Trouble After 11 Years

Hi Everyone,

I'm Cheryl. Had my surgery 1-11-99.  Lost 250 lbs. and have been maintaining my weight with fluctuations up and down of 5-10 lbs. for years.  Now since 11/09 I've lost 13 lbs. or more without trying and have discovered I have severe anemia and other extreme vitamin deficiencies (D, calcium, etc).  I felt fine...strong, energetic and healthy...so I admit being lax in taking some supplements.  I have numbness and tingling from torso down but much worse in hands and feet.  Hardest to do anything with my hands.  Seeing several doctors to get vitamins back up, rule out other things, and will see a gastroenterologist to check on malabsorption issues and digestion problems.  Drs. going very slow.  Also taking Ensure and Boost to get more protein right now.  In the meantime, has anyone had this kind of experience?  Any additional advice?  Thank you! 

Wow, have you seen your surgeon yet? I don't think Ensure or Boost are sufficient if you are needing to increase protien. Sounds like it will be a long road for you, I hope you will be active on the boards, there are so many knowledgeable people here, and lots of good advice. Best of luck!!

Hi Emilie,

Thank you for your kind words and advice.  I appreciate everything I've heard and learned here so far.  I contacted the surgeon's office to make an appt.  They may have been closed due to all the snow received last night...so hoping they'll call tomorrow.  It's been 10 years since I've seen him.  Trying to digest it all and get the right vitamins and a decent protein supplement.  Hopefully soon I have some progress to report!
Take care.

Sorry you're having problems. I'm glad you came here to get help sorting things out, and am glad you are having docs address the deficiencies.

I'm only 2 years out, and have been on top of the labs so don't have anything too out of whack, but want to say that some of the advice I've gotten here has been FAR superior to what I've gotten from my PCP, surgeon and his nut.

Make sure that the docs helping you are familiar with mal-absorption, and preferably with DS.

If Vitalady sees this, she is also very helpful in helping sort out sad labs. You may want to post what supplements you are currently taking, and see what suggestions the vets have. It helps to compare what you're taking to the other DSers too. If you've gotten any lab work back yet, you should post those number too.

Thank you Bearmom...for all your advice.  Congratulations on your success too! 

I am trying to get my labs and post those and what I'm taking currently.  Doctors know I've had bypass surgery but I haven't mentioned the DS or the malnutrition that can be associated with it.  I'll advise them of that.  I also will be getting on a much more intense vit regimin too.

Thank you for your advice and kind words.
Take care!

I would suggest sending an email to Vitalady ( her website is www.vitalady.com) once you get a copy of a full set of labs. She may suggest you go on her fix-it plan and about 5 good protein isolate blend shakes a day. If you would like a copy of her fix-it plan and her basic DS plan, send me a PM that includes an email address I can use to forward you copies of each plan.

--gina 

With the symptoms you are experiencing, you probably need to contact your surgeon/PCP about an iron infusion for the anemia. I would also suggest contacting Vitalady to see what her recommendations are for a vitamin regime to get your numbers up.

If you could provide more details regarding your actual vitamin regime and your lab numbers, that would be helpful as well.

If it were me, I would go for a whey isolate protein for protein supplementation. I like Champion Whey nutrition--I buy it at Vitamin Shoppe. You can order some different protein samples from Vitalady to find a flavor that you like. You should be consuming at least 100 g. of protein each day for your post-op DS body needs.

Please do not allow this situation to continue any longer.

 By all means do what Gina suggested.  The time to fix this is now.  Don't wait.  Ensure and Boost are not for you.  Get some REAL protein shakes.  And start taking b-complex and d3 right away.  AND some kind of water miscible ADEK.

Here's the scoop.  Things have changed in the last 11 years since you had your surgery.  Vitamin and protein requirements have gone up and up.  Start hanging out here a couple times a day and read.  Ask questions and get up to date.

Good luck!

 The numbing and tingling can be neuropathy  from vitamin deficits.  Or, it might be lack of B vitamins which you should start ASAP if you have not already.  Do you take sub lingual Bs now? 

Just a side note, too much vitamin B6 can also cause neuropathy.  Luckily, this kind of neuropathy is reversible by bringing the B6 down to a normal level.

Just throwing out this bit of info on the unlikely chance your B6 level is high.


Jeremy