Am I the only one here who never needed B12 supplement? My doc never prescribed me one (which I don't understand) and I never took it....just a one a day Multivitamin. But I just had my blood work done and my B12 is right in the middle of happy. Never had any symptoms of anemia either.

Looking at a list of foods high in B12, I hardly eat any of the top 5 (clams, oysters, liver, octopus and caviar) bit I do eat a lot of the 6-10 foods on the list (fish, beef, cheese and eggs). Am I unusual? Did my doc not cut away enough stomach (tongue in cheek), or am I just getting enough from food?

Laura-ven is right in her statement about the B12 being more of a necessity in gastric bypass patients. There is a certain part of our stomach that absorbs the Vitamin, and having a lot of our stomach removed can make it possible for us to become deficient in B12. sublingual B12 bypasses the stomach absorption and gets absorbed directly into the bloodstream, which is why we are prescribed that kind, specifically.

I've heard of many bariatric patients that do not maintain an ideal diet with a variety of foods, and become dependent on daily Vitamins. At the same time, I myself have a much healthier diet now than I ever did before, and only take vitamins as a precaution.

The last time I had my labs done, my B12 was higher than necessary, so I cut down my tablet to twice a week.

Long story short, it is out of the norm that you were not prescribed B12. If your labs look good, however, no worries! Yay for you!

Hey BTB - Lucky you - one less pill to take! My B12 levels are really high, like > 1500 when range is between 100-900. Not sure what to think about it, but do enjoy the strawberry flavor under my tongue every morning. Any dangers from too high B12 levels?

Yup. Too much of a good thing is never actually good!

Your doctor should have told you to reduce the B12 a bit. Try every other day instead of every day. I would even go down to twice a week, maybe.

Yup. Too much of a good thing is never actually good!

Your doctor should have told you to reduce the B12 a bit. Try every other day instead of every day. I would even go down to twice a week' date=' maybe.[/quote']

Thanks, will try that.

Does anyone take a B1 supplement? My thiamin levels were severely low so they put me on B1 but I had never heard of that before. .... I was Rxed the b12 injection. My PC said the levels were on the high side' date=' but my surgeon didn't seem to think so.[/quote']

I had to take B1 for the first 60 days. As for B12, I took my recommended 2000mcg each week and just had dangerously low levels at my 6 month post op labs. So now I take my weekly dose every single day for 6 weeks, then retest. If the levels are still low, I change to injections.

Ok update!! I have read several posts just from today with people having to high of b12 levels !

Got me wondering... After a little reading it seems that the b12 being prescribed by the doctors is in part is from the experiences of the bypass surgery.

There is some thought that we can become deficient, Although to a "lesser" extent? So it might be one of those things that the jury is still out on.

My take away? blood labs are a good thing ...

I think you're probably right Laura.

I think for a long time bypass has been the most popular procedure in the States. It looks like after care might have a bit of a bypass flavour.

In Australia I've heard per capita we get more bands than anyone else. My surgeons done several thousand. I only got told to take a multi post surgery and was given a script for something for reflux that I haven't needed.

Long story short, it is frustrating that after care is so varied. My guess is it probably should be somewhere around the middle.

Thanks, will try that.

Good luck! Keep getting your levels checked every so often to make sure you're in range.

I had to take B1 for the first 60 days. As for B12, I took my recommended 2000mcg each week and just had dangerously low levels at my 6 month post op labs. So now I take my weekly dose every single day for 6 weeks, then retest. If the levels are still low, I change to injections.

Dez, it's odd that you should be so low while taking the sublingual supplementation. I sincerely hope that this doesn't sound rude or condescending, but did anyone explain to you about the proper procedure of placing the tablet, and how long to wait for it to dissolve before swallowing?

Edit: Oops! I just realized you were taking your dosage once a week, and now it has been upped to every day. Hope it works out.

Hey BTB - Lucky you - one less pill to take! My B12 levels are really high, like > 1500 when range is between 100-900. Not sure what to think about it, but do enjoy the strawberry flavor under my tongue every morning. Any dangers from too high B12 levels?

Hey Fiddleman, my B12 levels are high like that, too (>1700). Good news is B12 is Water soluable, so no, it's most likely not harmful, it's just expensive urine. I cut my B12 down to 3x weekly because I also have some neuropathy issues for unknown reasons prior to surgery, and don't want to chance it getting low. Truth is, I probably don't need it at all.

My B-12 levels have been "normal" since surgery (Nov 2011). My insurance just changed and I'm now inside the Kaiser machine. I went to see the bariatric Nurse Practitioner and she put me on monthly B-12 shots. I have no idea why???

It is very very rare to have B12 toxicity. Yes, it is water soluble, but it is stored in the liver..unlike vitamin C which if you get excess you do pee out. The only thing I can think with B12 toxicity is diarrhea which is never fun and potential blood clots in the legs..although I personally have never seen this in my patients. I still think it's pretty rare to see toxicity from B12...but it never hurts to know your numbers and discuss with your doctor ..and certainly if you are having symptoms get to your doctor for am assessment.

I was certain I was B-12 deficient (vegetarian), but once I finally got my labs back from my physical I turned out to be deficient in nothing except Vitamin D (which is apparently quite common!).

One of the things that makes VSG great is that you do not have the same risk of malabsorption as some surgeries- that does not mean that you are in the clear, but certainly do not be too fearful. I thought for certain I was going to be deficient, but everything is better than what it was when I was overweight!

Dez' date=' it's odd that you should be so low while taking the sublingual supplementation. I sincerely hope that this doesn't sound rude or condescending, but did anyone explain to you about the proper procedure of placing the tablet, and how long to wait for it to dissolve before swallowing?

Edit: Oops! I just realized you were taking your dosage once a week, and now it has been upped to every day. Hope it works out.[/quote']

Hi Puja! Thanks for asking, and no I'm not offended. It seems some of us just don't absorb it sublingually very well. Hopefully I won't need injections, but my PCP says they're no big deal to self inject. We shall see!

Yikes! I hope everything works out!

I had my b levels checked. I've always taken a B complex. I was told to stop them immediately . My B levels -all of them were way too high.