Dizziness/fainting??

I had my sleeve 8/27/10 and got pregnant in March, Im due 12/28. About 8 weeks ago I started getting a feeling when I was standing still, like cooking dinner or standing in the grocery checkout line.

My OB sent me to high risk at the beginning of my pregnancy because they didn't really know what to do with me and my sleeve. The high risk checked everything for a few months, everything was normal so they "graduated" me Sept 22 when I was 26 weeks. Since then I've slowly developed these issues. He had checked all the "normal" deficiencies that present without the sleeve and the only thing that was "low" was B12 and it was just 1 pt into the "low" numbers and he wasn't concerned.

I mentioned them to my mid wife when I was seen a week ago Friday and she ran some blood work. I got really sick with vomiting and dizziness the beginning of the week and went back to them on Wed....I had lost 4lbs since my appt that Friday but they tell me my blood work is fine, so they don't think it is pregnancy-related. I get that it could be unrelated, but the only thing different in my life is that I'm preggo after the VSG.....

This weekend it has gotten even worse to where I even start getting that dizzy feeling with tingling in my hands and legs while I'm sitting. I'm going to see if the high-risk will see me back as soon as they open on Monday....but I wanted to see if anyone else had this experience or any suggestions that I could present to the doc?

I'm desperate!!!

Thanks!!

Your "symptoms" sounds EXACTLY like what I experienced with my last two pregnancies (which were post-op BTW).  When I was about 36 weeks on with my daughter, I noticed that every time I stood for more than 1 minute or 2, I would get light headed, dizzy and feel like I was going to faint.  I would have to sit down.  Finally, I started to take my blood pressure with my at home monitor, thinking it was blood pressure, and it wasn't my blood pressure--it was my pulse!!!  My pulse was going up, up, up and up!  When I would take it at home, sitting of course by the time I took it, my pulse would be 140.  I mentioned this to the OB/Dr. when I went in at my appt (I was 37 weeks, 3 days) and she put listened to the babys heartbeat.  When she did, the babys heart beat was up to 180!  She told me she wasn't going to have me do a non-stress, but now she was!  By the time I was in the chair for the non-stress test, the babys heartbeat was up to 205!  At this point, she sent me straight to the hospital.  After a full day of monitoring, tests, they could find nothing wrong but decided since the baby was under stress to take her early.  She was fine. 

With my 2nd pregnancy, 2 years later, I experienced the same exact symptoms--only instead of at 37 weeks--I started getting them at 32 weeks.  I did have a different OB/Dr.  I mentioned this to the dr, and explained what happended the previous time.  In the office, he had me stand and take my pulse  and then sit and take my pulse.  He basically came to the conclusion that I needed to be sitting/laying whenever possible.  What he said is happening is the volume of blood due to the baby is "pooling" in the lower half of your body and is causing your pulse to race/rise due to the blood pooling effect. 

For me, it was so bad, I couldn't even blow dry my hair without sitting on a chair, or shower without a shower chair. 

I guess the thing for me was it was my pulse racing, and if my pulse was racing--so was my baby's--which was not good for my baby. 

I don't think this is in anyway related to the surgery, I think it is due to the pregnancy. 

Hope this information helps!

Debbie

Debbie,

Thanks for your response. I have the exact problem...I can't cook dinner, stand in line at a register and I have a stool in my shower. I have been just been wrapping my hair up because I know now to even attempt to dry it. I know better than that!! LOL! It used to only happen every once in a while and I chalked it up to not eating/drinking enough, but now it is happening several times a day and it has progressed to even sitting I can get the feeling. I also have shortness of breath with the silliest of things, even eating or sometimes doing nothing at all! I'm tired all the time....some of these things I expect, but I think it is no longer "normal"...it is too extreme/frequent.

The baby's heart rate has been fine every time I go and where I think my BP is a tad low (106/64), they aren't concerned about it. But they are checking his heart rate after I've been sitting on the table waiting on them to see me which is shortly after a brief walk from the waiting room where I was sitting. Maybe I need to have them let me recreate the problem and then check it.

Thanks for the suggestion. It is really scary. The other day I was driving on the interstate when it started. My "low" car was in the shop, so it took the truck and it puts me more in an upright position and so I thought that maybe because my car makes me more flat than the truck (if that makes sense) it was causing it.

Well, I have a start! Thanks!

B12 being even 1 point below "normal" means it's WAY TOO LOW because the "normal" range of most labs for B12 is already too low to begin with. If you're not supplementing with sublingual B12, I recommend you start ASAP.

When this progressed, I thought about the B12 and did some research and saw a few times where the current "American standard" was thought to be low, so I went out and got some sublingual B12 and have been double dosing the last few days. It hasn't helped any yet and where I did have some "symptoms" of a B12 deficiency, the same symptoms match so many other things. It seems B12 gives you a different anemic type that isn't the same as low iron and it doesn't seem it would have been detected on the last blood panel they ran, so it is something on my list to talk to the doctor about and get tested specifically for.

Thanks for the suggestion! Curious....any idea on how long it could take to get levels up to see when I should notice a difference if it is truly the problem?

Unfortunately, it varies by individual. And some folks, for whatever reason, don't do well even with sublinguals and do better with B12 injections (prescription). You might also look into Cyanocobalomin form versus Methylcobalamin, as it is generally said to be more easily absorbed even though both come in sublingual form (of course, it's also harder to find, so usually needs to be ordered online - I am pretty sure Vitalady sells it). I would benture to guess that you wouldn't feel much improvement until your levels get at least above 400.

I had a lot of success with a liquid sublingual that was actually technically a B complex, not just B12, but had lots of B12 in it. I got it at CVS, Walgreens, wherever - not too tough to find. I had to stop it, though, because it actually drove my B6 level high, which can be dangerous (B12 won't get dangerously high - most other countries don't even have a high end of normal range on labs for B12, just a minimum, like we do here for folate).

Here's a site that discusses pernicious anemia (anemia caused by B vitamin deficiencies) and some related lab tests (I love this site for almost all lab-related questions!):
http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/conditions/anemia?st art=2 

And, of course, increasing your B12 may not solve all of the issues you mentioned. I get tired to the point of lightheaded VERY easily when doing anything that requires standing still. It sounds so weird, I know, but I can walk for miles without issue, but standing still wipes me out in mere minutes. The body's blood supply is focused on other areas during pregnancy, and the fetus gets first dibs! For example, I have almost passed out in the shower on more than one occasion (had to stop and sit in the side of the tub because I got dizzy, and everything started to go black). And I know I don't have any vitamin deficiencies since I had labs run right before I got pregnant and then again just maybe a month ago.

I had my sleeve done just a few weeks before you, and I just gave birth on the 10th.  I had similar issues with dizziness here and there throughout my pregnancy.  I would take my blood pressure when it was really bad and generally found it to be about 96/60.  My doc said the low blood pressure was likely the cause for the dizziness and to just sit for a bit when it happened.  Sounds like what you're experiencing is more severe and frequent than what I had, but it could definitely be a blood pressure issue.  Good luck, I hope you get some answers soon.