Really Shocked with 3 Month Labs

I have not been doing Vitalady's program for one reason.  My husband said that he wanted me to follow my surgeon's recommendations (the bare minimums****il I got a report back that I needed more.

So, I had my first labs drawn.  Everything was normal except vit D.  I was really shocked. 

All I take is  1 Centrum, 1,000 od calcium, 65 of iron, 1,000 vit c, High Pot B Complex, and a combined ADEK each day.

What's up?

My protein was also normal, and I srink no shakes and eat no bars.

I was hoping that these results would be enough to convince my husband to pay for Vitaladys regimne.

Sure they're normal at three months.    Mine were normal at three months.   By twelve months, after faithfully following my surgeon's recommendations, my labs were in the friggin' toilet.   It has taken me THREE years to get them almost halfway decent, and that's on massive doses of vitamins a day.    I can almost guarantee you - keep that regime up and post again at one year.    Be prepared to play-catch up.   Some people get lucky for sure, but that regime is playing Russian roulette, IMHO.   

You say things were "normal", but how were the overall trends?  Do you track in a spreadsheet to compare your 3-month labs with your pre-op labs? 

Even if your levels are still "within range" that might help you spot areas that are trending down. Also, what is reference range for normies might not be ideal for us (vitamin D is a prime example). If you are trending downward, you can show that to your husband and explain that you don't want to wait until you have a serious deficiency to correct the issue. 

(Frankly, understand that finances can be difficult, but I'm a little troubled that your husband wants to wait until you're in the hole to start supplementing the way you need to. Once we get a deficiency, it can be a nightmare to bring up. Take it from me--I started on Vitalady's plan and I'm still struggling with a low a.) 

At the bare minimum, I would suggest strongly that you increase your calcium and D. The ASMBS recommends at least 1800-2400 mg of supplemental calcium for DSers. Your calcium levels might be "normal" per your bloodwork, but that could mean that your body is leeching the calcium from your bones. If you have a low D and elevated PTH, that is a sign of trouble for your bones.

EDIT: And the ASMBS recommends 2 multis per day for DSers. That's pretty standard on most surgeon's regimens. Would the ASMBS guidelines do more to convince your husband? If so, here is the link detailing their recommendations: www.asmbs.org/Newsite07/resources/bgs_final.pdf. I don't personally think they go far enough, and think Vitalady's plan more closely matches our needs, but they're better than what your surgeon has you taking.

I second what Julie said.
You are playing russian roulett with your health. you have vitamin stores in your body that will take a while to deplete but once you do you will be having a hell of a time trying to play catch-up.
All at the expense of your health.

The thing to remember is they are surgeons for a reason, they are great at cutting not vitamin deficiencies.

It takes someone living with this to know.

I'm sorry but I'd be telling my husband where to go if he where to tell me that I had to go with something that I knew would not work for me. Why should you have to pay for his shortsightedness. It's your health not his.

Almost everybody's are normal at 3 months. You could probably take nothing.

But then there is normal versus normal. Your surgeon/lab may say normal when for DSers your labs are NOT where they should be. So unless you post your actual values we don't really know if they are "normal for a DSer" or not.

I hate to see folks wait to get deficient and then try to catch up. That is when you see folks with symptoms and getting infusions and what not.

A lot of people don't even start vites until 3 months out. Your body has a lot of stores but things can trend downhill very quickly and then be difficult to bring back up.

The other question is, what labs were drawn and are they sufficient? For example, my surgeon doesnt request nearly enough tests to get a really clear view of how I am doing overall.

It's only been three months. You don't get severely deficient on much of anything three months out unless you were already down kinda low on something in the first place.

Send him here to read some of the horror stories from people who 'just followed their surgeon's recommendations".

Why in the hell would he want to risk your health for a few dollars.  Did he support your DS?  If so, he needs to support your follow up as well.   Do you really want to risk becoming a negative DS statistic?  Risk needing future infusions?  Can he risk you being too weak to get out of bed to do much of anything if your levels tank and for the months/year(s) it might take to get them back up?

DON'T play with your health and DON'T' LET HIM SABA TOGE IT EITHER.  Order the vitamins, even if he doesn't agree with it.   Tell him that the food you aren't eating and meds you are no longer needing are the tradeoff for the vites.

If you have to, ask him to use your holiday/birthday/anniversary money that he would get you gifts with for the VitaLady plan.  

I give you 6 months to a year and you are going to be in a world of hurt.  What you are taking is sufficient for a 'normie' but not you. 

Surgeons are great cutters, that's why we hire them, but 98% of them haven't even taken 6 months of nutrition classes and they suck at it, actually so do most of the nutritionists and dieticians when you are talking about DS needs.

Also, lab values have a range, for instance, most labs list a range for Vitamin D as 30 - 100 as being normal.  So if your D is 31 you are 'normal' but to gain any benefits or to get your calcium and PTH in line you need to shoot for 80 or more.  Labs will list B12 with a range of sometimes 200-800.  You can have serious symptoms of a B12 deficiency with a value of 400.  YOU need to know these things and track them or you will get told you are normal and you will NOT be normal.

Good luck,
Michele

I hate to say anything with my name mentioned here, but the ADEK is not anywhere close to a good dose for us, AND it's more expensive than taking the correct dosage!