Health, Beauty and Lifestyle with Denise McNamara

If you’ve spent a lifetime battling weight, you will know there is no easy solution, especially once you pass 40.  It’s a complex minefield and no one fix will work for all. The adage ‘eat less, move more’ simply doesn’t cut it for a large swathe of those living with obesity.

Since 2023 a Bariatric Service has been operating in Galway University Hospitals (GUH), one of only two specialist multi-disciplinary services in the country for people dealing with the physical, emotional, mental, and social fallout of being chronically overweight.

Liz Coyle was referred by her GP eight years ago to an endocrinologist in Galway for weight. She had struggled with weight since puberty, losing stones on various diets for key milestones such as her wedding but gaining it again and more after four pregnancies.

“Each time I would lose a significant amount of weight, it would go back on and more of it. I got into the habit of yo-yo dieting but it became harder to lose as I got older. I was at the stage when I thought, do I just accept being overweight for the rest of my days.

“Then I started on [weight loss drug] Ozempic before Covid and lost 15 kilos. It worked for a while but then stopped working – there was also a problem with supply, I couldn’t get it because I wasn’t diabetic.”

Around 18 months ago she met with Professor Chris Collins, a Consultant General and Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeon who is part of the GUH Bariatric Services. He believed she was a suitable candidate for gastric sleeve surgery, where the stomach is reduced by 85%, and the remaining 15% resembles a tube.

There are fewer negative side effects than with a gastric bypass, which can result in malabsorption of nutrients, and ‘dumping syndrome’, when undigested carbs enter the intestine too quickly, causing vomiting, diarrhoea and dizziness.

Liz, who lives in Sligo, underwent a year of evaluation to determine if she was up for the challenge of the procedure.

Pictured: Before  and after Liz Coyle’s bariatric sleeve surgery at Galway University Hospital.