Vitamins and supplements question

Ready to restart taking vitamins and supplements next week. I have been taking Materna but they are huge and going to be hard to swallow. If I have to split them as well as my regular meds I will do nothing but take pills all day. Is there a good chewable vitamin available? Also what about liquid or chewable varieties of Vitamin D and Calcium Citrate? I know we talked about them in pre-surgery class but can't remember brand names or availability. What does everyone else with VSG take and where do you but them?

Still feeling really tired and want to sleep about 12 hrs a day. Hope getting back to vitamins and a bit of real food will help.

Thanks
JoJo

Sorry, meant where do you buy them?

Hello and congratulations on your decision to start this amazing journey! One more tool in your toolbox to accomplish your goal of healthy living! The Costco Wellesse Liquid Calcium Citrate with Vitamin D3 with a natural citrus flavor is well priced and much easier for me to tolerate than pill form. The pharmacist did however stress that if I was to achieve
1200mg-1500mg of calcium I must take the liquid 2X per day as the body would not totally absorb the total of 40cc's at one time so I take (after eating breakfast, much more palatable if taken on a full stomach and right out of the fridge as it is better chilled than at room temp.) 20cc's after breakfast and my second dosage of 20cc's after supper. I also purchase my vitamins at Costco-Prenatal Vitamin Supplements. I cut them in half and am able to swallow them fairly easily. I had my sleeve approx. 5 weeks ago so I am tolerating both well. I must honestly say that I did not have any difficulty taking the meds. as soon as recommended. I am however,very concerned with maintaining correct levels of calcium etc. I did not go through everything I have for the last 27 months to drop the ball now and end up with osteo problems down the road. I have always looked at this journey as one of a path to be the healthiest I can possibly be! Please talk to the pharmacist concerning the absorption issues with taking the amount of calcium citrate required for you personally by your nutritionist. The pharmacist I spoke with was very helpful and was very firm on me spliting the dosage to ensure optimal absorption. He gave me a very informative and positive pep talk on remembering I must ensure that my body is receiving the vitamins and minerals necessary for a Bariatric surgery patient. He really stressed that to be healthy I must follow the nutritionists/pharmacists advice on this as he has personally seen the results of patients who have not followed directions. Hair loss has been the worst and most devastating to the patients he has seen. I am not suggesting that anyone experiencing hair loss is NOT following directions; I am only relaying what he advised. He was adamant that my skin, nails and hair could suffer if I do not take all the supplements at the proper dosage, time of day and frequency recommended. He felt many people make up their own random schedules (? apparently when he would ask the patient what supplements they were taking and when etc they did not follow any logical regime?). I hope this helps. I am of course only a fellow patient not an expert of any description. Best of luck!

Hello!

I take the Calcium in liquid form from Costco. After taking Vitamin D for over two years, it is just now getting up to "normal" levels.

My vitamin routine looks like this:

Morning is 3 tablespoons of liquid calcium (1500mg) with vitamin D added.
Evening is one prenatal (Materna), 2 vitamin D pills, one biotin pill and then my other meds that I am on in the evening.

Some days I have a hard time swallowing the Materna but most days it is okay. The Calcium is too big for me so I just take the liquid form.