WHY B-12 IS A MUST!! (AND ALL THE OTHER VIT'S)

Oh, Debra.  I have been wondering what was happening with you.  Ramon has been very protective of you.  You are in my thoughts.

hi sharyn... yeah ramon has been very protective he really is trying to help me remember things and it gets very frustrating... trying to remember and sometimes i just say i remember so i dont get frustrated....

i am seeing such a trend now with people who think they know about the vitamins and i asked the nutritionist at RYD in galveston "is ok for people who are 3 years or further to keep taking flintstone vitmains" and she said you are not a child those are for children...i asked her to repeat that statement.....their isnt enough in those childrens vitamins for our bodies....

i know i am not a medical expert i can only go by what has happened to me.... my experiences... my memory loss, the numbness in my arm, leg and sometimes my foot....and trying to get a doctor that will listen who will research about weight loss surgery... i did tell the neurologist that this is going to become the norm in a few years and the doctors really need to know about this - its frustrating for us i know that much

This is just unbelievable!  I can't imagine you or Debra going through such terrible things.  That is a HUGE WAKE UP CALL !  Thanks for telling us your sad story, and I pray that you both get a complete recovery somehow.

I hear so many who are past a year post op and still think it's fine to just take a Flintstone vitamin or two.  Chew a couple of Tums.  Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

Until something horrible happens down the road...no more bliss then.

We have to take care of ourselves or someone else will have to later.  

Please, please, everyone, take more than a multi and Tums.  Take calcium citrate, it's the best for us, as we actually absorb it.  Take any other form and you're just pooping it out.  Sorry to be blunt, but it's true.  I know your dr. likely said Tums are fine, but he's wrong.  Until someone does a multi-year medical study of some sort with conclusive findings down the road he/she will probably continue telling patients that.  Then the study will come out and he'll THEN change his tune and tell new patients to take CITRATE. Good for them, bad for us.

Take supplemental iron.  Take several prenatal or other adult strength vitamins at different times during the day.  Take your iron away from calcium/caffeine/other meds/dairy so it will actually be absorbed.  (you can get an absorbable iron from www.vitalady.com  That's where I get mine.)  Michelle at vitalady.com can tell you much more than this, or point you to the information you need.  Ask!  This is the only body we get, you guys.  We have to be proactive.

~whew~   

Off my soapbox now, only wishing and praying for us all to be healthy forever.  

I'm not a doctor, but this is what I have heard/read so many times from others who have gone through osteoporosis, etc., from taking calcium carbonate, etc., and I am not taking any chances.  Ask your doctor if it's ok with him if you switch, of course. Surely he wouldn't tell you no, but do ask, because, again, I am NOT a doctor.  

Thanks again, ladies, for sharing your stories with us! 

Tanya, I'm sorry you have to go through all this, thank you for sharing your story with everyone.  I repeat it as often as I can about the necessity of vitamins.  I remember your situation when I get lazy and don't want to take mine.

I'm friends with Debra, I know her IRL and it saddens me to see her go through this.  I hope both of you can reverse some of the damage if not all of it through proper supplementation.

Hugs,

Thanks for posting!

I just want to relate my experience. At about a year and a half out, my routine labs were drawn. My B12 levels were in the high normal range, like around 900 if i remember right. My surgeon suggested that I cut back on my B12 to once a week. OK, I followed his advice. Soon I started having neurological symptoms. I couldn't feel my feet, and lower legs on the right side. This affected my day to day activity- driving, walking, working., grocery shopping etc.

After ALOT of research, I went to my PCP to discuss it. My very astute PCP recognized it for what is was, a B12 defieciency. He immediately gave me B12 shots, and within 2 months my symptoms resolved. He said "my" body required a higher than (high) normal B12 level. He said some just require more, and apparently I am one of them. I now take B12 twice a day, and get a shot every six months or so. I am always on alert for the telltale signs, of numbness and tingling in my legs and feet. Then I up my B12 even more.

I have to say, I am religious about my vitamins, always have been. Even with that, I had problems. Everyone is different, we all have to learn our own bodies. I think its safe to say, we all got to the point of needing WLS because we ignored our bodies. Research, pay attention to your individual needs, make informed decisions regarding your health. Listen to folks who have suffered the consequence of poor decsions. Don't take your health and new found freedom from obesity for granite.