Iron Deficiency Anemia/Blacking Out

[Guest deleted_user]

Hi,

Today was a wake up call for me. I blacked out and let go of the brakes as I was driving and hit the car in front of me. I am almost 2 years post-op and have developed Iron deficiency anemia. My cycle is not usually heavy - some months I don't get it at all, and a lack of Iron was never a problem before. I've been on iron pills, had a barium esophagram to make sure everything with my surgery is okay (doctor I'm following up with now is not my surgeon/I had surgery at a clinic in Mexico), an ultrasound on my thyroid, an upper endoscopy, and the most fun; a 6-day iron transfusion where I was poked everywhere! Very painful.

My fiancé insists we go to urgent care tomorrow morning at our local hospital. He is very concerned and doesn't want me driving like this anymore. I feel like I am getting the runaround from all the doctors and they just keep ordering more tests that are a bit irrelevant to my iron situation, just so they can bill me, and I'm not actually getting better. I've actually gained weight recently. I eat pretty well...

Anyone else struggled with a similar issue? Had iron deficiency anemia and daily episodes of blacking out? It happens to me very regularly but today, I could have killed someone, and when it happens, I pretty much knock out and start drooling and around my eyes gets really yellow/dark (or so I was told). I am getting married soon and really don't want this to interfere with me taking care of my fiancé (we don't live together now). He is so good to me and takes care of me like no other, and is so very patient but I know my health - which I've abandoned for a while, is a huge issue for him.

Any advice, especially if you've been in the same shoes or are now, would be greatly appreciated.

Time to get some sleep... Thank you all for your feedback, in advance!

[Kindle 8,667]

Iron deficiency is the number one Vitamin deficiency in VSG patients. Studies show up to 90% of female weight loss patients develop Iron deficiency within 10 years. Have you been taking the recommended iron supplements since your surgery? I was told 60-200mg taken with 500mg Vitamin C. And you shouldn't take it with Calcium, Multivitamins or meals as this can interfere with absorption. What I actually take is Vitamin Code Healthy Blood that has just 28mg iron, B Vitamins, Folate, Vitamin C and a raw veggie/mineral/probiotic/enzyme blend that is super gentle and very readily absorbable.

Have you had the recommended bloodwork done at 3 and 6 months and then annually? Were your iron levels normal or dropping at those times? What about your B12 levels? Low B12 can cause anemia, too and we should be taking sublingual or injectable B12 since we can't absorb oral B12 as well after VSG. My 3 month numbers were normal and my 6 month iron and Calcium were actually high. I dropped both supplements to only a couple times /week and of course I will recheck values at least annually.

There was another post on here recently about low iron and ferritin 3 years out. You may do a search for that thread.

Edited July 19, 2014 by Kindle

[JCP 619]

This is very scary. I am very anemic, pre-op, and have frequent dizziness and nausea and I started losing hair. The NUT has me on several supplements and I'm feeling better but not great. Surgery won't happen until it is resolved. Please update us. You must have been very scared. You could have been killed. Sure hope you are better.