Need Advice-Vitamin D &Thyroid still low

I'll start off with saying; I still haven't found a support group in Vancouver. I need support. I haven't lost weight in months. I'm getting discouraged. I live north of Longview, Wa. so a Vancouver support group would be close for me. With recent lab work done, my thyroid is .43. Reference range is .40-5.00. I'm at the low end of the normal range. I take 120 mg. a day so you'd think I wouldn't be at the low end. I also take 5,000 i.u. of vitamin D. It is low and was told to double up on it. I don't understand this. I know when you have gastric bypass done you may not absorb a percentage of meds and vitamins. I'm perplexed at what to do. I wonder why I'm not loosing weight. Thanks...any advice would be greatly appreciated.   

Hi. Couple of questions first. The Vitamin D you are taking, is it prescription or OTC vitamin D-3. If it's the prescription its often the wrong type of vitamin D and that could be part of the problem. are you taking it as a gel or tablet. Tablet is better, we can't break down the gel capsuls after WLS like we could before hand that's another possiblity. I'm sorry I didn't see how far out you where from surgery. Are you still tracking what you eat? what are you getting in for calories/protein/fats/carbs/sugars? are you doing any exercise at all? if so, what kind, how long and how often. I.e. are you walking 30 minutes 2 times a week or running a 5k a day 6 days a week? Are you doing weightlifting and building muscle?

The D isn't prescription but is in gel capsules and is D-3. I didn't know that about not being able to break down the gel capsules. Blood work shows my protein level is good. I don't eat sugar, hardly no fats at all. I'm watching my carbs because I have blood sugar problems. I've seen a dietitian so my eating seems to be on track. I have bad knees and was walking 2 1/2 miles everyday but had to stop because of the pain. I had injections in them (hyaluronan). I am better in the knees but I have other problems. When I had my bypass surgery they had to open me up and I had 2 emergency surgeries afterward because of an infection. I was in the hospital for 54 days. I have a hernia now in my abdomen. I wear a binder to hold everything in. I am in constant pain because of the hernia pulling on my shoulder muscles. I hurt in my collar bones, shoulders and upper back. I have been working out just recently on the bowflex....simple things. I have started walking again....only one mile a day. So, I am trying. I do need to try harder. I'm having surgery in June to repair the hernia. I work for a school district and will wait until school is out. Thank you so much for the information and for answering my post.

OMGosh! You have had a hard time of it haven't you! I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope you will feel much better after the hernia is taken care of! Working out right now must be very painful. Take it nice and slow. As for the vitamins I would switch to a tablet vitamin D as soon as possible and double the dosage and see if that brings up your lab work. Do you take the vitamin D at the same time you take your calcium citrate? That will also help with the absorption of the calcium. (and please tell me you are taking the citrate and not the carbonate. We don't absorb carbonate as well, check your calcium bottle it will tell you which one you are taking if your not sure. Just a friendly reminder. )

How low is you D? Depending on how low it is you might have to take a very large dose. My D was at one point practically undetectable. I started using D3 50,000 iu a day. After I got it up to about 30 I cut back to every other day and now I take it weekly. My last test was at 72 and I am aiming for 80 to 100 even though the NP is freaking out that I have too high of a number.

A lot of people think Dr. Mercola is a quack but I have been taking his vitamin D spray (sublingual) and it had brought my levels up to normal.  I swear by it.

Hang in there.  Sorry you've had such a hard time.  My vitamin D was too low as well.  And I am just not able to take pills anymore.  If I can break them in half or grind them down - they won't go down.  my surgeon told me about one of our local health food stores having liquid vitamin D.  I put one drop of it on my calcium citrate chocolate chew (my "candy" for the day) in the morning and at night.  It's getting my levels back up pretty decently.  Plus, it wasnt half as expensive as I expected it would be.  Whew!  If you are still looking for options, let me know & I'll check the name of it.

Thank you all for the advice. I didn't know my stomach couldn't break down the jell capsules. I'm opening everything up now. Thanks again.