OMG! The Nut gave me correct info on vitamins!

I have been seeing the same NUT this entire year.  Yesterday when I had my appt with her I asked her about my lab values.  My doc and everyone else said that my B12 level of 467 is fine.  My NUT freaked out.  It's entirely too low she says.   She wants it over 800. First time I have ever heard anyone (besides on here) say that.  So she tells me to increase my B12.  The Vitamin D time... mine is 22.  My doc says its okay but a little low.  My NUT tells me I immediately need to buy some Vit D 50,000 iu and take it once a week for 12 weeks and then have my levels redrawn!  She's a smart cookie! 

She was unsure why I take Centrum Silver.  She said I don't necessarily have to but its fine.  Any multivitamin would be okay.  My other levels are pretty good. 

The one thing that she said that i did not agree with was that I can take 2 Flinstone kids chewables a day.  I told her that I have heard multiple times that its not a complete enough vitamin for us to take. She said that she has heard the same exact thing multiple  times but she has done research on this and according to the "new" studies it is complete enough for an RNY patient when they are past one year out.  I told her that I am going to stick to my Centrum Silver for now.   Other than that it was a good session and she was so right on many things!  :)

My doctor and nut both told me NO to the Centrum Silver which I thought was OK being post menopausal. They said that I still need the iron and the Silver doesn't have any or enough (I can't remember). I just today got my delivery of the Bariatric Advantage Ultra Multi with Iron. The dose is 3 a day of the capsules. I have such a bad time swallowing the regular multis and can't stand the chewables any more!!

I'm glad you had a good visit!

Martha

Centrum Silver does not have iron.  But if you take iron separately, then that's OK.  Most of us need more iron than we'd get from a multi anyway.

Can you explain to me about the B12? My 3 months post-op testing....my B12 was 320. I get injections from my dr every 6 weeks because I see him every THREE weeks and he felt getting a shot every 3 weeks was too much B12.

Anyway...the NUT said it was kinda low and to make sure I don't miss any of my of my shots. When I said to my Dr I wanted to get my shot @ 3 wks, 3 wks, then I will go back to 6 weeks...because my b12 was only 320 which was low......he said 320 was fine, in fact good even. So I am confused now =/

The ASMBS recommends B12 shots once a month.  But when your level is below 400, you can get permanent nerve damage in your hands and feet.  320 is not good at all. 

Thank You Kelly. I am going to look into taking a sublingual in between maybe. The nerve thing......is that ONLY your hands and feet? I just found it weird you said that because at my 3 month app with the nurses I mentioned I had BURNING in my upper back and wasn't sure if it was an ulcer or what.....both nurses in the room agreed it was nerve pain, and I said OH...well it must be from my discs then? Thought it was weird since it was my upper back that was burning and all my blown out discs are in my lower back...but we all just summed it up and my "usual" back issues.

Guess I will be spending my evening on Google self educating re:B12, lol  Worst part is, they didn't call me until about 4 weeks AFTER I had the test....and I hadn't had a b12 shot since the test, but was due for one in a couple of days........so my b12 was probably even LOWER =/

The nerve stuff usually starts out as numbness and tingling you your hands and feet, kind of like they are falling asleep.  Without treatment (which would be increasing your B12), after six months or so, it can become permanent.  At that point, getting your B12 level up would prevent it from getting worse but won't reverse what's already going on.  Which means you could end up living the rest of your life with hands and feet that feel like they are sleep.  In severe cases,  it causes people to have trouble walking, to trip a lot and stuff.

But I don't think it would affect your back.  A lot of people seem to have back problems as they lose weight.  I think it's probably due to the change in your posture.  When you carry a lot of weight, it affects the way you stand, the way you hold your spine, etc.

Here are a couple links with some good info on B12:

http://www.health-boundaries-bite.com/new_folder/550-B12-Level.html

http://www.johndommissemd.com/b12.html

Is it your regular physician like family Dr who said your levels ok? My nut would not agree with those levels. Check with your nut before you step back to six week appts pal. 

Annette 👍

ya my regular family Dr......admittedly, I am starting to see he knows nothing about RNY, lol....but even the NUT said "Well it's not terrible, but ideally we would like to see it higher". Not sure WHICH NUT it was that called me...I get a different one every time I am there....or none at ALL on my last visit. Then my family dr said that, so I thought....ok maybe I am crazy, lol. I dunno, it's hard to figure out what is up and what is down sometimes =)

I am interested in learning more about B12 levels, too!