Dizziness after Gallbladder Removal? Potassium?

Hi Friends,

I'm 7 months post-op VSG and have done really, really well so far.  About a month ago I started getting gallbladder pains, and my bariatric surgeon and I decided that my gallbladder needed to come out.  I'm now 3 weeks post-op GB removal and ever since I've experienced dizziness when I stand up.  It only lasts for a few seconds, then goes away.  

I called my surgeon's office and they sent me to the nutritionist, who asked the normal questions like "Are you drinking enough?", and after being satisfied with the answers, she looked at my potassium levels from the PRE-op blood work and I was on the very low end of normal (3.6).  She suggested I try to get a bit more potassium through food.  

So here are my questions:

1) Has anyone experienced dizziness after GB surgery before?  If so, what was it attributed to?

2) As a VSGer, I try to eat 600-800 calories a day, and I track religiously in MyFitnessPal.  MFP says that the daily recommended potassium is 3500mg and I'm not hitting that.  As VSGers, do we still need to try to meet those daily recommended amounts or do we have adjusted amounts based on our caloric intake?  My nutritionist couldn't give me any of this info and I'm hoping one of yours did!

3) Does anyone take potassium supplements?  

Thanks in advance!

I had my GB out several years before WLS, and it took about a month until I felt "normal."

Have you checked your blood pressure? I recall mine being a bit out of whack, especially due to painkillers, and that can cause dizziness.

Had mine out over Christmas, but it did not seem to induce any added dizziness. I have had it occur though for a variety of other reasons that I will list out.

1. Dehydration.
2. Sodium- all that clean whole food eating dropped my sodium levels, and once I added some in it cleared up nearly all of it. Powerade zero might help you, as it has sodium and I believe some potassium as well. 
3. Low blood sugar. If you are going low carb, get dizzy and feel better about 15 minutes after eating a little something this may be the culprit.
4. Medication- as we lose weight medication needs change. If you take blood pressure medicine, metformin, etc. it may need to be adjusted. 

I do on occasion take potassium supplements, and usually some calf cramping is what indicates to me that it is time to take something. 

Potassium can be a hard nut to crack if one is low - it is not supplemented well (US OTC limit is about 3% of RDA) and most of the best dietary sources are tied to carbs (potatoes, bananas, melons, citrus) which aren't the most popular things with today's diet fashions (or even any type of diet that's as low calorie as most of us are. The official RDA's apply to a "typical" 2000 calorie per day diet, however adjustments for different calorie levels are not necessarily proportional - that's where a good RD and some individual lab testing come into play to determine appropriate levels for an individual.

Whether Potassium is the root of your dizziness or not is debatable - happyteacher has good suggestions for common causes for dizziness - electrolyte imbalances can cause some weird things, so it can't be totally discounted, but if you are short on it pre-op, it bears paying attention to it long term. My wife is also chronically low on Potassium (from long before her WLS) and does supplement with Rx supplements as well as boosting it as much as she can in her diet (primarily her near-daily smoothie of bananas, strawberries, tangerine juice, protein powder and whatever else is around - not exactly low cal or a "diet" food, but works for her in maintenance). The best non-Rx supplement/source of Potassium that I have found is the low sodium version of V8 juice, as about 800mg per cup, and about 50 calories.