lab results

Last time I posted a post like yours I got my head eaten off.  Just wanted to say "yay" for your honesty.

People who have access to this forum have no one to blame but themselves.  Even if their docs are idiots they know where to find the experts on the DS.

And then people wonder why surgeons won't DO the DS on people who need it to SAVE their lives.

~Becky

Hey, Becky, ltns!  I had my head eaten over a couple of comments in the past and had to take a break from the board.... but this one was just crying out for the truth.  If people won't take responsibility for themselves and take a laisse faire attitude, then it seems to me they don't much love themselves or have any gratitude for the opportunity that the DS surgery can give them, if they will just do their part.  

I really appreciate your support.

hugs, Sweetie!

I have found most of the people on this site helpful and supportive. However, these last few comments have been neither helpful or supportive.  You have absolutly no idea of my situration or available resourses.  You know nothing at all about what I have been dealing with for the last few years.  Maybe you should reserve judgement until you have ALL THE FACTS.

Then SUPPLY the facts!  You need to budget for your vitamins, minerals and proteins BEFORE everything else, because if you choose to buy something else, you are not going to live healthily enough to enjoy it.  

It is a bottom line kind of thing.  You either follow the plan and stay healthy, or you don't and you get sick and starve your body, possibly to death, and years of disability prior to that.  I am not being judgemental,

I am trying to wake you up with TRUTH and DS FACTS.  Maybe YOU should stop being so touchy and think about YOUR part in YOUR health.  I live on social security because I have MS.  I know about the financial struggle to take all necessary vitamins and nutrients.  If you think it is easy for me and that I have unlimited resources for my vitamins/minerals/proteins... you are making a judgement that YOU know nothing about.  Stop the pity party already

I keep the heat low and sit under blankets.  I buy the bare necessities, can't remember the last time I purchased a WANT because I recognize that the NEEDS of my surgically altered body take precedence.  It is a matter of priority.  

Block me if you don't want to hear the truth, but down the line, should you remain on this board, or join another DS board, you will eventually hear it again from someone else who cares about you keeping yourself healthy.  If I didn't care, I would have just passed by your cry for help.  Look at how many views your topic has gotten and how few have responded.  Some of the vets do get tired of repeating the same thing to people and just throw their hands up in the air and don't answer posts like this because they have seen it too many times.  

Block me if you don't want to hear the truth as I said.  

No Patti, I am not going to block you.  As much as I disliked being yelled at still think you are here because you want to help.  I will tell you though, I wanted to let your comments chase me away and not come back.  I don't believe this was your intent, but it will send people away.  I know vets are tired of repeating themselves, but it will always be like that. I came here for help at the beginning of my journey and I came back because I knew I neede the guidance to continue in the right way.  I couldn.t let you keep me away.  I have been a sport coach for 35 years.  It is aways repeat, repeat, repeat.  I would imagine all the vets that stay on here to help do so because they care very much.  I and am thankful every day that they are here.  They will usually be answerinf the same questions again and again but that's how coaching goes.

That said, I have re-amped my vit routine as best I can.  I am waiting for a specialist appointment which may be months in coming so I am doing it slowly.  You mentioned that I am starving myself.  I have been following a proper diet for the last 10 weeks,  posting on bites and vites and that seems to be on the right track.  Weight loss has been slow ith only 7 lbs in 10 weeks but I will keep at it. Do you think that low vit or blood levels can cause slow or no weight loss?  I still have 80lbs to loose.

Thanks

Hey, Sue!  Extremely glad you wouldn't let yourself get chased away, you absolutely have to be made of sterner stuff to be able to do battle with doctors that don't understand your new physiology so starting here by taking a stand for yourself is a damn good thing!  Proud of you!!  

I had a long message and somehow it got lost.  Grrr... 

And it was a great message too, lol!

The bottom line is your body doesn't understand that it is starving for nutrients and gets very self protective, trying to hold onto every single calorie and nutrient that it can grab.  You don't have the villi in the jejunum and many people have scar tissue from the very short duodenum and ileum which interferes with absorption.  

Take a look at www.DSFacts.com to get an idea of what your body is actually taking in.  Remember that it can't break down the food anymore to grab nutrients because even if you still have a gall bladder producing bile to help break down food... and pancreatic enzymes being pushed out at the same time... there isn't much common channel for the food to break down which is why we all have to take such enormous amounts of vitamins and minerals..

So, yes, if your levels are wonky, you won't be able to lose weight because your body says again, like it did when we all did the crash diets of 800 calories a day and still gained weight... the body says, "I don't know when the next nutrients are coming in, going into starvation mode"

Glad you are in Bites and Vites, being accountable to yourself that way makes you more clearly evaluate what you are doing.  Will be keeping an eye on that thread!  

I am sorry you thought I was harsh... I just wanted you to understand that it is much harder to get back on top of your vitamins and minerals and get them back up to par than it is to stay with the program and keep it in a holding pattern.  I know you can do it if you set your mind to it.  

Hoping this message gets through in its entirety, though the other message was better and more understandable...

Thanks Patti, I will mcontinue on my current diet plan and have a progressive plan for getting in the vits.

Please include ranges with your labs.  They are not the same around the world.

Hi Kayla.  Do you mean the ranges from the lab report?  ie. Vitamin D is 39 the range is 75-250  My Ferritin is 16 with the range being 10-291 .B12 is 235 suggested range being 198-615.  If I understand correctly I should be aiming for the top of these ranges, right?  When I first had my DS I had a great doctor who followed everything thoroughly and I was having good lab results but I never actually saw the results myself.  That's why reading them is new to me. Unfortunately my doctor left practice soon after and I havent had a doctor until recently.. My new doctor has lumped my DS in with all other bariatric surgury so I have to rely on other sources for help.

I do appreciate your support.

Thanks