i feel like im dieing..

friday is my 2 year surgiversary.. and i did wonderful until 8 mths ago or so i slacked off on my vitamins.. you would "think" in your mind, if you can gain 10 lbs, then you can absorb nutrients.. i guess i was wrong. my PCP called me with my lab results and said my ferritin is less than 1 almost non-existent.. and that my B12 was 142.. i have an appt with the WLS doc friday and im sure he will chew me out for not being compliant with my vit's. I went today and bought ferrous sulfate and my optisource multivitamins and dosed up on them.. of course i feel like total crap. no energy, headache, chest hurting.. the pcp said i would more than likely have to see a hematologist and get infusions.. has anyone else been able to pull out of this hole i dug myself in without the infusions?  thanks for any advice..  instead of celebrating my 2 yrs of 150 lbs lost, im backpeddling and almost killing myself by not taking vitamins. who would of thought!

About 6 monthsr ago I was in your shoes. I became complacent to where my vitamins just weren't on the top of my priority list. Oh, I had taken them (when I remembered), but I did it with milk. Stupid! I was so tired that I slept most of the day and all night. When I had to leave the house it took me nearly two hours to get myself presentable. I remember one day in particular that I was so weak I couldn't open the door to a restaurant. I waited for someone to come along and I scooted in behind him. My husband made me see the doc and I was shocked to see my lab results. She started me on Ferrus Sulfate 3x's a day on a Friday. If by Monday I wasn't feeling any better, I was to go to the ER for injections. My husband made sure I took the iron with OJ as prescribed. By Monday I was feeling better and I've been good so far. I definitely learned my lesson. See if your doc will give you a specific time limit - as mine did- to see if your body will react to the iron pills. If you're not feeling any change, then go in for the injections. It may be worth a try. No hurt in asking. I hope you feel better soon. Bex

its good to hear that you were able to bring it back up and feel better now! i hope you keep feeling better and thanks so much for the input!

Jen... THROW AWAY the ferrous sulfate...You cannot absorb Iron salts. I was in your shoes just over 3 months ago.  You have a different cause of anemia than I did. Your anemia is being caused by your B-12 deficiency (pernicious anemia)   I did a TON of research on my own and decided to try to find the best way to avoid infusions and transfusions. But I have Iron deficiency anemia which is different...I was able to get my red blood cells back and got my ferritin from 5 up to 16 in two months.  My B-12 was not  the cause of my anemia...YOU will more than likely end up with B-12 injections right away...but the oral to take is Carbonyl iron.  It is non toxic and gentle/tender on your body.  (Unlike ferrous sulfate which has  terrible side effects and is not absorbed anyway) I chew 325 mg of chewable Tender Iron that I get from Vitalady.com. (13 tablets) which I chew along with Vit C as ascorbic acid.  I also take 2 mg copper capsule and dry Vit A capsule.  (Both aid in iron absorption)  I am also Vit A deficient so taking Vit A was an added bonus to helping with non-heme iron absorption. I'm not a doctor...or a nurse...or any type of medical practitioner.  I'm just a WLS person whose doctor didn't know how to treat me and so I took my health in my own hands and did research to help myself.  Almost every person  I spoke  to who had anemia told me that I could not raise my iron levels with oral iron only....I proved them wrong.  There are others too who have found that carbonyl iron (Tender Iron) is working for  them too.  With your  ferritin being as low as it is and your B-12 as well...I honestly don't see how you can avoid infusions..You are beyond dangerously low, sweetie.  Infusions will definitely help you feel better over time and Tender Iron should be what you take for supps thereafter in my humble experience and opinion.  I wrote your post 3 months ago...almost word for word....So I know what you are going thru.  Who knew?  Not me, that's for sure.  I kick everyone in the butt about vits now that I have become deficient in nearly all of my vitamins because like you, I was not religious in taking them all. I did take my B Vits...and I'm not deficient there!  So that alone proved to my stubborn self that I really did this myself. I was determined to fix it.  So far so good.  Still working on raising my iron much higher and some of my vit levels too.  I wish you much luck... Please don't take the ferrous sulfate...You don't have to suffer the horrible side effects...You can order Tender Iron here http://www.vitalady.com/ Bariatric Advantage is also Carbonyl Iron....however you will pay 6 times the price for it over Vitalady's Tender Iron at only $16.  Hugs

My Target pharmacy orders carbonyl iron in for me. A 200ct bottle of 25mg is only 4.49. Vitalady's is $16 for 400. (Hey, I love Vitalady too.. and order all my protein and D from them.. but Target is 1/2 price :-)

I go thru 400 tablets of Tender Iron a month!  LOL (been thru 3 bottles now!)  It's working with no side effects so I'm not complaining. I totally escaped a blood transfusion for my blood cell production and iron infusions...I feel soooooo lucky that I'm not changing a thing just yet. LOL  Know what I mean?  But I'm glad to know I have an alternative if I forget to order or run out by accident and forget my iron on a road trip or something....Good to know that I can find it elsewhere! I've seen other brands of Tender Iron but they are not chewable. Is the one you get from Target a chewable? I prefer to chew most of my vitamins...(I have strong gag reflexes since surgery)  I'm getting better at swallowing yucky tasting B Complex and smaller capsules....but I still like the idea of chewing for absorption purposes also.  I just feel that absorption is far more successful when it can start digestion right in the mouth with saliva enzymes.  Many times too, some vitamins will irritate and burn the heck outta my pouch when it sits there in pill form and then it repeats on me for an hour or longer... I looked at the price for the BA iron...HOLY MOLY!  It would cost over $100 a month for me to buy that stuff right now while I am working on bringing my iron up...Incredible!  Thanks for the info!

I don't know if it's chewable.. I've never tried it that way.

Thanks so much anita! You have a wealth of information.. and i appreciate it! I wonder why they recommend the ferrous sulfate if we can't absorb it anyways? do you know the risks from my levels being this low? When I look up the information I don't really find much on anyone being as low as I am. Usually its a 3 or higher and B12 in the 300's or something.. so I don't really have much to go on there.. I hope I haven't done any irreversible damage to my body. I'm really dreading tomorrow he will probably send me to the hospital for infusions right then after yelling at me for non-compliance. but I deserve it! I'm going to definitely check into the vitalady's vitamins and see if he thinks that would help me more to take those.. sounds like it will! What are the side effects of ferrous sulfate? constipation? Sorry for so many questions!!! Thanks again!

I don't know why they do (IMHO...it's laziness to do the research)...My doc gave me a script for Ferrous sulfate too...and by the third day I had some of the worst cramping and aches..severe constipation and a horrible bloody metallic repeating taste in my mouth.  I felt nauseas and bloated and awful....My posts were frantic there for a while trying to figure out what on earth to do....and the more I read the more I leaned towards Carbonyl Iron that I had ordered to try anyway by accident....When I found out it was the iron that kept showing the best results in my own personal research...I began intense research into it...that's what I stuck with...Plus my doc was on vacation so I couldn't call her even if I trusted her after she gave me the ferrous sulfate to begin with! LOL  I love my doc for most of her care and help....she's just WLS illiterate.  She just does things by the book and we've all got rerouted plumbing and special needs that get overlooked. It's important to keep up on new and improved vitamins and lab test ranges...because docs don't often have time to update and continue to go by old book standards.  Trust YOURSELF and your instincts and your guts (literally). After taking carbonyl iron for two weeks...I realized how sick I was because my dizziness began to fade some...Didn't feel like I was going to pass out if I got my heart rate going too fast...color came back to my face...my hands and feet were not frozen solid...I didn't have blue nails and lips....I had a little more energy...My menstral blood was a weird pale thin color and over the months has gradually begun to be red again.(still a weirrd color though) This was only two weeks after taking carbonyl iron...I still have a long way to go...I have another 1.5 mos to retest... In two months of taking carbonyl iron...all my low red blood counts went into normal ranges...Low, but normal.  My my platelets came down...All the iron ranges went into normal...anything that was high went lower and anything low went higher...So I did it right!  I still have a high rate of deformed red blood cells that I am hoping will be lower next test since my iron is raising.   YOU need to take it easy and not fight your blood for oxygen. Your organs especially heart and brain need that oxygen much more than you need to exercise....I was put on bed rest...(which I was not into at all) but i did take it waaaay down to almost no activity at all.  My husband was even doing the vacuuming ( I have three levels in my house and it took a lot outta me) I had to cut my calories to try to maintain my weight so I didn't gain any during that time...It was hard!  It still is!  Especially now that I have more energy again and am more active...my appettite grew too!  UGH! My appettie is much faster than my energy to exercise!  LOL  Same old , same old! Please take it easy.  Anemia is dangerous to your heart and brain...B-12 deficiency is no lightweight either...The combo is quite dangerous...and that's why you will more than likely have infusions and B-12 injections..(The B-12 injections will probably be forever)  But that's quick and easy and hopefully you'll only need those infrequently...Just relax and let the specialists do what they gotta do to get you outta that red zone and healthy again.  Once your B-12 levels come up, your iron levels should move up right along with the B-12.   Good luck and keep us updated! I want to know how you are doing. It's a sloooooow process so I have learned...But it gets better and better...Be good to yourself now and heal. Do talk to the specialist about iron absorption. Remind him that iron salts need stomach acid (which you don't have enough of with your pouch) and the first part of the small intestine (which is bypassed) to even begin to absorb Ferrous sulfate.  He will be more inclined to research this himself and see that this is correct ...Even Bariatric Advantage changed their formula to carbonyl iron during the time I was researching this all...One day it was a chelated Iron, i think???...can't even remember what it was....next day it was a carbonyl!  That says something when a company that specifically caters to WLS people begin using carbonyl iron as their iron supp!  Here's some reading and you might even print some of the info for your doc. Carbonyl Iron Study (1987) http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/cgi/content/abstra ct/67/3/745 Carbonyl Iron Therapy for Iron Deficiency Anemia (2008)

half of the fortification. iron now used is carbonyl. iron,. the high .... for carbonyl. iron in 20 nonanemic. volunteers. and in 32 patients ... www.bloodjournal.org/cgi/reprint/67/3/745.pdf - Similar pages

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Jennifer, ouch those numbers are low no wonder you are feeling so bad.  I suggest you find another iron, carbonyl iron is much gentler on the pouch and easier for us to absorb.  You should probably consider working with your surgeon or PCP to begin B-12 injections also, you need to get your iron and B-12 up ASAP.  B vitamin deficiency can cause permanent damage, please girl work diligently to correct these deficiencies.  Yep, iron infusions will probably be necessary to bring your ferritin up with extra iron taken daily.  I recommend Tender Iron from Vitalady, as it has been the easiest one for me to take, but there are other carbonyl irons available if you wish to go that route. Let us know what your surgeon says.