Gallstones on Mounjaro, stopped and considering Wegovy, anyone switched safely?

[Wambamaloomaawambamboo]

Has anyone had gallstones while on mj (attacks have stopped now I've stopped the mj) and switched to Wegovy and been fine? Im really struggling with food noise coming back 😢

Gall stones is due to weight loss or gain, so unlikely to be different on wegovy

Yes but I imagine its due to quick weight loss and wegovy isn't as strong so won't lose as much weight as quickly. Plus i had an attack a couple of days after jab day and now im fine 🤷‍♀️ Just looking for personal experience

I am starting to consider mounjaro and coincidentally just saw a stat from a generic WLI search that gallstones risk is 1 in 10 for wegovy but 1 in 100 for mounjaro. That would suggest moving to wegovy won’t help.

Once you have gallstones that’s it really. They don’t go away if you stop losing weight or whatever. You can help to manage them with a low fat diet, this can have varying degrees of success, they can be dormant for a while, etc. But if they are symptomatic, removal of GB is really the only long-term solution.

I ended up with gallstones from the weight loss and just had my GB out a couple of weeks ago. I actually had six months of no attacks before I ended up in the hospital, so it can be really unpredictable unfortunately.

Switching medication is unlikely to have any impact at this stage but you will need to declare them now to your supplier. They might want clearance from your doctor before continuing.

Thank you for this. I'm really struggling in my own head since being forced to come off mj, I dont actually have that much left to lose, just a little over a stone but im worried without the help i'll put the weight back on, fighting with myself at the moment

The drugs don’t make you lose weight though it’s what you consume on them that does thar. But yes if you lost weight fast, didn’t eat healthy fats, you are at risk of gallstones. But also just being obese puts us all at risk of them too.

your doctor should advise you what to eat and how to care for yourself as this really isn’t about switching from one to the other,

As already mentioned, MJ doesn't cause gallstones, weight loss can.

Once you have gallstones, that's it. You can control the 'attacks' by eating a very low fat diet. But changing one WLI for another isn't likely to have a positive impact.

I developed gallbladder issues when using Lighter Life and Cambridge meal replacement shakes and went on to have my gallbladder removed. Swapping from Lighter Life to Cambridge didn't change the outcome for me - I still needed a cholecystectomy.

You have my sympathy OP. GB pain is awful (as is pancreatitis which I also had due to the gallstones/blocked bile duct).

It’s due to the speed of the loss so possibly wegovy is better.

You can lose no more than 2lb a week in order to avoid gallstones.

But neither drug makes you lose weight, so that makes no sense, what you consume makes you lose weight. Mounjaro doesn’t stop you eating. Not unless you’re on too high a dose. It just enables you to move the the cal defecit you chose. Wegovy has much more side effects so if anything that would be the one which stops you eating if you’re feeling sick. You’re no more likely to get gall stones on one over the other.

but if you chose to lose weight fast, then yes you increase the risk but the op may already have been on the road to this and didn’t know as obesity is the other major cause.

I've just had to abandon Wegovy after 6 weeks and go back on Mounjaro (whilst sobbing into tea while viewing bank balance 🙈)as for me Wegovy caused dreadful acid and nausea and I also lost no weight at all and the suppression plummeted- switching was a waste of money for me. I had a little acid on MJ but not as horrific as Wegovy, nowhere near. I am very lucky I had my gallbladder out years ago but with the acid I got can only imagine how horrific the affect on it might have been if I had still had it.

MJ absolutely stopped me eating from the start- huge suppression. When I switched to Wegovy (now had to switch back to MJ) I had almost no suppression as well as the awful gastric issues.

So basically (with advice from the gp) i can go back on mj aslong as I make sure im eating sufficiently so I'm not losing weight to quickly, is that correct? The thing that is niggling at me is ive not had an 'attack' since I came off mj but i am struggling without unfortunately

I don't think it's the speed... I think it's the method of weight loss (low fat / VLCD) and the amount lost

20 years ago I lost 50lbs in 6 months with a very low calorie diet, 6 months afterwards I had a GB attack and over 75 gallstones were found. I never had any Gb issues before that and ended up having my gallbladder out.

I really don’t think you should be getting advice from the internet, you need to speak to your doctor. None of us are qualified to advice you on how to manage your weight loss with medication with gall stones.

It’s also speed :

Gallstones are hardened deposits of bile—mostly cholesterol or bilirubin—that form in the gallbladder due to chemical imbalances, often when bile contains too much cholesterol, too much bilirubin, or the gallbladder does not empty properly. Key risks include obesity, rapid weight loss, high-fat/low-fiber diets, being female, and being over 40.
nhs.uk +4
Primary Causes and Factors

• Excess Cholesterol: The most common cause, where the liver excretes more cholesterol than bile can dissolve, causing it to crystallize.
• Excess Bilirubin
• :
• A waste product from broken-down red blood cells, which can form dark "pigment stones".
• Gallbladder Stasis: If the gallbladder does not empty completely or often enough, bile becomes concentrated and forms stones.
• Dietary Habits: Diets high in fat and sugar, and low in fiber, are linked to higher risks.
• Rapid Weight Loss: Fast weight loss causes the liver to secrete extra cholesterol, and rapid metabolism changes can cause stones

I literally said with advice from my gp.......

I don't think a 50lbs loss in 6 months (2lbs per week) is considered rapid weight loss. Or maybe it should be...

My diet at the time was not high fat, just low calories

And from the prescribing pharmacy. Some have differing approaches to gallstones I believe.

Chronometer (calorie counting app) gives a warning if setting 2lb a week as weight loss target, advising that 2lbs a week is an extreme weight loss plan. 2 lbs or more lost in a week at the beginning of a diet is mainly water, but if it’s sustained for 6 months then it’s consistently 2lbs a week of fat and muscle etc being lost - I guess that’s when it becomes rapid weight loss.

Yes, 2lbs weekly weight loss is high -

But in this forum people are aiming fir and consider anything less as 'slow weight loss'

That is why I said that maybe it should be considered 'rapid weight loss'

No it isn’t high and considered healthy. It would indicate the op likely already had gall stones. Or her diet was lacking in fibre or fat.