Despite taking the recommended dosage of Iron I still ended up anemic. Despite taking some of the best Vitamins offered, I'm 14 months out and still losing hair to the anemia.

Sometimes your journey won't be perfect. I have new challenges now. I'm slowly restoring my iron levels. My hair keeps getting cut shorter and shorter. But, keep in mind, sometimes what's recommended may not always be enough for you/ might be too much for you. That's why it's important to watch for the signs and symptoms of anything..... Weird. I kept all my post surgery bariatric appointments and was faithful with blood work. I told my team about my symptoms a couple months after the blood work and they told me, oh, well your blood work was fine. I had my general practitioner run my blood work and It came back anemic. Anemia can come on quick. Weirdly enough, i have too high of levels of Vitamin D and B12. Go figure. So, the point of this ramble is to pay attention to changes in your body and you really do have to be your own health advocate and DEMAND testing.

There is a simple reason why you are anemic. Gastric bypass surgery reroutes the stomach so that the part that absorbs Iron, the duodenum, is no longer used. I became anemic after a year and required an iron transfusion. My hematologist carefully explained that no amount of supplements or food can change your iron levels with your duodenum bypassed. Red blood cells only live 120 days. Since we can't get enough iron, we slowly become anemic because we can't create enough new red blood cells to replace the ones that have died.

It amazes me that the information you get at your doctor's office is often not very informed. I had a nurse tell me that it was fine to take iron supplements. That was really stupid on her part since we can't absorb iron. You would think that after hundreds of patients they would know better. Go figure.

Despite taking the recommended dosage of Iron I still ended up anemic. Despite taking some of the best Vitamins offered, I'm 14 months out and still losing hair to the anemia.

Sometimes your journey won't be perfect. I have new challenges now. I'm slowly restoring my iron levels. My hair keeps getting cut shorter and shorter. But, keep in mind, sometimes what's recommended may not always be enough for you/ might be too much for you. That's why it's important to watch for the signs and symptoms of anything..... Weird. I kept all my post surgery bariatric appointments and was faithful with blood work. I told my team about my symptoms a couple months after the blood work and they told me, oh, well your blood work was fine. I had my general practitioner run my blood work and It came back anemic. Anemia can come on quick. Weirdly enough, i have too high of levels of Vitamin D and B12. Go figure. So, the point of this ramble is to pay attention to changes in your body and you really do have to be your own health advocate and DEMAND testing.

Thank you for the information. You're absolutely right too. You can do everything right and faithfully follow all post op instructions to the tee, and still run into unforeseen complications like yours.

No matter how prepared we are going in, WLS, just like any other major surgery, is a roll of the dice.

Best wishes.