PLEASE help me scare the CRAP out of a DSer who is not taking her vites!!

 Just wanted to add...one of our DS surgeons has (had?  I think she's at another location right now) on his staff a nurse who was one of his earliest patients.

Part of her job was to tell OTHER patients to take their supplements.  She was surrounded by calcium supplement samples at work.  She had calcium in the car and at home.  She didn't take them.  Just didn't.

She became SERIOUSLY deficient and, when she explained it to me, her teeth and bones were at risk and she was having calcium infusions.  (I think.)


And about dying...when I tell my 86-year old mother that she has to go to her exercise class or go for walks or take her vitamins or stop OD'ing on Butterfingers, she yells out something like, "We're all going to die!  You have to accept the fact that I'm not going to live forever."

To which I respond, "Dead is okay.  But getting there is an SOB.  If you 'wake up dead' tomorrow morning, Mom, you'll deal with it right away and I'll eventually deal with it.  But if you have to spend five years tied into a wheelchair, drooling, with your legs lopped off at the knees because you wouldn't even CHECK your blood sugar or space out the carbs or go for a walk...that's a different story."

I think being told what being sick will be like works better for some of us than being told we'll die.

Sue

One of my MD's patients was in a wheelchair with the inability to walk.  Hair falling out, no energy.

Got back on track and is walking and ALIVE.  But would have been dead.  She herself has said it was complete non compliance.

 

I just found her post about it all:

When I decided to have the DS, I was going to be the "perfect postop". In 2 days, it will be 5 years since I had my surgery. The first two years I followed the rules about the protein, water and supplements. Then I reached a point where the surgery was part of the past. I felt fantastic! My bloodwork had been fine so I didn't think it would change. More and more I "forgot" my calcium and vitamins. I was eating everything and lots of it so thought it would not matter.

In January 2005 I started getting pains in my back and groin. Then the tingling pain in my feet and hands. Within months the muscles in my thighs were getting weak. I went to orthopedics thinking it was a pinched muscle/nerve. They couldn't find anything so sent me for physical therapy and to a chiropractor. The pain only got worse and the muscles didn't regain any strength. I had a new PCP (the one who had been with me for years had moved away) and she was at a loss. Then the problem took a back seat while I went through a total hysterectomy and a month later I had a kidney stone removed through my back. During that time my legs weakened even more. I started fracturing ribs from something as innocent as a hug. The pain in my legs, ribs, shoulders, feet, hands etc. made doing anything difficult.
I saw a neurologist who ordered every scan and MRI. He recommended a muscle biopsy but wanted me to see a hemotologist first because of possible multiple myeloma. She cleared me of cancer but did not like some of my bloodwork and ordered additional tests. When they came back, she told me she knew what I had but not how to treat it. She referred me to an endocrinologist who did even more bloodwork. By this time I needed a walker in my own home. I could not get in/out of the shower without help, climb stairs, walk more than half the length of the house etc. This also meant I could no longer leave the house without someone taking me. For someone who had always been extremely independent, my mental health was suffering too.

It seems my arrogance about not taking my supplements had left me with an acute vitamin D deficiency. I have osteomalacia. My PTH level was over 1000. High normal is 65. My vitamin D was 7 and calcium was 5.6. No matter how much calcium I was taking (the one thing I did keep up with) I was not absorbing any of it. Until my D level gets nearer to normal, I will not absorb it. My body was pulling all its needed calcium from my bones, that's why my ribs were fracturing. The doctors have warned me not to fall as I have a high probability of breaking my lumbar spine, neck or a hip. It's been 8 weeks since I was put on a high dose of vitamin D. All my pain is gone and I can walk on my own again. Osteomalacia is completely reversible but I will never be able to undo the damage to my bones and teeth. I'll get the results of the first bloodwork since starting the vitamin D therapy next Thurs. From there the endocrinologist will decide whether to increase the D and add more calcium. When it normalizes, I will be kept on a high dose the rest of my life.

So, NEVER, NEVER take your supplements for granted. Constantly keep reading and learning because the doctors are changing the amounts they feel we need all the time. Also, never drop out of this group or any other one that provides caring help and support. It's another thing I did when I put my surgery in the past and thought I knew everything.

Nicole & all who posted...

Just wanted to say thanks for this, not that it was directed towards me but I know that I definitely benefited from all the stories.  I've been SERIOUSLY slacking the last few weeks on my vits.  I got lazy and I hate the vitamin storage thing I have - it's huge and I end up just leaving it at home and not taking vits during the day.

I just went to the store and bought one with pop out days.  I am bookmarking this to refer back to anytime I feel myself sliding off again.  

Love my DS family!

 Wow....thank you for this.  I am bookimarking this for myself.  

I tend to get a little lax at times myself, never do I totally neglect it, but I get lax and miss days, and sometimes am not on top of my protien, I struggle with this, and this is a good lesson in what not to do.   

Each person has a level of responsibility, common sense and accountability to their physical health and well being. When she accepted to be a DSer, it took not only picking the best surgery out there, but also with the knowledge, again common sense and intelligence to what it is to be a DSer and rule #1 - COMPLIANCE or else pay the consequences for being ignorant and stupid because that is what it and not up to me to scare the crap out of no one. She is an adult and she will do whatever she wants to do. But, because of her actions, running here for help when it is too late and done that no amount of medical treatment or nutrient therapy will help catch up to the mistake she done TO HERSELF. If a person wants to be a DSer, the first thing is YOU HAVE TO HAVE A BASIC LEVEL OF INTELLIGENCE TO REASON and have LOGIC TO COMMON SENSE and there is no way around it..

As DSer we ALL have various malabsorption of different levels and not all DSers are the same in this. Some need to take butt-load of supplements and other just a few and still are healthy and fit, years out with no deficiencies. Just depends on the DSer and it is due to the level that each of us have in malabsorptions of macronutrients that is protein, fat and carbs that is not the same. The other is malabsorption of micronutrients that we also have different malabsorption levels to how we process into our digestive system and blood that is vitamins, mineral and even water for hydration. With that said, these are what is very important and we as DSer have to focus for our health and adjust as needed via checking how we are doing via our bloodwork.

I know many DSers and some are as far out as 8 years post-op. One of them that I do know, is 7 years post-op and was not taking her calcium for the past 3 years. Saying this, not taking her calcium and other important co-factors we use such as vitamin D, and also not having her bloodwork done at LEAST once a year, lead to bone loss that lead to osteoporosis.

She was at work and sneezed. After she sneeze she has very bad pain in her chest and getting up from the chair. She had to leave the job and go to the hospital because her chest hurt so bad from that sneeze. She was examine and it was diagnosed that her bones were so brittle, when she sneeze it cause her chest ribs (almost all of them) to crack and break apart. Imagine a chest fracture from sneezing. The doctor called it compression fractures due to severe osteoporosis. The reason this happened, she didn't feel taking anymore of her calcium or other supplements for 3 years. Her bones are so hollow and porous that she is now on intravenous calcium FOR LIFE or something. I didn't go into details but know she is on IV calcium and whatever else. She is now disabled and unable to walk. She is 37 years old. No amount of calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, silica, boron, vitamin K2 can help her now.   

From that osteoporosis, she also developed protein iron stores and other protein deficiency. If anyone here doesn't know our bones are made up of 70% of mineral (such as calcium, magnesium, silica), 8% of water and a whopping 22% of protein in which she can no longer process to provide her any bone health anymore.

This is why I am a STRONG ADVOCATE for DSers to LEARN about what, which, why and how these vitamins, minerals, co-factors helps us with our DS digestive system that also varies from DSer to DSer. You need to know how  your own personal body as a DSer works and how you personally absorb and malabsorb certain things. How we digest our food and our supplementation that works differently from DSer to DSer because many of us do not have the same stomach size , length of where they cut our duodenum, the length of our alimentary tract, length of our common channels and not even our age or other medical conditions are alike. The only thing that is the same for ALL DSer is taking chelated calcium and multivitamins for life as the minimum and that is again the minimum for life. Beyond that, some need vitamin A, vitamin D, iron, etc, but it is not every DSer. Co-factor works according to how it works to help or prevent deficiencies. A DSer supplemental regime is strongly based on your bloodwork as a reference point and with your personal level of micronutrients and macronutrients that varies from DSer to DSer that is based first to prevent bone issues and then blood issues according to what is your absorption level that your body is able to tolerate and process. DSer have to understand this and WHY they are taking whatever supplement they are putting in their mouth, how does it work for them personally and what effects can it give.

If a DSer is not in the mood to take what is known as required to benefit their health, that is their own fault when sh*t hit the fan and their health suffers due to it. No one here can force anyone to listen, scare or even convince them of anything. If the person doesn't have the moral responsibility to themself and the logic to help and benefit their health, then they need to set up an appt to see a psychiatrist or psychological to get to the root to what is going on in their head, not scare the crap out of them. A mentally stabilized adult has the ability to know and understand the reason to what it right from wrong here, especially if they have WLS of any type. They can't blame anyone except themself to what consequences occur with their health and life because they KNEW the negative side effect that can happen if you become ignorant and negligent to what needs to be done. The ultimate consequence to not taking your required supplement as a DSer is death and then GAME OVER.

Check this out.......www.obesityhelp.com/forums/rny/3807188/vitamins-Do-I-really- have-to/

I am finally getting around to a page on this for DS FActs and thought I;d give it a bump because it is so important. Way too many DSers are non compliant with viatmins.