Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Reevaluating

So I kicked up the liquid intake to try to offset this dehydration thing. Still trying to figure out my labs. Looks like I am low on ferritin even though my other iron levels look good, Vit D (on my second round of 50,000 units a week) getting ready to add D3 as I understand this is better than just plain ole D.
So even with the increase in liquid, staying away from bad carbs and hitting the gym again, I am still stuck in the 250's. Up 5, down 5! What is the problem? So I decided to track everything that went in my mouth today. Well I see where the problem is!! My G2 and hazelnut creamer...Damn liquid calories! They have never phased my weight loss before but I think they are the culprit now. I said if I ever needed to adjust what I was doing, I will. Starting tomorrow I will drastically decrease my creamer in my coffee and totally give up my G2's for a bit. What? You didn't expect me to go cold turkey did you? I hate water but this is a must. I suspect to be able to report a huge loss next posting.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Vitamin issues and BUN creatinine

Had my labs done back in November by my PCP and my Vitamin D and iron was low. She put me on 50,000 units once a week for 3 months. I changed my multi vitamin to a prenatal vitamin for the extra iron. Went back for my follow up on my labs last week. Vitamin D is still low, she put me back on 50,000 units for 3 more months. Iron was ok this go round, B12 was a little high. Reduced my 2500 mcg to every other day versus every day. I expected the ups and downs with the vitamins as I have read about them on OH. What I have never heard of was BUN (Blood urea nitrogen) creatinine levels. My BUN level and my creatinine levels were within normal range. My BUN creatinine ratio was 29. This scared me at first because I was told this tests your kidney function. But I have since learned that the jump is probably from an increase in protein and slight dehydration. I am not drinking 64 oz a day but I am getting in close to 60 oz, but that is with my coffee too, which the caffeine is not helping from what I am hearing. This is what labtestsonline had to say about BUN levels:
5. What is a BUN/Creatinine ratio?
Occasionally, a doctor will look at the ratio between a person’s
BUN and blood creatinine to help them determine what is causing these concentrations to be higher than normal. The ratio of BUN to creatinine is usually between 10:1 and 20:1. An increased ratio may be due to a condition that causes a decrease in the flow of blood to the kidneys, such as congestive heart failure or dehydration. It may also be seen with increased protein, from gastrointestinal bleeding, or increased protein in the diet. The ratio may be decreased with liver disease (due to decrease in the formation of urea) and malnutrition.
This makes me even more thankful I got my VSG. I knew I would not be 100% compliant with RNY and the malabsorption scared me so I know if I had gone that route, my issues would be worse. The congestive heart failure aspect scares me because this puts me right in line with all my dad's illness' but I am going to remain positive that this is from lack of fluid and my body freaking out over losing a great amount of weight. I am increasing my fluid and trying to incorporate regular water into my diet besides drinking nothing but G2, juice and coffee. Gah! I hate water....sigh