malabsorbtion and long term affect?

Hi, My husband has asked a question about the malabsorbtion and the long term affect. What affects are there... say after 10yrs of wls? has malabsorbtion affected anyother organ/body parts? I am 42yrs and looking into wls RnY/limb. He was wondering when I'm 70 if I'd have other problems due to the malabsorbtion. Even if I take multivitimins. I 'll be aksing my dr. asap, but wanted all your grads opinions ) Thanks

I don't know this for a fact, but I seem to remember hearing that by the time you are 2 years out, malabsorbtion is less of a problem. The exception being B12 since the part of the intestine that absorbs that has been bypassed. Again, I don't know where I heard that so I could just be making it up!

A post-op's spouse perspective: As long as you are aware of the issues AND properly compensate for them, malabsorption should not be a problem. By "properly compensate" I mean taking an appropriate ammount of supplements to NEGATE the effects of the malabsorption. For eample: If your body only absorbs 50% of your calcium intake, you will need to take TWICE the RDA in order to get the daily recommended ammount. For life. One way to make sure you are getting enough of what you need is to stay on top of your blood work. My wife is very religious about having hers done every six months just to be on the safe side. You mentioned multi-vitamins. Maybe that will be enough, but most likely it won't. Your doctor will have the best info on what you'll need, but just to give you an idea, my wife takes the following DAILY: ? 1 Prenatal w/iron (prescription) + 1 Multi Vitamin ? 1 Trinsicon Iron capsule (prescription) ? Ester-C taken WITH my Iron - 1000 mg (Over the counter) ? Calcium Citrate (w/Magnesium and D) - 2000 mg (Over the counter) ? Zinc - 100 mg (personal choice) (Over the counter) ? B-Complex - daily (personal choice) (Over the counter) In addition, she takes the following: ? B-12 Injections monthly. 1000 mg - She administers them herself.(prescription) ? B-12 Sublingual - every 2/3 days (recently added this) (Over the counter) Again, a very important point to remember: Malabsorption is for life...so must be your intake of supplements. I've known a few people who got to goal and made the mistake of thinking they were done. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Taking a dozen supplements several times a day really SUCKS, but it HAS to be done. Your long-term health and your life depends on it. Malabsorption only becomes a real issue if ignored. Have a great week! -Paul

I'm almost two years out and just found out I'm not absorbing any iron at all. I take my vitamins and minerals religiously, never miss, and never expected to have this problem. I just had my first IV iron infusion last week. There is no guarantee that your body will absorb all that you put into your stomach. I saw that another poster gave a list of everything his wife takes, that's all fine and good IF you can absorb it. I'm not, so I'm doing these IV infusions, and they've told me that I may be lucky enough to go a year after this 6 week course of infusions before I have to do it again. I do wish I had been more informed prior to surgery, I thought that people had these kind of issues if they didn't follow the rules, didn't take the vitamins/minerals, didn't eat enough protein,etc, so I was shocked when I discovered that you can do everything right and still have major problems. Hope this helps, Rachel

Rachel, Nosy here! Are you Proximal or Distal Bypass? I take an Iron supplement And it seems to be absorbing just fine At least here at nearly 3 years My numbers and lab work show it to be great. Just wondering. Is there a reason a Doc gave you? Sorry to be so nosy, But if curiosity killed more than cats.... I'd have died 100 times by now. Best Wishes- Dx

I'm proximal. No, my doc gave me no reason, just that research is now showing lots of wls patients have trouble absorbing iron and he started checking iron/ iron binding capacity/ferritin levels to see if his patients were having trouble,too. The nurses at the infusion therapy center told me they see many wls patients for iron infusions.

Hey Dx! Sorry to hijack but I just noticed your new picture.... WTG! You look so dapper! Michelle

Rachel, if you knew that there was a slight possibility that you might not absorb iron, would you have cancelled the surgery? Speaking for myself, I was willing to go up against ALL the odds but that was my own decision, of course.

Slight is a lot different than a huge possibility, I think the malabsorption problem is affecting a lot more people than the doctors realised, more people are having it done and so they have more people to study and learn from now than before. I don't know if I would have still rationalized it all out in my mind to tell myself that I wasn't going to have this happen to me, I would be lucky, all that, but if I'd known that I was going to be in the state that I'm now in, I think I would have decided not to do it. The reality of it all is that this may end up killing me a lot quicker than being super-morbidly obese was going to. I may have made it to my early sixties at least, and now I don't know, the body can't keep living in a constant state of imbalance and deficit.

My surgeon explains to all patients at the get-go that the RNY takes a 2 pronged approach to weight loss. First, a pouch is created so that it limits what we can physically take in. Second, 5 feet of intestine is bypassed so that malabsorption takes place, also facilitating weight loss. My surgeon also says that the more intestine that's bypassed, the more problems with absorbing ALL nutrients are seen and big problems are encountered. This is exactly why he only does proximal bypasses and not distal. The more distal the bypass, the bigger the absorption problems. He also recommends 150 mg. of elemental iron post-op, which is much higher than what most recommend, but more than 30% of patients end up with iron deficiencies. I'm sorry you didn't know this. My surgeon was really up front about this, and I hope I didn't come across as sarcastic or anything. I really wondered if your decision would have been different. Mine would not be different.