Protein Still Low, Iron Too High

B1 and B6 are also specimen that need covering, in addition to the A, I learned this past draw.

And none of those have come back yet. How much you wanna bet that they come back as "couldn't read the sample. Redo"? LOL

Bet you are right!

Also, interestingly enough, I was under the impression that ALL B vitamins were water soluble, therefore we flushed what we did not need, and I was taking a supplement that also had B6 in it and my B6 came back 125, with normals being 2.1 to 21.7.

And b6 toxicity ssymptoms are the same as low B12, so I would have just supplemented with more b12 if my doctor had not taken the specimen because its just one she checks regularly! 

That B6 level isnt' good.  All b vitamins are water soluable except B6 - we dont' flush out B6 and it can be very dangerous if too high. IT can cause nerve damage if too high, so if you are taking a B complex, please stop it.

I find this to be a big problem with WLS patients, for some reason - many WLS patients take b complex which we dont need.  The B12 in it useless, the B6 in it makes us toxic, many of them dont' even have B1 in it and that is the only B vitamin that we actually need extra of - actually 100mg of daily, so you should just take a separate B1 supplement and the other b vitamins - B2, b2, b5 etc - you get in your multi

I think this is a symptom of a bigger problem. I see a lot of WLS patients who just take what everyone else is taking or they post about a problem... like "I feel tired all the time" and people say "oh you are probably low in X" and they start taking X without knowing if they are low in it or not.

For things like Iron, you can get heavy metal poisoning if you take too much. Yet I see people taking iron all over the place without consulting their labs.

I think people think anything OTC is automatically safe and all prescription medicine is dangerous but there are plenty of OTC supplements that you just shouldn't be taking on a whim and some prescription meds are pretty mild.

it was in an amino acid supplement I was taking, so I droppit it and my multis and will get it rechecked at my between labs.

but I got a good lesson on the assume! 

You are right!  It was in an amino acid supplement I was taking so I stopped it and my multiBs.

I have been rereading your labs and your history and did some research.  I think I may have found something that sounds like you to a T.  Have you ever been tested for Celiac disease or gluten intolerance?  These people can't tolerate anything with gluten which is in wheat, oats, barley and tons of other stuff.  It causes severe malabsorbtion (not maldigestion) of iron, protein and many other vitamins.  In order to be diagnosed you need to have 2 things done - one an Endoscopy with a biopsy of your small intestines and a blood test, not sure what it is called.  I would go a good gastroenterologist that has alot of experience in both gluten intolerance and WLS if possible and maybe you can get some help.  I have also read that there is new research out that there is a large subset of people that have something called non-celiac gluten sensitivity.  You test negative for celiac but have all the symptoms of gluten intolerance.  By going on the same gluten free diet, you feel alot better and your malabsorbtion goes away.

This might be something to look into and could be causing alot of your problems of why you aren't absorbing your protein, iron or other things.

I am absorbing my iron though.