Really bad lab results prior to surgery...

Hi Everyone,
I've been meaning to join for awhile.  I was excited that I was at the home stretch and all the information ready to submit for my insurance.  Then I got my lab work back.  I have a hemoglobin level of 11.5 and a Ferritin level of 8.  I have low b12, b1 and very low Vitamin D.  Now I have to be on supplments for a month then wait another week for new labs.  So I'm tacking five more weeks onto a process that is already painfully long.  I'm so aggravated and just hoping that someone else out there has experienced this.  If so, were your labs normal after taking supplements for a month?  What should I expect?

Thanks so much,  I appreciate your help in advance.

April

Here is what I suggest to get your levels up as quickly as possible.  Get some sublingual B12(that way you can use it after sugery) - 2500mcg and take it daily.  This is a large dose but you need it to go up quickly.  A low b12 level is very dangerous and can cause nerve damage.  Dont' worry it wont' bring it up too high.  If your level is low, it is most likely in the 200's and we want our levels around 1200-1500 and can go up to 2000, so you have lots of room to increase.

B1 deficiency is also very dangerous.  It can also cause nerve damage. I had it early on and they put me on 100mg of vitamin B1(thiamine) - 3 times per day.  Try this and hopefully it will bring your levels up.  B1 is a vitamin that you can't have too much of it, you just pee out the excess but too little is a major problem.

Vitamin D deficiency is very and almost everyone has it.  The best stuff takes too long to get - it is available only online from vitalady.com - it will take about 10 days to get.  Since you need it immediatly, I suggest going to a vitamin Shoppe and get Dry Vitamin D3 - it has to say Dry D3 and get 20,000 units a day - you will probably have to get 5,000 unit capsules and take 4 of them.  This will bring your level up nicely.

For your iron and ferritin - you need to take either carbonyl iron with vitamin C or heme iron.  Heme is supposed to work a little better but is more expensive.  You can a combination pill over the counter called Bifera at Walgreens or CVS which is part Heme and part Poly Iron.  The best Heme iron is again only online called Proferrin but you won't get it ontime.  So try Bifera and take 2 a day.

I hope this helps you out.  I had my surgery delayed because of my vitamin D.  I wish I knew about the Dry D3, it really works.  I was taking prescription D which doesn't work and it took forever to get my D levels up.

Thank you so much!  That was very helpful and I very much appreciate it!

My Dr suggest 10 minutes in the sun with no sunscreen every day to increase Vit D levels.  It won't work immediately but it will help.

If you are vitamin D deficient, sitting 10 minutes in the sun without sunscreen is going to do nothing for your D level but put you at risk for skin cancer.  You need to get high dose Dry D3 from vitalady.com - that is the only way to bring up a really low vitamin D level.