Question:
Has anyone become anemic after being long-term post-op and suffered a stroke?

I had surgery 2 years ago in October. This past October (2004), I was hospitalized due to having chest pains and watched carefully for heart attack. I didn't suffer a heart attack, but the hospital discovered that I was suffering from low iron anemia and Pernicious anemia. When I was discharged from the hospital, I thought my glasses were messing up on me because I was seeing double vision. Over the next couple of weeks, my symptoms worsened and I developed numbness all the way down the right side of my body. I couldn't type, couldn't write, couldn't take care of household duties, and had difficulty dressing myself or taking care of my other personal needs. It was determined that I'd suffered a light stroke that was due to my being anemic. Has anyone else had this experience?    — SnowWhiteDove459 (posted on December 31, 2004)

December 31, 2004
My cousin was severly anemic a couple of years ago - about 2 years post op for her. Was in the hospital and had several blood transfusions and was scoped looking for a source of bleeding (which they never found). She had not been taking any other supplements beside children's flintstones - as per her docs instructions. Anyway, about a year - 18 months after this episode she began having neurological problems - seizures. Not grand mals or anything, mostly very short periods of unresponsiveness. Her docs ran tests and put her on meds, and she seems to have gotten her anemia under control, and the seizures have stopped. The docs could not conclusively say this was caused by her RNY, but I kinda suspect that if she had had better supplementation instructions all of this could have been avoided. I've taken iron and B-12 since my surgery and I hope I can avoid these problems. I've also read that lack of thiamin (B-1) can cause nuerological problems. I hope you get better.
   — Ali M