3 yrs out - having some issues, but on the road to recovery (i hope!)

Hi all,

Well After a year of no insurance and a lot of major stress.... my body finally fought back.  I thought I was taking 'ok' care of myself, but knew I had been remiss....  I was feeling sick, and weak and tired all the time...  I thought most of it had attributed to the stress of relocating, a bad break up and trying to find work (with insurance!!)    

Thanks to all of you, (and Ronda!) I was recommeded to a good dr... and after my ins. kicked in had a LOT of blood work done.    The results were not good.   I am severely anemic, and my Vit D is so low that I am now on a prescription for that.    When I first had the surg back in 2005 I was taking iron supp, and was able to cut down to 1 pill 3x a week.... now I have to go back to 3x a day!   I hate it because its hard on the pouch and constipates me.    Not sure what side effects the Vit D will have (need to pick that up today).

I have had memory issues, needed to take a 10 min nap at work and some days just cant function, so I hope that this will all help.

Hope all is well with everyone!   I hope to also find a wkly or monthly support group mtg soon.  I am sorry i missed the monday night call the other night but I was working late.

hugs,
Jill

I am severly anemic.  I recommend going to an oncologist to have an iron infusion instead of taking iron supplements.  if you think about taking the pill your body absourbs things differently now and this is one reason for the issue.  go for the gusto and get it over with.  you will not have all of the side effects that come along with the pill.  i have to go about every 1-2 years to have it done and insurance covers it, takes about 4-5 hours and you feel better quickly.

Thanks for the advice, and I will def discuss it with my dr on my visit this upcoming week.  He had me have all this blood work (to the tune of 1,500!!) and thank goodness it was covered by ins.... and then the office sent me the results and the scripts.    I agree about the iron giving issues.    I had such problems just taking it 1x a day and now he is recommending 3x a day bc i am so low.   eeek, but to look at the repercussions of NOT taking it.  I cant go on the pill bc of other factors, so that is not an option for me at this time.   I have been getting my cycle every 3 wks too.... and an ucler is coming on (all of these are hand in hand with anemia)

I will have a lot to discuss with the dr. this week.    any/all advice on here is welcome and needed, so thank you!!

Jill
:)

You will find this helpful.  i became anemic because of an er c-section in having my daughter 1 year after my surgery resulted in an artery tear.  i tried the pills and everything else but continued to get worse.  because i was nursing my daughter no one knew the side effects a full infusion would cause so i received a half of one and it helped until i was no longer nursing.  this of course was the last resort but an very thankful that it works.  i know when to go back as i will start to crave the ice.    i will also think that it will help with your cycle.  i am not too sure about this as the surgery has caused me to go into menopause ( i will be 36 in 2 weeks).  just blessed that i have had all of my kids 4 boys and 1 baby girl (19,15,12,7,3).  good luck and let me know what your dr tells you.  i have a day email address at [email protected] (work)  i am at [email protected] only on sat

Jill,

I am so glad you are finally able to have the medical help that you need,  I have been diagnosed with low vit d and take 15 minutes of natural sinlight whenever possible.  These are "natural" ways of boosting it. 

Please know that we are here for you.  You can PM or e mail me for anything!

hi Tammy,   thanks so much for the kind reply!      after the blood work the dr. determined i needed prescrip. strength vit d.   Its a high dose that you take 1x a week.   I took the first pill last night.  you take it for 8 wks and then get re checked.    i see the dr on tuesday so i can ask all kinds of ??s then.   its pretty scary when you read all the stuff on the web about what can happen.      i feel for folks that have no ins.    i had none for 1 year.  there was NO way i could have had that blood work w/out insurance.  

i got very depressed and will admit that i was remiss with taking my vits....  and eating right, and people can talk till they are blue in the face, but depression is very real.   i honestly did not care at the time, could not see "the big picture" and now i am a bit scared.   now i see it too clearly!!   

life IS GOOD, and i feel so blessed that things turned around.    I have a good job now with insurance and i pray that i will get back on track with all of this.   

hugs,
J.

I had the prescription vit d, too and it helped a lot.  I just had blood work done last Tuesday when I was at the OBGYN ana asked them to check my vit d at the same time.  I get the results back when I go back on 10/21 unless something is wrong and then they will tell me sooner. 

Yes, depression IS very real.  I have suffered thru my fair share of it over the years.

I am glad you are back on the right track!

i see that you mentioned the vit d but you did not state what your iron level was.    i am going back to yearly check up next thurs (happens to be my b-day)  i am sure that he will fuss at me for gaining the 40lbs back but i have kept up on monitoring my vitamins and making sure that i do not over eat.  i am very curious if there is an issue with my pouch.   i am a little scared that something is wrong.  as the problem that i had when i found out that i was pregnant all of the drs that helped me survive state that it came from my by pass.  i am glad that you following up with the vit checks to make you feel better.  there is nothing worse then feeling run down.  i have been there.

Hi Jill,

I had low iron after a couple of my plastic surgeries and my doctor prescribed me iron that does not give you constipation and in three months my iron was significantly higher.  I also changed all the vitamins and supplements I had been taking to the ISOTONIX range and have seen all my levels significantly increase as there is less chance of malabsorption.

It is very scarey for us RNY'rs to ignore our vitamins and supplements etc for a year or two - B12 is another one we sould not ignore as it is very dangerous...... I am glad that you are back on the right track.......

We are all here for you.....

Jackie

Thanks Jacki,   I will check out those Isotonix.   Today I am dead tired and I have not done much at all.... its so scary to me.    I barely have strength to vacuum!   And I am not depressed any more, so many good things have happened.  I am soooo grateful each day.   yeah... i am in HEAVY debt, but who isnt.... lol.  

I look forward to the next mon night call in.

are there diff topics, or is it discussion as it comes up?  

thanks again,

J.