4 years post op and still feeling lousy

I am 4 years gastic bypass and have felt terrible since day one. I have had dietary problems since the beginning and no one, including my surgeon, take me seriously. I have post op esophogeal strictures and had six dilations the first year post op. They didn't help so I stopped having them. I am unable to ingest enough protien. It seems strange, but I can eat pretzels and some starches, but I can not tolerate fruits, veggies, salads and meats. Rice and pasta are very hard to handle also. Needless to say, I can't seem to lose any more weight than my initial 110lbs...I still have 40 to go. I have no energy and I always feel as if I am pushing myself just to get through the day. My surgeon offered no post op follow-up other than the first 4- week post op visit. I don't know if I should be taking supplements or vitamins. As of right now I take no medications, perscriptions or OTC. I am in desperate need of some help/support or whatever. Any thoughts?

Hi Jean, First off, you need to find another Doctor ASAP, If you have not been taking vitamins at all in this 4 years you better get some started very soon. You are probably down on your Iron & protein & your B Vitamins and could cause all of these probalems you are talking about. You may even need Iron Infusions which do not Hurt, but, are possibly needed if your iron levels have cuased you to become anemic. Where did you have your sugury? If you live in Arizona, there are several WLS Doctors that will help you out & get you back healthy. I don't want to scare you, but, your vitamin deficiency could be a real problem at this point. If you still have eating problems after 4 years, there are Doctors out there that will do a Scope & fix the problem. Have you gained any weight back? If nothing else get out to a store & buy Multi-viatmins today Nature-made has a Chewable that is very good tasting & full of good stuff. Oh Yeah, get on B-12 & B-complex right away as well. Good luck & keep us posted on your Health issues. If I can be of any more help. you can e-mail directly or call me at 928 763-1982 I am usually home after 3:30 in the afternoon & my days off are Tues/Wed. Marilynm the Bearlady

Jean - YES you should be taking supplements. You should be having a LOT of lab tests done on a regular basis to check on the status of your nutrition level since surgery. Email me privately and I can help guide you in a direction so that you can be your own advocate with the doctors. This is a must for all of us who have had RNY surgery. I can direct you to my online journal with many educational pages to help you get started. It is at acdlady.com/WLS_1 just add the www. part at the beginning. At the bottom of that page I have some links for a page on lab tests, calcium, vitamins, and some other things. There is music on my pages so if you are at work be forewarned. I am also willing to burn you a CD of all the information that I have managed to collect via online research if you would like. I have 250+ files on all sorts of topics that are of interest to us. You most likely are suffering from a number of deficiencies by now if you have not been doing protein shakes (whey blends or isolates) and if you have not been doing vitamins/minerals. No wonder you feel like crap. Are you in Arizona? How about a local support group? Sandy