**Importance of Vitamins**

For those who slack on vitamins, don't get lab work done, etc... heed these words.... One woman in our support group's mother had WLS 5 years ago. At some point she stopped taking her vitamins and stopped getting lab work done. She is in the hospital now with a bowel obstruction but she is too weak for them to operate. She is severely malnourished due to the vitamin deficiencies and her body has been feeding on her own organs. I know that Kathie in Hawaii here on OH had tons of health problems and even a heart attack and stroke only to find out she had a thiamine (B1) deficiency. One extra vitamin...one pill a day...could have prevented all of that. (Read the entry at the top of her profile http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=J1013741802 ) When we sign up for this surgery, we need to sign up for all that it entails. We must take our vitamins, we need a diet rich in protein and we need to have our blood work done regularly. That is for life. Be strong, be well and most of all be healthy! Kathy

I second that... we had a woman in my support group who passed away shortly after I started looking into surgery... Apparently, she didn't take vits from the beginning, claimed they tasted "nasty" and she felt great. Also didn't have labs done... Eventually, she started feeling bad and by the time she got it looked at, she was severely malnourished. She started taking her vits about 2 years out but by then, it was too late. Her body shut down...