Question:
3 Yrs out from surgery and I found I am extremly anemic...

In preparation to have my gall bladder removed ,CBC resluts showed I am Extremly anemic, probable Iron defeciency anemia. Appearantly from poor absorption due to the gastric bypass I had three yrs ago. Any others experience this or have comments or information?    — Tricee (posted on August 16, 2004)

August 15, 2004
This is a COMMON problem; are you taking your Iron; Did it just go down - you should be getting yearly blood to monitor your Iron, B12, etc.
   — star .

August 16, 2004
Get chloraphyl liquid at youur health food store..that will pump your iron right up! you can also drink fresh made carrot juice.All the Best! Tracey
   — traceybubbles

August 16, 2004
Yeah, I am almost 3 years post-op and also anemic. My PCP put me on iron/vit C a couple weeks ago.
   — Cheri M.

August 16, 2004
Among the things that are malabsorbed following the RNY are: Protein, Iron, Calcium, Vitamins A, D, E, K, zinc, and the B vitamins. (That's not an exhaustive list, but I think it's close.) And oh yes, fat, which is why the bypass is done in the first place, but the cost for malabsorbing fat is malabsorption of those other things.<P>I've had my labs run every six months ever since my RNY because, by golly, there's always *something* about to drop out of the "normal" range despite my faithful supplementation. I'm always having to adjust what I use in order to stay within the normal lab ranges. Based on advice I read from Michelle Curran (vitalady), among others, I get copies of my own labwork, read them, compare them to each other to see if there are trends developing within the normal range (my docs tend to only see that which has *fallen* out of the normal range, not the clear trends showing I am in the nose-diving out of "normal" in one thing or another), and adjust the supplements I'm using accordingly. When I find the right combo of stuff to take, I'll cut back to annual labwork, but so far, things are a little too interesting (and in need of adjustment) to do that so I'm still having them done every six months.<P>I've seen one study indicating that iron deficiencies, while they can develop at any time following the RNY, tend to "clump" up and happen with many patients at around the 2-3 year post-op mark. Sure enough, my ferritin has almost dropped out of the normal range at 2+ years post-op, and since ferritin represents the body's stores of iron (versus the iron serum level that's usually run as part of the CBC, which for me has always been low-normal), I'm doubling my prescription iron to *avoid* what's coming next if I don't -- anemia. The fact that I've been on Trinsicon since my RNY, and that I'm only a proximal RNY (75 cm. bypassed), did not keep my body from slowing sapping its own iron stores over the past two years. Lesson learned here.<P>So my comment is, I'm sorry this happened to you. I really think it would be happening to me by three years post-op if I weren't so aggressive in getting my labs done and reading them for trends. I recommend the same approach to others, just as others recommended that to me, and boy am I glad they did.
   — Suzy C.

August 17, 2004
This, along w/ osteoporosis are the two main side effects of WLS. That's why the docs tell us we have to supplement FOREVER.
   — mom2jtx3