IRON and B 12

well after struggling so much with my iron and having such nasty problmes with taking the iron pills, i asked my family doctor to send me to a hemotologist who might be able to help me more. the doctor sat with me and took all kinds of information down and labs were done, his nurse also gave me some little card board thingies so i could get samples at home to see if there is blood in my stools.... fun thing to do. after about a week i got a call from the nurse to set up two iron infusions in his office, before I had to go to the hosptial 5 days in a row and the iron infusion took about 1 to 2 hours, but with this doctor I go in to his office and sit in a room for 4 hours this wednesday and then again next wednesday, i was told to bring my lunch and i also plan on bringing my portable DVD player. I hope this works better and since this doctor knows so much more about anemia, I hope he can get everything straightened out. also I will start to get a B 12 shot once a month. just go in without having to see the doctor and get the shot. I had one fust a few days ago and I can feel the difference today. one more thing, even though I am 2 1/2 years out, i am going to return to going to the support group meetings. I hope I can find people with simular situations and I might even learn something new. Donna

i Donna I am not low in Iron but B 12 I take it every day now and get shots too.I am low on Calcium and Vit D.I take Cal with extra D and get 50000 every 2 weeks of Vit D and then also take extra D .I am also low on Protein.I have started drinking my shakes again.I am having a hard time with this malabsorption.I hope it gets better.I still can't take in much without getting sick.I am losing but slowly.I have lost 110 since Last Feb 14th.I have had RNY and then a RIght Adrenalectomy and then now have to have Right TMJ surgery Wed .I have a dislocated right jaw.I have Artheritis (sp) real bad.But on the good thought My heart is better.No BP problems .No Diabetes now and no Sleep Apnea.That is good .SO it is getting better but so slow.I hope you get better soon also.Dee

I have to take B-12 shots every month. They want to up them to every three weeks. I am just really tired and draggy. Hope this all works out for you. Hazel

Hi: Good to hear that you have a solid plan and that you feel good about the new doc. I have had the iron infusions as well. Mine were an all day event. 4-5 hours each. But, boy oh boy do I feel better after having them. Good luck Cheri RNY 06/2003 EDD 10/05/2007

I give myself a B12 shot once a week. Good luck!!!!

You might want to talk with your doctor about taking Proferrin. it is an iron supplement that absorbs in a different place in your body. You see once we are bypassed and deplete our iron supplies for whatever reason the absorbtion rate is dramatically reduced because the jejunum is bypasses where we absob the iron if we were not bypassed. Proferrin has helped me because my levels dropped to a 5 and the doctor who put me on it was a friend of mine who also not only has done a lot of research on wls, but has had wls himself. It was a last resort before infusions. And a perk of it is that you do not get constipated either Good luck to you and ask your doctor about it!

I have been having problems now for a year with my iron. I am suppose to take two prescription iron pills a day but the cramp my stomach terribly. I started taking slow fe and taking B12 supplements (under the tongue) every day. I dont want to do infusions because I don't have time off work to do them. Is Proferrin by prescription only? If prescription only, does the prescription come from your PCP or WLS surgeon? Thanks in advance.

I was going to post about my own anemia saga, but think I'll just reply to your post. Anemia sucks! It took forever to get to see a hematologist, but at long last I'm getting iron infusions. I do have to go to the hospital once a week, but it's not too bad. I'm just glad I'm finally feeling better; I was out of work for three weeks. I gained 3 lbs sitting on my ass. Oh well, at least I can stay awake for more than three hours now. Torrey (281/160/179)

Can I ask what the infusions are, how do they do it? I am anemic, and my 1st hematologist appt is next monday. I just wanted to be aware in case they suggest it. Thanks! Laura

The iron infusions are via IV. I have to go to the hospital, but if your doctor is set up for it, they can do it there. It takes about an hour for the medicine to finish dripping in. However, it takes about another hour to get everything set up. It doesn't hurt any worse than a plain saline IV drip. Torrey