2 years Out- starting in with issues

SO yes, I am 2 years out from RNY bypass.. I have done pretty good, been at goal since I was 7 months out.  Of recent, I have been sooo tired, and having troubles running my 5 night a week run. Chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath, It has gotten bad, so I saw my Dr..  She is not my regular Dr., but I now live in Hawaii, and have no GI dr... My labs were irregular: Very low pottasium (have had IV potassium in the past it was so low) I have severe Iron difficient anemia My D levels are almost un-readable, my D2 was <2 My B12 was low And this Dr. started me on some new supplements, all oral... I was told I would not absorb well, and I already take over the counter supplements, 1 a day B12 injections 1.0 ml per week D2 (ergocalciferol) and calcium and iron (kelated) I think I may be having absorbtion problems, she says at 2 years out, it should not be the case... I am worried... What should I do??

Hi Kristin,  I always take the fat-soluble vitamins regularly as well. The part of the duodenem (sp?) where we absorb vitamins A, E, D and K has been by-passed, so we all need to put these back into our systems.  I take D3, which is cholecalciferol, not D2. From what my doc says, we no longer convert D2 into D3, because the duodenem is by-passed. I take it in a DRY form, not the oil filled gel caps. We don't absorb oils very well either. I also take DRY vitamin E and use greens powder in my protein shakes to supply the source of vitamin K. The vitamin A is in my multiple.  I was also anemic. My numbers were very bad. I've spent the last three years trying different irons, to bring up my ferritin levels. (how your body stores iron) The only kind of iron that I have found that I absorb readily is a "heme" iron. This is an iron that is made from natural sources. (meat, blood, tissue). I am curently using Hematinic Iron by Solgar. Great product! Vitalady also has a great iron you could order on-line. Once I stopped using any kind of "ferrous" iron, such as ferrous sulfate, ferrous gluconate, etc, my body started to store the iron again and I feel great!  I also take potassium daily and a B-complex twice a day.  As for calicium, I take calicium citrate, NOT gluconate. We don't absorb the gluconate, and you would be wasting your money.   You could go on-line and research a lot of vitamins and how they help our new "Lexus interiors".  My advise would to be very pro-active in your health and learn as much as you can about different supplements we need. You are definatley worth it!!

I am not sure if this will be of any help.  I had severe iron difficient anemia and I went and saw a hematologist and they gave me a couple rounds of iron infusions (IV) and it helped a lot.  If I were you I would talk to my doctor and see what you can do.  It might be better to build your system up first and then start from there.  Instead of having to build up and then maintain. Becky