This is from a continuing education project that I did last year. I heavily referenced this article from the University of Virginia. We have had a few patients come in over the past years who have shown symptoms and h diagnosed with Beriberi syndrome.
Gastric surgeries for weight loss were becoming more common and evaluating these patients for nutritional deficiencies, even years after their surgery, appears quite important. Many of these patients stop taking the recommended vitamin and mineral supplements. These patients will have stable weights for months to years. Their BMI range will often times be in the overweight to obese range. Be sure to evaluate these patients for symptoms of nutritional deficiencies as they may be easily overlooked due to stable weight and elevated BMI.
I also wanted to include the specific lab tests we request to evaluated deficiency. These are difficult to remember when they are not done very often.
Nutritional assessments of patients with previous gastric bypass surgeries can be time consuming. This is a very helpful tool to assist with that.