scary vitamin/protein deficiency story
People sometimes contact me and ask me to look at their labs. Of course, before giving my opinion, I make sure to say I am not a doctor and do not play one on TV! But I recently heard a very sad and scary story and I thought I would share it here, just in case anyone needs a reminder of why it's so important to get your vitamins and protein in.
This young woman has been feeling very sick for a while now and thought her doctor didn't seem to know what to do for her. Now, I don't think all of her problems were vitamin/protein related, she was having some pain that is probably caused by something else and I did encourage her to pursue that with her doctor. Or a different doctor, if her doctor wasn't taking it seriously.
But this is a young woman who is exhausted and weak all the time. She has young children that had to be placed in daycare because she could not take care of them during the day while her husband worked. She could not stand up long enough to take a shower, she was too weak. She was afraid to drive her car because she was afraid she might pass out behind the wheel. She was nauseous all the time, dizzy, couldn't concentrate, had problems with her short term memory. She was just really, really sick.
She had numerous vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Her protein level was also the lowest I've ever seen.
Now, you're not going to get that sick if you miss your vitamins for a couple days or don't get enough protein for a week or two. But this is a good example of what will happen eventually. It's really scary to me, but also very sad because this woman has been so very sick for so long and at least some of her problems were things that could have been prevented.
This young woman has been feeling very sick for a while now and thought her doctor didn't seem to know what to do for her. Now, I don't think all of her problems were vitamin/protein related, she was having some pain that is probably caused by something else and I did encourage her to pursue that with her doctor. Or a different doctor, if her doctor wasn't taking it seriously.
But this is a young woman who is exhausted and weak all the time. She has young children that had to be placed in daycare because she could not take care of them during the day while her husband worked. She could not stand up long enough to take a shower, she was too weak. She was afraid to drive her car because she was afraid she might pass out behind the wheel. She was nauseous all the time, dizzy, couldn't concentrate, had problems with her short term memory. She was just really, really sick.
She had numerous vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Her protein level was also the lowest I've ever seen.
Now, you're not going to get that sick if you miss your vitamins for a couple days or don't get enough protein for a week or two. But this is a good example of what will happen eventually. It's really scary to me, but also very sad because this woman has been so very sick for so long and at least some of her problems were things that could have been prevented.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
Yes, she had WLS. I guess it did occur to her that some of her problems might be related to deficiencies which is why she asked if I would look at her labs. I'm not sure what supplements she was taking, but clearly not enough. I think the problem with protein was at least partly because she was having pain when she ate, so she wasn't eating enough.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
That is kind of similar to what happened to me. I had WLS in 2002, a very malabsorptive procedure. After a while I started regaining weight because I was eating a lot. I stopped going to online groups or local support groups and kind of put it out of my mind that I had WLS. Believe it or not, after a while, if you are not doing things daily to remind yourself, you can forget you had WLS. Not that I forgot. My constant intestinal problems were a daily reminder but it just wasn't forefront in my mind anymore.
Because I was gaining weight I mistakenly thought I was absorbing vitamins along with calories. I continued to take a multivitamin but I believe at the time of my surgery I was only told to take one a day. I took 2 doses of calcium a day and stopped my iron and D.
Probably about 7 years out I became very sick and fatigued, to the point where I couldn't dress and I hardly left the house. I also became very apathetic. I just didn't care about anything. I finally went to my PCP who knew about my WLS but didn't really understand it. She tested me for thyroid, sleep apnea, breathing issues and other things and nothing was abnormal.
One night I was Googling my symptoms, the main ones were fatigue and excessive thirst. One of the possibilities was hypoparathyroidism. A light went on and I remembered hearing about other people having that because they were deficient in D. I remembered when I had my labs run I was told my D was low and I was given a prescription for the D in a gelcap. It occurred to me that I could have that so I went back to my doctor and was tested and was surprised that even though my D was low, my PTH wasn't very high.
I contacted someone I knew who had a lot of knowledge about malabsorption and supplementation and she directed me to her surgeon's website for a copy of labs I should get. Most of them I never had tested before. I took the list to my PCP and had my blood drawn but when the results came back many of the tests weren't done. I really didn't have the energy to fight over it. It did show that my Ferritin level was 7 so I was advised to have an iron infusion, which I did, but it didn't help.
Anyway, not to go on, that is what lead to me having my revision and becoming diligent with my vitamins and labs. I was always pretty good with my protein so that is good.
I feel a lot better then I did 2 years ago. Not 100% all the time but a lot of the time I am at least 75% better. It is a good reminder that I am not a normal person and I will always have to stay on top of my labs and supplements.
Because I was gaining weight I mistakenly thought I was absorbing vitamins along with calories. I continued to take a multivitamin but I believe at the time of my surgery I was only told to take one a day. I took 2 doses of calcium a day and stopped my iron and D.
Probably about 7 years out I became very sick and fatigued, to the point where I couldn't dress and I hardly left the house. I also became very apathetic. I just didn't care about anything. I finally went to my PCP who knew about my WLS but didn't really understand it. She tested me for thyroid, sleep apnea, breathing issues and other things and nothing was abnormal.
One night I was Googling my symptoms, the main ones were fatigue and excessive thirst. One of the possibilities was hypoparathyroidism. A light went on and I remembered hearing about other people having that because they were deficient in D. I remembered when I had my labs run I was told my D was low and I was given a prescription for the D in a gelcap. It occurred to me that I could have that so I went back to my doctor and was tested and was surprised that even though my D was low, my PTH wasn't very high.
I contacted someone I knew who had a lot of knowledge about malabsorption and supplementation and she directed me to her surgeon's website for a copy of labs I should get. Most of them I never had tested before. I took the list to my PCP and had my blood drawn but when the results came back many of the tests weren't done. I really didn't have the energy to fight over it. It did show that my Ferritin level was 7 so I was advised to have an iron infusion, which I did, but it didn't help.
Anyway, not to go on, that is what lead to me having my revision and becoming diligent with my vitamins and labs. I was always pretty good with my protein so that is good.
I feel a lot better then I did 2 years ago. Not 100% all the time but a lot of the time I am at least 75% better. It is a good reminder that I am not a normal person and I will always have to stay on top of my labs and supplements.
WLS 10/28/2002 Revision 7/23/2010
High Weight (2002) 240 Revision Weight (2010) 220 Current Weight 115.
I think one reason it can be easy to slack off on our vitamins, at least for me, is that it can take such a long time to start experiencing serious consequences. If I miss my iron for a few days, I don't feel any different. That can make me start to think it's no big deal if I don't take it for a while. Of course, eventually I would start having problems, and they could be very serious. If I don't take my antidepressants for a couple days, I'd notice a big change, but my vitamins aren't like that. Problems can sneak up on us.
Not even being able to get dressed means you were really sick. That's scary. And it's scary that it didn't even occur to your doc that it might be vitamin-related. Our bodies can store huge amounts of some vitamins, but eventually those stores will run out. And sometimes the damage that's done can be permanent.
Not even being able to get dressed means you were really sick. That's scary. And it's scary that it didn't even occur to your doc that it might be vitamin-related. Our bodies can store huge amounts of some vitamins, but eventually those stores will run out. And sometimes the damage that's done can be permanent.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
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