Low folate, iron deficient anemia…

[thinkt2013 74]

Hey! I got my first round of blood work done, and projected surgery date is January. I’m Iron deficient, which is chronic for me, low folate, low Vitamin D, which I knew, and low B1 thiamine plasma. The B1 and Folate were a total surprise to me. My results came in tonight, but my surgeon hadn’t reviewed them yet, but here I am researching anyway. Lol. I’m sure she will get me all situated with additional Vitamins. Did anyone else have abnormal blood work before surgery?

I’m so excited for this journey, and can’t wait to see improvement on all of my numbers, and not just my weight! 😀

[Getfitasamother 2]

actually I just got my blood work back yesterday and I am showing similar numbers

[ShoppGirl 4,384]

My team didn’t check my Vitamins beforehand. I was kinda surprised but they didn’t. I am guessing they were fine though cause at my three month post op everything was normal with just a bariatric multi and calcium citrate.

[liveaboard15 1,293]

I did not have that kind of blood work before surgery. I did however 3 months post op. and i only had slight low Iron. I increased the amount of iron i take now

[thinkt2013 74]

It is so interesting how every program is different. I love hearing about everyone’s journey and the process.

[thinkt2013 74]

@getfitasamother I’m glad I’m not alone in that. What’s up next for you preop wise? I have an upper endoscopy next week.

[I♡BypassedMyPhatAss♡ 804]

I got my Lap Band almost ten years ago, and I can't remember if they did pre op blood work and if they did what the results were. I'm almost three months post op revision Bypass now and this surgeon did do pre op blood work, but it was all normal. I've been on continual vitamins/calcium for nearly ten years, so that's probably part of the reason my labs were normal.

It's not uncommon for obese people to be malnourished/have low Vitamins & mineral levels. If you think about it, for most obese people, the choices that they make/made is part of the reason that gets a lot of us to wls. Fast food, pizza, burgers for the most part has very little nourishment as far as vitamins/minerals go (besides carbs, lol).

I'm sure your team will get your levels up to normal before you have your surgery. As a matter of fact, after my pre op labs came back, even tho they were normal, I was started on chewable bariatric vitamins. It was standard protocol for pre op patients. So don't fret, you'll be fine!

Best wishes!

[kcuster83 1,504]

I specifically asked my surgeon if my pre-op testing was also to check all my Vitamin levels. He said no, they used to but ultimately it is pointless. If post-op blood shows deficiencies it ultimately doesn't matter when it started it only matters that we get it regulated now once we found the problem.

I have always been slightly low on Iron, so my multi vitamin has some iron and I seem to do fine with it. He just said since I knew I was already low in iron, it may get worse and I may switch to iron infusions. 3 month blood work was good though so we will see what happens at 1 yr blood work.

[catwoman7 11,166]

my Vitamin D was low, but that's super common (especially in the north, where I live). They put me on prescription Vitamin D until my level was normal (can remember how long this took - maybe three or four weeks?), then I switched over to an over-the-counter vitamin D tablet.