Overweight mother, 57, forced to have gall bladder removed after…

As a professional baker, Julie Reilly is surrounded by tempting treats day in and day out—so taking a weight loss medication to silence food noise seemed like a no- brainer. 

But although the 57-year-old was thrilled to lose four stone over the course of a year, she believes that a series of events which resulted in her needing her gallbladder removed are also connected to using the jabs.  

The mother-of-three, from Birmingham, who stands a petite 5’10” (177.8cm) had a BMI of nearly 32 when she obtained a private prescription for Mounjaro in August 2024. 

Weighing in at 12 stone (168 lbs) at the start of her weight loss journey put Ms Reilly in the ‘obese’ category of the medically recognised body mass scale. 

‘I’m only small so being a 12 stone woman was a lot,’ she said. 

However, with the power of hindsight—and after she was left ‘rolling on the floor’ in agony because of gallstones—she says she never would have taken them had she known the risks. 

Before starting on the jabs, Ms Reilly had suffered from stomach pains for 18 months, which she claims her GP dismissed as being ‘menopause symptoms’. 

However, they increased in both frequency and severity once she started using the GLP-1 medication. 

GLP-1s were originally developed to treat diabetes, but are now also used for weight loss as they were found to suppress patients’ appetites—but as with any medication, it’s not without risk of adverse side effects. 

With Mounjaro, issues related to the gallbladder—a small but vital organ which releases bile into the liver to help the body digest fats—is common. 

Mounjaro’s information leaflet warns that gallstones are a ‘common’ side effect of the medication and may affect ‘up to one in 10 people’, while infection of the gallbladder may affect one in 100. 

But although the warnings are in the leaflet, Ms Reilly says if these risks had been explained more clearly to her she wouldn’t have taken the jabs.

She said: ‘They don’t actually say that, no one tells you that it could cause gallstones.

‘They don’t ask if you have any gallbladder issues [before you take the jab].

‘If I knew it caused gallstones I wouldn’t have taken it in the first place.

‘When you take medication there’s everything on there [in the information leaflet], reactions and things like that, I think there’s not enough of those on there if I’m honest.

‘When I asked one of the doctors they said it [illnesses like this] is caused by rapid weight loss. In proportion to my body, I have lost a lot of weight because I’ve lost four stone.

‘They could put more warnings on stuff. From what I can see, everybody can get it now.’

Ms Reilly was rushed to A&E in January this year after ‘stabbing’ pains in her stomach left her ‘rolling on the floor’ in agony. 

She was referred for an ultrasound in May which revealed several gallstones.

After suffering a series of infections, she had to have her gallbladder removed in August.

Ms Reilly said: ‘I had problems before the skinny jab but didn’t associate it with my gallbladder.

‘I started to get pain when I ate. I’m going through menopause and, at first, they [doctors] blamed it on the menopause.

‘Everything that you get gets blamed on menopause symptoms. That’s what they told me at first when I started getting these pains in my stomach.

‘In August of last year, I decided to go on Mounjaro. I think it exacerbated it.

‘I’ve never experienced pain like this, I was literally rolling on the floor, couldn’t stand up. Stabbing pain, violent fatigue.’

Shortly after the operation, Ms Reilly was back in the kitchen, caught up in the madness of wedding season—which she said has affected her recovery. 

‘My gallbladder is out now. I lost a lot of weight not just because of being on Mounjaro but actually not being able to eat. 

‘In the end, if I looked at anything with fat in it made me ill.

‘I only had a week off, I wasn’t well, I don’t know how I went back to work but I didn’t want to let anybody down.

‘I don’t even know how I stood doing it. I was in agony.

‘As a wedding cake maker it’s very hard for me to have any sort of surgery. During the wedding season I could not afford to take any time off, I was fully committed.’ 

However, despite the brutal agony of the gallstones and the trauma of having her gallbladder removed, she is still jabbing, unwilling to sacrifice the final shots of the pricey appetite-busting elixir. 

She said: ‘I have four weeks left on this last one [of Mounjaro] and then I’m coming off. People say I don’t even look like the same person.’

Dubbed the ‘King Kong’ of weight loss drugs, Mounjaro works by signalling the body to produce more insulin when needed, reducing the amount of glucose produced by the liver and slowing down digestion. 

Mounjaro, also known as tirzepatide, will be offered to around 220,000 people over the next three years under new NHS prescribing rules.

Previously the potent drug, which helps patients shed up to a fifth of their body weight in a year, was available privately and at a small number of specialist NHS weight loss clinics.

GPs can now prescribe the drug to patients with a BMI over 40—classed as severely obese—and at least four obesity-related health conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or sleep apnoea.

A spokesperson for Lilly, who manufacture Mounjaro, said: ‘Patient safety is Lilly’s top priority.

‘We take any reports regarding patient safety extremely seriously and actively monitor, evaluate, and report safety information for all our medicines. The Mounjaro (tirzepatide) Patient Information Leaflet warns that gallstones is a common side effect when used for weight management, and an uncommon side effect when used for type 2 diabetes.

‘We encourage patients to consult their doctor or other healthcare professional regarding any side effects they may be experiencing and to ensure that they are getting genuine Lilly medicine.’

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