where vitamins get absorbed
And it shows the part that is usually bypassed in RNY folks, although some of us have more bypassed than others. But you can see why we have to take extra vitamins. For instance, there are three places where vitamin D gets absorbed, but the typical RNY patients has had two of those places bypassed. So now we only have one place to absorb it. So it makes sense we would need to take a lot more than a "normal" person.
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.

One way to look at it (and yes, this is oversimplified, but it's basically true) is that the stomach gets food ready to get absorbed, the small intestine absorbs the nutrients, then the large intestine absorbs the water, and what's left comes out the other end. We chew stuff up in our mouths, of course, but the stomach helps break it down further so it's easy to absorb the vitamins and minerals and everything once it gets to the small intestine.
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.
Beth
memory only goes so far.
I was told my the weight management clinic where I started out to take fish oil pills
and I have been doing that, but I don't see that on the diagram. So can I quit
taking the nasty things.
I freeze them so I don't have to taste them and they don't come back up anymore
but I would just as soon not spend the $ on them if I don't have to.
thanks
ann/prazhym
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.
I don't know a lot about potassium, but I do know that the bypassed part of the small intestine is not the only reason we don't absorb some vitamins and minerals well. Some vitamins and minerals require a lot of stomach acid to break them down so they can be absorbed, for instance. That's why we need calcium citrate, not carbonate. But after RNY we don't have as much stomach acid anymore so that's why we don't absorb the carbonate well. Perhaps potassium is similar, but I don't know that for sure. It's just a guess.
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.
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.