Tiredness

Hi guys,

How long after surgery did you battle the tiredness?  I'm now 8 weeks out and my tiredness is getting worse not any better at all.  I'm taking my vitamins and protein shakes and also a great supplement called Vital Greens www.vitalgreens.com yet my tiredness is out of control.  I just want to go to sleep all the time and even at work I just want to put my head on the desk and go to sleep.  I haven't lost truckloads of weight which I think is fairly normal given this is my second revision surgery, but I've certainly lost all my energy.

Any suggestions guys??

Maybe you need to get your iron levels checked again just to be sure. Iron, hemoglobin, hematocrit and ferritin for starters.

Could just be normal recovery but you never know. Are you also taking a sublingual B12 or shots?

--gina

I'm taking a womens multi-vitamin but not B12 specific.  I didn't even know I could get Sublingual B12?  I'll have to enquire about that tomorrow.  I've just never ever been this exhausted before after surgery and I've had a lot of surgeries.

Right now, you're not absorbing much through your baby intestines. You need a lot more vitamins and minerals than you're taking. You might want to take a look at Vitalady's basic RNY and see if you can match up her suggestions with what you have available there. You may have some luck at VitaminShoppe or something like a vitamin specialty store. Link: www.gblcreations.com/Resources/Gina/ProgramPRNY2-2010.pdf

--gina

I know my energy level came back when I got my D3 level around 100.  It took 50,000u daily for a few months to get to there but when it came up, I felt tons better. 
Can you post your latest labs?  When are you due for labs again?

It took me a while ... about 8 weeks.  For me, starting the day with exercise helps with my energy during the day, but I just crash when I get home for the day. 

I'd follow Gina's vitamin advice.  She knows her stuff! Hope it gets better!

Kay

Karin, hope you feel better soon. 

Is the women's multi-vitamin all you are taking?  Was it the kind that was recommended by your WL surgeon? 

This is what I take:

Iron - first thing in the morning about 1 hour from anything else-I am post menopausal, but my surgeon still thought I needed to take iron because I used to be anemic and now I'm glad he wanted me to take it.

Bariatric Advantage Multi-Vitamin
Dry D3
B-complex
Milk Thistle
B12 - sublingual

After 2 hours I have 2 Calcium Chews every 2 hours until I have taken all 6 for the day

At night I take another BA Multi-vitamin

I take some other things like Stool softners and allergy pills 

I agree you might want to have some labs drawn and see if anything is low.  It also helps me when I walk or exercise - seems to make me have more energy.

Linda
 

Keep in mind that recovering from WLS is somewhat different from other surgeries because of the lack of calories and the weight loss. I found that I was in a weird state where in some ways I had super energy and in others I was dead tired. Definitely, I had trouble concentrating at work for a few months and would put my head down on the desk for a nap many afternoons.

Not that you shouldn't get your labs done and check for vitamin deficiencies, because you should, but you can also expect to have dragging days for a while even if your labs are good.

I haven't had labs done for about 6 months and that was prior to my RNY surgery 8 weeks ago now. The dietician at my surgeons gave me a list and it goes like this. 2 x women's multi's, 1 x calcitrate with vit D in it, 1x iron, and keep the protein shakes up. Not a big list really when I read what some of you guys are taking. I just feel really tired and I look so pastie white with black rings under my eyes. A bit like a ghost.