Have you had your PTH checked? Make sure you do.

Just wondering if those RNY'ers out there get this checked regularly because it will tell if your body is utilizing calcium and Vit D properly.

The further out we get, the chances for mal-absorption of our vitamins and minerals increases and we also tend to get lax about taking them.  Winter is coming and the grey skies will take over and also deplete us more of our Vit D. 

The PTH test is the parathyroid gland test and is separate from the regular thyroid gland.  It is also in the neck but a different gland.  

My husband and I both have had RNY are both tested as having elevated PTH levels meaning hyperparathyroid  disease...we both have to monitor our Vit D levels closely and take additional tablets of it...we also have to take our calcium daily and our vitamins...The weird thing is, we've both been so very compliant in taking our vitamins and our levels went haywire anyways...In the long run, our bodies will start to leech calcium and vites out of our bones if not taken control of now with supplements.  It'll probably be a life long thing now...

Another thing that some doctors with the Federal Gov have found is that my husband's seizure 24 mos ago that curtailed his air traffic control career may have been caused by this mal-absorption of vitamins and high PTH.  He was stripped of his medical clearance for 24 mos due to this issue and finally, after a long 24 mos, was granted permission to work planes again, only if he has his levels checked by blood test every 3 mos and keep up with the supplementation.  There's no real "proof" as to what caused the seizure, our brain's don't have a hard drive that we can go back to to check the real cause, but, his docs at the Neurological center at Columbia Presbyterian Hosp. in NYC (one of the best on the East coast) and the FAA docs (some from DC, some special consultants at the Mayo clinic) and  others have all concluded the same thing...

If this post can prevent one more RNY'er from having this happen, I've done my job in getting the word out.  I'd hate to see someone have a seizure over this.  Our doc's don't always want to admit that RNY is the cause of such events..they're quick to sell us the surgery, but not so quick to admit that such things are due to the surgery.  At least that's what we've found in Bob's situation. Maybe this is why I didn't go back for my check up for so long...My regular doc was taking care of my levels for me...but I did go back...I see the APRN

Maybe it's time for someone/place to do an analysis of RNY patients to see how many have high PTH and mal-absorption and have had seizures (un-provoked ones and no history of epilepsy prior to surgery)...maybe the surgeons will then recognize this condition more carefully.

ONE LAST THING....

KEEP TAKING ALL OF YOUR VITAMINS..DAILY...IT'S VERY, VERY, VERY IMPORTANT...THE BLOOD TESTS MAY SHOW YOU'RE OK NOW (EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT TAKING THEM) BUT IN THE LONG RUN, YOUR LEVELS WILL GO HAYWIRE...DO YOURSELF A HUGE FAVOR NOW...

MULTI VITAMIN, B-12, CALCIUM AND VIT D AND WHATEVER YOUR DOC WANTS YOU TO TAKE.

Good luck all!

Paula

wow Paula,  Very interesting. 
You must have been going crazy.
I take my Vitamins and supplements faithfully but I still see the affects of the surgery on me.  My nails grow but they peel and spilt and just flake off.  And other things.
If I had to do it over again I would do the surgery where they make a pouch of the stomach and do NOT reroute the intestines.  But I didn't know there were other options.  I thought there was just the band and RNY.
Again, thanks for a very interesting post.
also i hoope your husband is fine. 

Well, when we were having our surgeries, not too many doctors around here were doing any other surgery than RNY and Lap Band...there still are only a few that do the sleeve and pouch thing. 

I think I would have done it differently, too.  I can't stand the diarrahea from any fats that I eat and now dealing with the other PTH and iron issues.

I'm hungry a lot and never quite fell full...I'll see Aranow in Jan and see what he says.  I have a feeling that he'll dismiss that I have the rapid evacuation of my pouch...he'll say to stop eating this or that...but, he'll make me chug a lot of water and when he sees I can down a huge amount without filling up, maybe he'll send me for some tests...who knows?  Can you tell I'm not happy with his attitude?  It's cause he was glib about Bob's seizure and it's correlation with the RNY...

My nails are a mess, too and my hair thinned, but that's cause my regular thyroid was going caput and now I have to take a daily thyroid supplement.

It sucks to get old!  I turned 46 on the 2nd and I feel so old.  No energy, etc.  Hopefully once I get my levels back on track, I"ll feel more like myself.

Oh, to boot...I now find out I'm a sleepwalker and do things in my sleepwalking that I have no recollection of doing.  Like taking my psych meds in large quantites and I was wondering for months why at the end of the month I was coming up short on my pills...hmmmm...even tho I have my pills in  a lock box and only I know the code!  Bob caught me several times in the box in the middle of the night.  I now had to pay 800 bucks for this computerized machine that dispenses my meds only at set certain times and now I'm safe.  It freaked me out cause felt like he or the kids would come to me in the morning and I'd be dead.  Scary.  I think it's one of my meds doing the sleepwalking, but my shrink dismissed it saying I read to much on the internet.  But, another physician told me that there are facts showing that this med can cause people to sleep walk..No, it's not Ambien, the sleeping pill which does cause it.  It's Cymbalta.

The other morning when he woke up, he opened the fridge to get out the creamer for his coffee and my purse was in there!!! I just wish that I would clean while I sleep walk, that would be grea!

I am exhausted after a walking episode.  I know when I've walked because the next day I'm really, really tired.  I guess I don't get into deep sleep stages when I do.

Ok, that's all for now...take care of yourself...

Paula