Long term duodenal switch experiences

OMG, I just went to the Amazon site and the bottle of dry D looked very familiar! Went to my old prescriptions/supplements drawer, and there are 2 unopened bottles of 50,000 dry D! Unfortunately the expiration dates are Oct 2014 which is about when my vitamin D problem started and when I didn't have a WLS Dr for a couple of years. I probably didn't realize that this was better than the gel cap because it says D3, and the gel caps say D2. In 3 days I'm having some labs drawn including D, so if my D is OK which it might be, I'm tempted to use these beyond the sell by date caps, they're probably still good enough for a non crisis time I hope. I'm not sure I even realized that this was dry D, the dietician from my WLS DR may have just recommended this brand. Oh happy day! ( I'll probably buy a new bottle actually ).

Hi Geraldine, I had my BPD/DS back in 2004. I lost quite a bit of weight. I went from 318, to 125 at one point. After my hysterectomy I gained back a bit. I hang around 155-165 now. My personal experience has not been to great. I have awful issues with direahh, anemia, and low protein . I take all my vitamins etc. I've had to get blood infusions, and was hospitalized in 2014 bc my body shut down, and was starving .I had to come home with a pic line, and do 12 hour long IV's of tpn, and lipids to get me out of starvation mode. Im currently almost in the same spot right now. My labs are showing I'm shutting down again. For my direahh issues, I take Zenpep ,which helps absorbs protein, and bulks up stool, and take immodium with every meal. Hope this helps some.

I'm almost 9 years out now. I lost 120 pounds and am maintaining the loss between 160-170 pounds at 5'7" tall. I'm 70 years old. It took awhile to get labs on track, but things have been great for quite a few years now. I check in with my surgeon yearly and do annual labs. My biggest problem was getting vitamin D stats up to normal. Now I take 50,000 IU's /day alternating with 100,000/ day. I order dry D online from vita lady.com. To make sure I get all my supplements in each day , I put together my daily supplement packets in ziplock snack bags 3 months at a time. If I eat carbs, I get gas as I was warned before surgery. If I eat too much fat....diarrhea. Just have to be careful. Life is good....no more diabetes or sleep apnea.

I had my DS back in 2005. I lost 145 lbs, from a size 24 to size 6/8. Today I hover around 165, a size 10/12 and I'm not at all concerned about it. I take my vitamins and for years I had no problem at all, but I started using the vitamin patches for months and my D, iron and A tanked, so I don't recommend PatchMD patches. I'm back to building those levels up the way I know how. Other than that, I'm healthy as a horse.

Bowel issues are definitely responding to what I eat (or don't). If I eat too many simple carbs, artificial sweeteners or something that my body doesn't like (onions and milk, for instance), I will blow up like a blimp, have noxious gas and horrible poop the next morning. If I eat clean, no problem at all. My schedule is one big poo every morning and that's it for the day. If odor gets sour, I know to add probiotics. Most do pills, but I've noticed best results from a shot of raw apple-cider vinegar every few days.