Downside of Malabsorption

Hesitated to post this, but felt it would be useful.  32 year old woman in our community died of a drug overdose last week - pain meds chased with alcohol.  On the surface, it just looked like a drug problem.  Just found out she had WLS (assume RnY but not sure) at age 27.  For some reason (noncompliance?  bad luck?), she had horrible complications from lack of adequate absorption, which led to crumbling bones and teeth.  She lost all her teeth and had a full set of dentures by age 30.  Her spine and other bones were in such bad shape that she was in constant pain, thus the addiction to pain medication.  

Please take your supplements people.  Every day.  For the rest of your life.  

Sounds like she may not have been taking her calcium and/or vitamin D.  But drug use can interefere with your absorption of vitamins and minerals, too.

Sounds like she failed to checks labs and assure her supplements were at proper levels.  Pain meds with alcohol are NOT a good idea for anyone, not just RNY patients.  WLS patient could have been any wt loss surgery, so not sure why you'd assume RNY?  DAVE

 Assumed it was RnY because the mutual friend *****layed the incident to me yesterday told me she had a gastric bypass.  But many/most folks assume gastric bypass when they hear WLS because they know of nothing else.  For sure, it was something that malabsorbed.   And I agree that she probably didn't do her supplements right.  I did not know her other than in passing, so just got the info third hand.  Story was the downturn in her health happened fairly quickly (i.e., loss of all teeth within 2 years of surgery).   Also agree that pain meds with alcohol is a good bet for death.  Don't know if she took herself out on purpose.  As an addiction counselor, I know that use of opiates/alcohol/marijuana or whatever changes the way the brain functions, and capacity for rational thinking is diminished.  

 We had a case here in the UK, in all the papers. Woman died of malnutrion 10 months after RnY.  The media reports were all about the dangers  of wls.

But that begged so many questions!! How on earth did she get that bad before she and her family realised something was wrong? Why hadn't her doc noticed? Was she taking her supplements? It was written as an ongoing problem that just got so bad she went to the  E.R.  and was whisked straight into hospital where she died very quickly.  

Come on, it didn't get that dramatic overnight!

In her case, while having every sympathy for her and her family, I think the media were over simplifying!

Kate

Seems like this person could have been on a self-destructive bend even before surgery.  I would guess, too, that she had bone density & dental issues before surgery. Drugs and malabsorptoin along with skipping routine care would cause something like this.

My sister went through a similiar period. She had a Fobi Pouch. She had always had dental issues, but after surgery (6 years earlier) and a work related injury leading to the need for pain killers, her dental problems starting getting worse. She had a few broken teeth that had to be fixed. Because of her dental issues, she had a hard time eating very much. It was a challenge.

That is just so sad.

My daughter reads these things and just knows that this is what is going to happen to me. I can't convince her that I will be ok. My surgery is Tuesday and she is still trying to talk me out of it. She says I am just being stubborn and digging my heels in and not really knowing what I am getting myself into. I told my husband I will probably have something really bad happen because I told her I would be fine. :>

 A lot of people end up using and abusing medication and or alcohol after surgery and sure, the combonation of that and not following the proper diet and nurtition guidelines for your surgery can have devestating results.

I hope more people start talking about transfer addictions.  It does happen, but it doesn't have to.  Keep educating people and keep talking to each other, in meetings and on OH.  The more educated we are, the less likely it is to happen.