Track Your Bloodwork! - ThinnerTimes - Gastric Bypass Forum, Lap Band Forum, and Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy Forum

Corrine · 10-25-2008, 02:01 PM

One thing I would recommend for everyone is that they keep a spreadsheet of all bloodwork results.

If your computer doesn't have spreadsheet capabilities, Google has a free on-line spreadsheet that even I can work my way around: Welcome to Google Spreadsheets

Just list all the labs drawn then enter the numbers under their respective dates. I highlight anything peculiar in red and print out a copy and take it with me to the docs each time.

My surgeon was/is superb but I quickly learnt that most docs are happy if your numbers are in the "normal" range.

It didn't take me long to work out that "normal" isn't necessarily good. A prime example is my iron dropped 34 points during the first 3 months after surgery. 3 months later it dropped another 9 points putting me just 1 point up from low. No one said a thing about it!

Well, guess what...... 3 months later and I felt like crud and had to go on some heavy duty iron supplements.

The same happened with my vitamin A etc.

The results of a small study released by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in May 2008 states:

At 3 months out, 34% of us will require at least one specifici supplement in addition to multivitamins.

At 6, that number increased to 59%.

At 2 years - 98% of us will require one or more additional supplements.

Nutritional deficiencies after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for morbid obesity often cannot be prevented by standard multivitamin supplementation -- Gasteyger et al. 87 (5): 1128 -- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

I don't rely on anyone other than myself to track my bloodwork results and neither should you.

Vim&Vigour · 10-25-2008, 03:33 PM

Thank you Corrine
for highlighting this VITAL aspect of our surgeries! I quite frankly feel that the little I do is "enough" (compared to my former life!), but indeed ONE multivitamin 2-4 times a week is by no means anywhere near enough!!! I have slipped my vitamins and protein intake these last 3 weeks, don't drink more than 1 glass of water a day.... I have lost the habit and ...
Thank your for your friendly alarm bells!
Cheers,
Vim

Corrine · 10-25-2008, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vim&Vigour

Thank you Corrine
for highlighting this VITAL aspect of our surgeries! I quite frankly feel that the little I do is "enough" (compared to my former life!), but indeed ONE multivitamin 2-4 times a week is by no means anywhere near enough!!! I have slipped my vitamins and protein intake these last 3 weeks, don't drink more than 1 glass of water a day.... I have lost the habit and ...
Thank your for your friendly alarm bells!
Cheers,
Vim

VIM! I have only one thing to say to you....

Don't make me come over there!

But I hear you sweetheart. There are days when I truly just want to forget that I've had WLS but with a never ending round of daily pills etc., that isn't likely to happen.

Vitamins and supplements are essential if we want to reap the benefits of the surgery we had and the hard work we put into being thinner.

You know, WLS opens a door to a beautiful new world. It gives us a tool which, if used properly, gives us a healthier, happier, more productive future.

I'd be a shame to waste the future YOU created for yourself.

mistymee · 10-25-2008, 08:09 PM

Corrine.. thank you for sharing with us this hard learned lesson. I don't feel that I'm getting a complete and thorough rundown of tests and I'm trying to cobble together tests with the surgeons office & my PCP but I'm not sure everything that needs to be checked really is. Do you know of a comprehensive list somewhere of what needs to be checked that I might bring to my new PCP?

Corrine · 10-25-2008, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistymee

Corrine.. thank you for sharing with us this hard learned lesson. I don't feel that I'm getting a complete and thorough rundown of tests and I'm trying to cobble together tests with the surgeons office & my PCP but I'm not sure everything that needs to be checked really is. Do you know of a comprehensive list somewhere of what needs to be checked that I might bring to my new PCP?

I haven't seen a list and the problem is that docs don't seem to order the same set of tests each time.

I had a big one done at 1 year (but there are others I'd like to have included) and I have some other stuff going on so some of these tests are not specific to gastric bypass:

Glucose
BUN
Creatinine
BUN/Creat Ratio
Urea Nitrogen
Urea Nitrogen/Creat
Sodium
Potassium
Chloride
CO2
Anion Gap
Osmolality, Calc
Calcium
Magnesium
Phosphorous
Amylase
GGT
ALK PHOS
TBILI
Albumin
ALT
AST
Cholesterol
HDL
HDL/Chol. Ratio
LDL, Calculated
Triglyceride
Iron Serum
Iron Binding Capacity Total
Transferrin Sat
Prealbumin
CBC
RBC blood
Hemoglobin
Hematocrit
MCV
MCH
MCHC
RDW-CV
Platelets Blood
MPV
Lymphocytes
Monocytes
Neutrophils
Eosinophils
Basphils
Lymphocytes
Monocytes
Neutrophils
Eosinophils
Basophils
WBC
RBC
HGB
Folate
B12
Lipase
25-OH Vit (Sea2)
25-OH Vit (Sea3)
Calcidiol
Vit.A (Retinol)
HGB A1C
T Protein
PTH Intac
HCT

Vim&Vigour · 10-26-2008, 01:49 AM

Corrine!
WOW What a list!
And thank you for looking out for me! Yes indeed, this morning the skin under my eyes is "PARCHED"! The first thing I did upon awakening was to reach out for WATER! AND my multivitamin, which I am sipping as I type! Thanks again!
Cheers,
Vim

sherry7 · 10-26-2008, 07:24 AM

Great advice Corrine. I always get copies of my blood work results, but I never thought about doing the spreadsheet.

I think as patients, we have to be proactive about our health. For example, my surgeon (as a matter of routine) doesn't check blood work until the 6 month appointment. I totally disagree with that, as I think too many problems can crop up during that time. At less than 5 months out now, I've had blood work on 3 separate occasions. Thank goodness I have, because I have ongoing problems with my iron, vitamin D, calcium, potassium, and B-12.

I'm definitely going to do the spreadsheet...as soon as I can round up all of my results, which are scattered throughout the house.

sherry7 · 10-26-2008, 07:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vim&Vigour

Thank you Corrine
for highlighting this VITAL aspect of our surgeries! I quite frankly feel that the little I do is "enough" (compared to my former life!), but indeed ONE multivitamin 2-4 times a week is by no means anywhere near enough!!! I have slipped my vitamins and protein intake these last 3 weeks, don't drink more than 1 glass of water a day.... I have lost the habit and ...
Thank your for your friendly alarm bells!
Cheers,
Vim

Yikes Vim!

Don't sabotage yourself like that.

AmityA · 10-26-2008, 10:06 AM

I have my 6 mo appt this wednesday and plan to ask my dr for copies of ALL my bloodwork. At my 3 mo appt, I was told my vit D was low and i needed to get more sun and play more golf. I started taking a vit d supplement. Hopefully with the bloodwork we will go over wednesday this will have resolved itself.

What i find weird is that when i went in for my 6 mo post op bloodwork at Quest Diagnostics, I asked if they could send me a copy of the results. The technician said they could only send the results to the doctor. That kinda made me upset, i mean it was my blood in those 9 vials that they took, why cant I have a copy of MY results?

guess I will have to ask my doctor wednesday.

Nyn · 10-26-2008, 10:17 AM

What a great idea, Corinne! Thanks for sharing and reminding us.

I feel lucky in that, as a Kaiser patient, I signed up at their website, so they email me the blood results. I can click on each one to learn more about it and to see my results from this time compared to all previous times in 3 different types of graphs/tables. I love it! I've learned so much just playing around with everything on their site.