Vitamin Issues

Question
Hello. I was wondering what kinds of symptoms can occur with vitamin deficiencies after gastric bypass. I had heard that vitamins taken in pill form may not be enough after surgery and that injections are best.

Answer
Hello Ashtyn,

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are a known risk of bariatric surgery and can be more or less of a risk depending on what procedure you have.

Because the symptoms are different for each vitamin and mineral, that would be far too long of a list for me to provide here. Symptoms can include anything from fatigue to hair loss to death. Seriously.

Vitamin injections are rarely ever needed to prevent deficiency. Some doctors still use injections of vitamin B12, but this is really not needed in most cases. Most prevention is with vitamin and mineral supplements which need to be taken every day. This also assumes that you follow the dietary guidelines you are given and go to your doctor at least one time each year for labs to assure that your vitamin and mineral levels are staying in a healthy range.

Your bariatric surgeon should tell you what you need to take based on your procedure and also when labs to have done and when.

Please let me know if this helps!

In Health,

Dr Jacques

1. Prev:3 years post op gastric bypass with gain
2. Next:Strectching sleeve