Hey Guys,

Just wanted to give you all a heads-up if you are pre-op and come back with unusually high or borderline high levels of Iron in your blood.

My surgeon, although noted the elevated level, was not concerned.

As they were inflating my abdomen, it triggered a vagus nerve response that actually stopped my heart. They introduced Atropine and I came back. They waited a few minutes and decided to proceed with the surgery once consulting with other physicians and a cardiologist.

Everyone seemed completely baffled by the phenomenon, especially since all of my pre-surgery test came back so strong.

When I reminded the doctor that my iron levels were unusually high and mentioned that my father has been diagnosed with hemochromatosis, a light bulb went off for him. The iron deposited in my heart has messed with it's circuitry.

I've had no post-op complications and have healed remarkably well (returning to work 7 days post-op), but I have appointment up the keester with cardiologists and hematologists to get this blood disorder under control.

Moral to the story - be informed, disclose all of your family medical history (even if you don't think it's relevant), get tested if you have a close family member diagnosed and don't be afraid to ask questions!

Thanks!

That is always good advice to disclose all your family history. I don't know much about hemochromatosis or what the effect of elevated iron is on the heart. But I will say that the Vagus nerve travels right next to the esophagus and is easily stimulated by changes in air pressure in the esophagus. As a paramedic when we have a patient with an svt (elevated heart rate originating from above the ventricles) we often have the pt hold there breath, or blow through there lips to cause a vagal response to slow the rate so we can better see what exact rhythm is on the monitor to tell us how to treat it appropriately. So, I would think a vagus response is quite common when inflating the abdomen during the procedure, your just seems to have been more drastic than expected. Glad it all worked out though.

Excellent point VSGKirk.....this is why men's multivitamins often leave the iron out. In addition, men typically have less deficiencies of iron than women....but this research is with normal stomach sizes and intake. So, an iron deficiency may or may not occur with sleeved men....add a history of hemochromatosis and it gets more complicated. You're spot on.....for the rest of our lives, take your blood work seriously and stay compliant with whatever vitamin/diet regimen is recommended by your provider.

Very interesting post. While I was in the hospital for my VSG they actually kept me an extra day because I had such elevated levels of platelets. The initial concern/diagnosis was polycythemia vera and I ended up having to go to a hematologist and "donate" a pint of blood every month for 3 months until the levels lowered/stabilized.

Here's the interesting tie-in with obsesity/VSG .... when I was fat my testosterone levels dropped WAY down and I did testosterone replacement, intially with Androgel and then later with the Testopel implantable testosterone. I had done 3 treatments of Testopel (over the course of almost a year) and then had my VSG surgery.

It turns out that the elevated platelets were NOT P.V. but were actually from the testosterone. Once I stopped the Testopel treatments and after about 3-5 months for my levels to stabilize (from both the weight loss and from the Testopel getting out of my system) my platelet count returned to normal.

Now that I'm 2 years post-op, both my testosterone and platets levels have remained normal. Maybe this is a tie-in that others might get help from.