sure.

[00:15:19]Um she'd struggled with the maintenance and done some reading up on on it. about the berberine and it's working really well for it. So, we'll look at that.

[00:15:30]That might be an option for people that need to maintain, but like as I always say before you take any of these over-the-counter sort of supplements, if you're on any medications, you've got any any underlying issues, you must speak to doctor, physician um about what you want to do.

[00:15:49]Just know it's right for you. Just just be safe out there, people, because I know I've sort of bent the rules a little bit, especially with like the the split dosing and things like that.

[00:16:01]I've always sought advice around it and done my research and I've got a little bit of a medical background, although in emergency medicine and more primary care.

[00:16:10]Not in about, you know, this per se. So, always best to get it checked out.

[00:16:16]But, I'm doing okay. Thank you for all the really good messages. Keep the messages coming and I'll keep you updated where I can. Um and the other thing I wanted to mention, if there's anything you wanted me to look into in particular, um there's a lot to do. There was one that someone was talking to me about.

[00:16:32]This is going off on another tangent, actually. What's it called now? Someone was asking if I'd heard about this What's it called now?

[00:16:40]It's I think it's flavor of the month, but I will look into it. NMN, nicotin mino something. I haven't really done any reading on it.

[00:16:50]But, they were saying that they were looking into starting it. They may have even started it and I'm not sure it sort of helps regenerate cells as we get older. Sounds too good to be true, really. It's not cheap.

[00:17:02]Anyone got any thoughts on that? Maybe something to look at in the future.

[00:17:06]Um but like I said, we've got to be careful with these things out there because we have these things come up.

[00:17:12]They're there for a few months and then they disappear. So, there's not usually a lot in them, is there? So, we have to be really careful. And it's making someone out there very rich in a very short space of time, isn't it?

[00:17:23]What's your thoughts on this? Any wonder drugs that you know of? Any particular habits that you enjoy doing? Share them.

[00:17:29]You know, on My Life's Toll, we like to share and share alike and help everyone out where we can and support each other.

[00:17:35]That's why we got this going, and I love it.

[00:17:37]So, I'll keep you posted with some update pictures. We'll we'll go off in all sorts of directions to try and help people where we can.

[00:17:47]And I'm off again. So, have a great weekend. It's Saturday the 30th now.

[00:17:51]Hopefully, it'll be a nice one. It's still quite sunny outside. I could have done this in the garden again, but someone was mowing their garden, so I didn't want that to interfere with it.

[00:17:58]Hopefully, I've sorted my sound issues out a little bit cuz my sound hasn't been too good recently, so apologies for that. But anyway, keep your chins up, and I'll speak to you very soon. Bye-bye.