Taking your vitamins and supplements?

Hi everyone. just wanted to tell all of you that even when taking your vitamins things can happen. I am three years post RNY and have been taking iron, calcium, multivit, zinc, B12. I also make sure I get in a minimum of 80 grams protien each day.

Just had three year blood work..... my ferritan (iron storage level) has been dropping and now is only 14. I started out over 200 three years ago. Recently had bone density test done. I had my first one done two years ago and was normal, since then I have had 16% bone loss and have been diagnosed with osteopenia.... if things continue on this path could lead to osteoporosis..not good.

I have recently changed the brand of calcium citrate I was taking to bariatric advantage and upped my dose to 1200mg a day in 3 divided doses (don't take within a hour of iron).and also have added 1000IU Vit D3. I also changed my iron to Vitaladies Tender iron which is very gentle to the GI track.. I am slowly increasing my dose. I hope this will help improve my ferritan levels and along with some exercise and the increased Calcium and Vit D3 and put a halt to my bone loss.

Just want to remind all of you that it is Soooooo important to take you vitamins and supplements and be sure you get the proper blood work done at least once a year after the first year... more often during the first year.

For those of us who had RNY procedure the malabsorption that occurs make it especially difficult to get enough calcium and iron and some times other vitamins or minerals can be lacking also.

So keep track of your labs and take your vitamins and supplements and take them properly and consistantly and take the ones that absorb the best for us. Get in exercise, not just for weight loss it is necessary to strengthen our bones.

Sher

 

 

Thank you for sharing your experience Sher - sorry to hear that even though you were following all the "rules" you have to make up new ones!

This is exactly what scares me the most from the surgery - the loss of absorption ability in the body - I hope that you don't end up with osteoporosis... is this something that you are genetically prone to or is this something that you believe is caused directly from the surgery? I'm just wondering if people who are more prone to it have greater issue?

The thing about it is one size doesn't fit all with supplements - will they have to be tweaked forever? Or is it different from person to person? Can one person find that right "combo" and stay on it for the rest of their life?

I know that there will always be something to watch - right now I am a relatively healthy person - just fat - I am not on any medicine at all and do not have any known issues - although I haven't heard about the results of my blood tests - I might have chlorestorel issues....

Anyway - thanks for sharing your situation and all the information regarding supplements!

I am not genetically prone to my knowledge. None of my female relatives have had problems or broken any bones. My mom is 81 and has been told she is fine, although I believe she has a problem because she is now stooped over (has hump back).

I am post menopausal 8 years, so that along with the history of RNY and the resulting malabsorption and not taking enough calcium and Vit D is what I believe is the cause.

I have never used any specific vitamin or supplement specifically for post op RNY patients, but was previously buying ones from drug stores. So, now that I am incorporating specific ones that are known to be better absorbed I hope that will improve things for me.

All these issues are scary, but for me and the problems I had pre surgery are well worth tackleing. My life has improved so much and other medical problems have improved greatly and I am now on only a few prescription meds instead of 7. So I do not regret having surgery one bit.

It is good to be aware of what can occur and be proactive. I now keep copies of my labs and follow the levels and discuss them with my doctors and like I said changed brand and type of supplements. We need to be follwed for life. Even when we feel fantastic and think we are ok and don't have to be taking our supplements we must remember that our body needs them to stay healthy and some of these defficiencies don't show up for a few years.

Having this surgery is life changing in alot of ways, think of the future, right now you may not have any medical problems, but as we get older the risk increases especially when we have too much weight on us.

Wishing you all the best.

Sher

Dr Aranow told me that we have to keep track of our PTH, (parathyroid) too. Cause, if the levels go up, it means that our calcium may be off and in the long run, it may mean that our bodies are "leeching" the calcium from our bones, and later in life, bone breaks, etc.  Mine keeps going up and down...

I've also found that many vitamins don't assimilate or absorb in my gi track and I poop them out whole...so, wasted money with no benefit.  I've switched to all capsule form of vitamins and my levels are ok.

It is important that we at least take our mutli vitamin, calcium and b12...these three are the most important...and, added D is good too, cause we live in a "grey" state where there's not a lot of sun half of the year and our bodies just cannot make enough itself or get enough from dairy, foods, etc.

Thanks for the reminder!  Hubby had RNY, too, and he's my daily vitamin dispensor!

Paula