NOT ABSORBING IRON 2+ YEARS OUT HELP!!

I havent posted in a couple years but need help right now. I am coming up on my 3 yr anniv. in Sept and have pretty much been the poster child for RNY surgery until now.  I threw up once, got the foamies maybe 3 times and have no problem with nausea, sugar nothing, I was out of the hospital in 2 days and never took a pain med. That being said I went for some lab work a few weeks ago and was thrown in the hospital because my hemoglobin was dangerously low 6.6. I was given 2 pints of blood followed by two infusions of iron 500 units and 200 units. Iron level was fine but ferritin was 3. B12 was high at 2000. Saw the gastro guy while in there and since I had no symptoms of internal bleeding agreed that it is probably an iron absorption problem which is what the hospital Dr thought too. When stool sample came back there was a trace amount of blood but not enough for them to keep me in. My follow up instructions were to have iron infusions probably every few weeks for the rest of my life. I will be seeing a hemotologist, and follow up with the gastro guy who will probably do  an endospcopy. Anyone who has this problem I would appreciate any info you have and would like to hear about your experience.

Sorry I can't help with this but just wanted to say sorry you are going thru it......

Jeanne, It's good to see you again. Sorry about the problems with absorption. I haven't had to deal with that and hope I don't have to. Had you been having regular labwork done? I guess I don't understand the difference in Iron and Ferritin. Does labwork check for both? People try to instruct me but I forget about as quickly as I learn something. Did you have any symptoms? Hope you find a resolution to this problem. Don't be a stranger!

Karen

Ferritin is like the savings account your body goes to when it needs to draw iron.  Your labs can be good for iron and not ferritin because you are drawing on your savings account to keep your checking account at the proper level.  If your ferritin is low long enough I guess you can deplete your savings account and then your checking (iron) has nothing to draw from.  I guess then your body sends you an overdraft notice in the form of fatigue and low iron labs.  

Jeanne
I had the same thing happen.  MOST of us at about 3 years according to my internal med Dr will have these issues .  The ferritin is the iron stored in the bones .   Your other iron can look great but the ferritin is the last one that is drawn on and thus depletes our iron.
Most Dr DO NOT check the ferritin if your other iron looks look .  It takes about 3 years for this to show and loner for some .
I had 3 rounds of iron infusion at the hospitla so far and am holding right now.
My first one was once a week for an hour for 6 weeks .  Waited for 6 weeks checked again and then we did round 2.  So far so good and will check again in about a month as we went longer this time between checks.
We will probably have to do this the rest of our lives, something they DIDNT KNOW when the RNY was done at that time supposedly .
ANYWAY ladies if your 2 years min out , have your DR check your FERRITIN IRON ,, It is a bloodtest they do when they do the regular iron checks.  THEY WONT THOUGH USUALLY , so ask them too.
My Dr is a great Dr but even he told me most Dr look at reg iron and if it looks good they never check the ferritin as lots of Dr's dont even know that gastric folks have this issue.
Hope this helps .
Shirley

Hi Jeanne,

I'm so sorry to hear about your health problems; we had surgery about the same time and since I'm seeing my GP in a week I'll certainly have him check my ferritin iron. Just yesterday I went to Walmart to purchase my vitamins and thought twice about continuing with my iron supplement since I'm officially now in menopause (and wasn't when I had my RNY almost 3 years ago). We feel so wonderful, it's easy to think we're "normal" and can go without those vitamins.

Although I can't help you, your post certainly helps others out there to remember the fragile condition of our bodies. Thank you.

Good luck to you with getting your health back; keep us posted.

Kathie

I had the same problem a year ago.  My blood work was always good including iron but no one checked my ferritin levels.  I read in OH magazine that this was something we should check.  Vitamin D was another.  I had both checked and both were very low.  My ferritin was not as low as yours.  Mine was 6.  I was put on heavy doses of chewable iron.  I also drastically uped my Vitamin D.  Three months later my Vitamin D was on the high side but my ferritin was still quite low.  My hemotologist said that getting the ferritn up was a slow process.  A year later I am still very low but it is inching ( and I mean inching) up.  I feel fine,  My B-12, and iron are okay.  I guess it is just a matter of time.  I hope all goes well with you.  If you have a good hemotologist I am sure all will be well.  

what kind of oral irons did you try and how much?

where is your vit D?