It's NO joke folks...

HI-- coming out of lurkerdom to post that I am living (thankfully) proof that YES, vits are for life.  I was further out of RNY and was not compliant with the vits.  I was close to death, and would of probably died in front of my children, if my sis had not called and realized something was really bad.  I was taken in by ambulance and ended up being hospitalized, going sorta of wacky for a while from the brain damage and lost the ability to walk.  I was then placed in a long term facility to learn to walk again.  I subsatained pretty bad nerve damage and short term memory loss.  I wont remeber this post probably tommorow.  I am finally able to walk but live in constant pain from my damaged nerves.  This could of all been avoided if I had taken my B1 and B12.  I was on DAILY shots for a few months to get my levels back up..then weekly and now FINALLY a year + later monthly.  I will most likely never be able to work again and the emotional damage to my children will never leave.  It is sad as a mother that my children come in from school and tell me about thier day...or my preteen tells me about her ever changing life and I wont remeber it tomorrow.  Every day memories of my growing children vanish as I sleep.  SO-- finally please please take those vits...a few minutes out of the day is nothing to lose compared to your life. 

Oh no. I'm TERRIBLE about this. __________________________________________ After reading the original post, I marched into the kitchen, got out all my supplements and took them--well, not everything but that's only because iron and calcium don't mix. I have to do this everyday, I just can't keep forgetting. PS--I need a complete list of the bloodwork we need to have annually--does anyone have this?

Bekah... I just finished an arse kicking about vitamins and then read this!  Your arse kicking is MUCH better than mine!  I hope EVERYONE reads this post as I get tired of telling people what a schmuck I was for not taking my vitamins faithfully...every day.  The thing is...I did take them for the most part,  just not enough and not as regularly as I should have. (thought they were too expensive and taste was getting sooo old and boring...I had all kinds of excuses)  I was not eating as many calories as I thought I was...My calories and intake varied from 600-1600 on any given day because I eat such a variety of foods and once I learned that I was eating so much less than I thought...I realised that those vitamins might have kept me healthier than I am now.... Of course going to get your labs regularly is also SOOOOOO important...(another reason I didn't act on taking vits sooner) I just didn't know because I felt FINE! So PLEASE GET YOUR LABS REGULARLY in addition to taking your vitamins and supplements!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for the post...If that doesn't make one think twice...I don't know what will! Hugs, Anita

Bekah, I can't seem to stress enough how important vitamins and minerals are. I try to post all the time to those who have questions. A few major things I would like to add to this is stop buying Flinstones and Centrum, you are wasting your money but worse you are not getting what you need. Go to the experts who have put together the proper levels you need to do good for your body. Please stop acting like children and take the responsibility for your health. Bekah is right. I see this also. Dehydration and malnutrition.Go to the people who have scientist and doctors doing this work. Do you homework and you will get the results and benefits you can NOT get through food. You can't absorb vitamins that are hard compressed pills, they will sit in your pouch for weeks.  Your vits and minerals need to be in a pure powder form that will disolve immediately and if you buy a decent formula you an skip one day because its not the junk you see in the foodstore or drug stores. Know the difference IU vs MG so you are taking the right amounts. If you buy from a reputable manufacturer who has trained employees who have learned this from proper training you will be able to contact them any time you have a question. Now Bekah about this girl...maybe she "can't afford to buy" them or even spend money for food. There are organizations one I'm a donor to is Vitamin Angels or contact a co. directly tell them the situation. They may be able to help you or refer you to where you can get your vitamin free or for a small fee.

mirabelle so what vitamins do u take?? im starting to hear so much about pills and capsules not working for rny patients.  im scared because recently i had trouble with my iron level.  i was taking iron supplements and my ulcer got worse. now im off to see the gastro again, and have stopped the iron? help jacki

Jacki, You can see all my vits listed on my profile. Also on my Accountability posts...I post them everyday but not yesterday. Yesterday I was trying to figure out exactly what was causing my reaction and stop everything other than fish and protein drink. Turns out it was avocado and cucumbers, which are related to the latex allergy I have. All my vits, minerals and other supps are listed on my profile, just scroll down and you will see it., I get all my vitamins from ProCapsLabs.com actually I never order them online I have an autoship and if I need it sooner I just call.  I have had anemia and low ferritin issues since childhood. I don't eat meat and that what the dr's blamed it on. I couldn't digest it before surgery I certainly can't now. A little  now and then ground veal or beef I can handle like once a yr. Blood transfusions & iron infusions were not uncommon prior to weightloss surgery and I was faithly taking scripts for iron and nothing helped.   March 2007 I had my last infusions and after a few weeks my iron was dropping. I had been doing some researching for some  lawyer and came across some info about B12. I asked my oncologist if he would be against me taking 2 shots a week...he wasn't sure it would help but was sure it would create new red corpusules so he said give it a try. Mar 2007 ferritin was 300, by Aug I dropped to 122 then Sept 127 and Nov 138 and Dec 147. It reversed. I'm still holding at 148 as of Feb. I had been taking one B12 shot per week  for 2 yrs prior to that once per month since I was in my 20's. So here is what I did; increased shots 1000mg with his permission to 2 per week,  increased my Omega 3 from 2000mg to 4000mg,  increased my protein to 100+ grams  Now I am not sure if it's the combo or just the 2nd B12 shot  however my oncologist started to take notes so he can try this with his patients. I still have not taken any iron and there is no iron in my multi pak. My iron was so low it was un-readable when I had my last infusions so for the first time since I was 5 my stored iron which is ferritin is normal. My bariatric surgeon was very concerned and my oncologist was in touch with him after my wls to make sure every 3 weeks we were checking it. I can't wait to see him on the 21st so I can see where my levels are at. If its higher I am on to something here that may help WLS patients. I had oncologist in Phila, Mass...NYC and now I live in Fl no one could ever find out where my blood was going since I was not bleeding in my stomach nor rectal. Still a mystery but finally I found a oncologist *****ally cared and insisted on infusions...all those yrs and never knew until 2001 there was such a thing. They just kept transfusing blood. I hope some of this info helps you. As you can see its up to us! Jacki if you have any questions just send me an email.

Hi Mirabelle...what a great post. I'm battling a low ferritin...just getting an appt w/ hemtologist. Can you get enough omega 3's from coro-mega, or do you prefer another source. I sure agree with you re: high quality vites! Marilyn

My ferritin is 8. I just went for my consult with a hematologist yesterday. He said my b12 was excellent, it is 1024, my hemogloban is good and my ferritin is not low enough for him to recommend iron infusions. Yet, i am still tired all the time and he showed me my results over the past 4 years of blood work and i am not anemic. now what is wrong with me? i can literally sleep all night and get up and be tired all day and if i close my eyes at any point, i want to sleep. i take calcium *seperately*, ferrous sulfate 325 mg. b12 and a multi vitamin. i am now at a loss. i thought i was going to get 'cured'. guess not. he said get labs ran again in 3 months. 3 months of excessive tiredness? yikes. i may lose my job.

I dont' know...there is nothing wrong with centrum if you are using it as a base vitamin.  It's kind of the vitamin I take to cover all my bases....but to it i add 2 B complexes. calcium, extra D, extra A, zinc, and iron.   I think it would be a waste of money to buy a more expensive multi only becuse I have to add so much to it anyway...KWIM?  My labs are perfect by the way....so i guess it depends on how you are using centrum ....it defintely is not enough as a stand alone suppliment for those that are post op RNY or DS.  Scott

I totally agree...But you put it far nicer than I was going to