Severe Anemia

I had RNY in May, 2006.  I have been a success story.  I've reached my goal of 125 and stayed there.  I have felt great and had NO complications whatsoever.  I have often felt and thought that "I am a thin person" I am an active 45 year old woman, eat a well balanced nutritious diet high in protein, take my vitamins & minerals, drink only my water ****asionally a sugar-free hot choc), and sleep great.  I have a good life and I know of 3 people that have had RNY (they say) because of me.  Also, all my labs have been great. Saying all that, it's difficult for me to write this.  About a month ago while visiting my daughter in Savannah I passed out in a Homegoods store.  My heart was beating so hard you could see it through my clothes.  I was totally disoriented for about 2 hours and my heart continued to beat that way for quite some time.  Being as stubborn as I am, I refused to go to the doctor until I got home to NC.  When I got home I made an appt and went to the doc.  I had been feeling kind of bad through the holidays, but I just thought it was the stress of a normal life.  2 new grandchildren, stressful job, home, husband, holidays... The doctor's office called that afternoon and said that I must "rush to the ER", because my "labs were critical"  They said I could not drive.  My husband took me.  Well to make a long story short (I know, too late for that) my hemoglobin and hematocrit were 5.8 & 19.  Normal is 12-16 & 45+.  My iron levels were normal.  Many other levels were very low due to low red blood cell count.  But all my vitamin and iron levels were normal!  No internal bleeding, no cancer. They gave me 3 blood transfusions and a 4 day hospital stay.  I've been tested, poked, prodded, mri'd, & ct'd.  My blood is now up to 10 & 25.  still not great but I am able to walk around although I am symptomatic. (severe exhaustion, numbness, dizziness, disorientation, slurry speech, memory loss, headache...) They found some spots on my brain.  the radiologist thought MS.  The nuerologist yesterday said no, spots and symptoms are associated with low red blood cell count. The hemotologist and my primary care doc (oh yeah, and my dear husband) think it has something to do with my surgery.  My bariatric surgeon says no internal bleeding and labs are good and he's staying out of it. Have any of you ever experienced or heard of anyone experiencing this before?? I see the hemotologist again Monday.  If course of treatment, massive doses of iron, vitamins, some drugs... isn't working, he is going to give me a bone marrow aspiration.  if it is working, i will continue on treatment, maybe having to have regular blood transfusions, and call it MAL-NUTRITION!!! Help if you can!!  Thanks so much for allowing me to ramble.  The last thing I want is for this to have anything to do with my surgery.  I love my surgery. Sincerely, Deborah

Debra how scary, by any chance do you know  what your iron saturation and ferritin levels are......anemia is very common for post-ops.  What about your B-12 level?   If you don't know find out, you are your best advocate.....Google Pernicious anemia (related b-12 deficiency) Unfortunately many post-ops aren't aware of how badly and quickly anemia can come on........many aren't educated unfortunately.  Many post-ops deal with anemia and must have iron infusions periodically to keep their iron levels up.  I supplement with iron everyday, have seen the levels drop and determined I needed to be proactive....even though my PCP said iron is "fine".....the significant dive in results were not to my liking. Hope you feel better.

I'm a long-term anemic, but... your levels were super low!  I'm glad you're okay.  You wrote:  "The last thing I want is for this to have anything to do with my surgery.  I love my surgery." You can love it, but it is most likely the cause.

scarey...my hemogloben at its lowest was 7 and im at 10 now... my hemtologist told me that because of my rny i was not absorbing enough iron and would probably need iv infusions 2 times a year...forever my pcp isnt taking this seriously enough and she thinks a hemogloben of 10 is good enough...i pray that all goes well with you...take care...