Confession Time

OK - I'm coming out of the closet with my wls difficulties. I have neuropathy in my right foot, ankle, leg, and up into my knee!!! I made the mistake of allowing my surgeon to dictate my vitamins and my health - big mistake!!!!!! But that's done and can't be undone - so I'm on to the future now!!! Research is the key here!!!! Everyone's body does different things after wls. Mine doesn't seem to use the vitamins that are there. My b12 was high on my last labs so they said I didn't need any - WRONG!!!! I'll not make that mistake again. If you want to read some info on vitamins and what we need and why we need it you can go to headbattles.com and there is a ton of information. I'm going to the neurologist on Wednesday. I'm hearing that it's important to find one that is wls friendly, I don't know if mine is, but it's a start!! I'm also suffering from "dizzy spells". They started out just once in a while, when I first stood up... but they've progressed now to all different times. The other day it was so bad I was sitting in church and my dh asked if I needed to leave, I told him that I didn't think I could stand up and walk out the door!! I'm not sure where this is coming from. I just got a sugar testing machine, so I'm going to track it and see if my sugar is dropping too low. But this too could be vitamin related ICKS - I'm overwhelmed with vitamins and medications and machines right now. Deep breath - I need to just take one step at a time!!!! Watch youself!!!! Watch for symptoms and don't ignore them until it's real bad like I did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Laurie

Laurie You are doing the right thing now. Don't think for a minute that you ignored symptoms any longer than the average person. I know that you will get to the root of the vitamin/nutrition mystery and come out on top!

Laurie thank you for your post and the information. I hope you get some answeres from the neurologisat!!! Good luck to you!!! Hugs, Stef

Hi, Laurie! Good luck with the neurologist. I see my PCP tomorrow morning to talk to her about my own neuropathy issues and talk to her about seeing a neurologist. Sigh. I've had some dizziness when getting up from being seated but it seems to have passed. I've never felt like I couldn't get up though. I hope your neurologist has answers for you. How often are you eating/drinking protein shakes? I have something about every 3 hours or so and my blood sugars seem to stay very stable. Be sure to check your sugar when you feel funky - always best to be safe. Some folks get reactive hypoglycemia after surgery. Basically if you eat something carby (whatever your body sees as carby, I guess), your body reacts with too much insulin causing your blood sugar to go down rather than level off. The ways to avoid that are to limit the amount of carbs you eat at one time, to eat mixed meals...protein, fat and even some carbs (fat helps slow down the rise of blood sugar in reaction to the intake of carbs) and to eat every few hours. I'll be thinking of you. Hugs, Kathy

Kathy I drink two a day. One am and one pm for a total of 52 grams of protein in drink form. Apart from that I eat every 2 - 3 hours. I still don't eat much at one time so I have to do the frequent meals of I couldn't possilbe eat enough. I don't eat bad carbs on a regular basis. Yesterday I did eat a teaspoon of mashed potatoes (with cheese and sour cream). But jsut one little bit to satisfy my desire for it. Haven't gone into the bread and rice stuff at all. I'm checking my numbers am before eating, then after lunch, then when I have a dizzy spell. We'll see if that gets it or not. Laurie

Laurie, What are the signs of Neuropathy? I am having tingling in my hands and feet and they are constantly going to sleep. I have wondered if I have added neuropathy to the growing list of things going wrong.

tingling is a sign of neuropathy. My foot "slaps" the floor as well. I sound funny when I walk. That's called drop foot. You may want to talk to your pcp about it at your next appointment. Don't wait until it's bad. Mine is 100% of the time. I haven't had normal feeling in my leg for over three weeks now. Hugs, Laurie

OMG! Thank you for posting! I really hope you get things worked out. But, because of your post, I just did a little research about neuropathy because I didn't know what it was. I thought the tingling in my feet were just caused by my blood circulation being cut off. Now, I'm thinking maybe it's B-12 deficiency. So, I'm going to start taking a liquid B12 and see if that doesn't stop the tingling. I guess if if doesn't, I better get my a$$ to a neurologist!

Gee, Laurie, I'm sorry to hear you are having problems. I hope you get better soon. Hugs, Tracy

Laurie, I have to tell you that I feel angry that some of these surgeons are not giving their patients enough education about vitamins. Mine has me on a prescription vitamin called Foltran (I think, I have the generic and it has a weird name). Anyway, it is a multi-vitamin loaded with B12 and iron. Then she also has me taking 1000 mg of chewable calcium citrate a day. I also take 1000 mg of omega 3 fish oils and biotin. I also added a daily b12 sublingual, because I'm so worried about b12 problems. I've met so many WLS patients with problems from b12 deficiencies. We can't sell ourselves short on this. Our bodies are now designed to absorb less calories and nutrients! I hope you find relief soon and thanks so much for posting. Lori 384/274/170