Dry Vitamins / Protein

Link to Vitalady's recommended basic plan. You have to get a copy of your labs and we can help you tweak your doses. 

Link: http://www.gblcreations.com/Resources/Gina/ProgramDRNY_ERNY_ BPDDS3-2010.pdf

I tried to follow my surgeon's plan for the first few months and we jus****ched my labs sink. I finally got him to approve me going on Vitalady's plan between 6 and 9 months post-op. My labs were perfect at 1 year post-op. He hasn't changed his mind about putting everyone on his plan at first but the dietitian now recommends Vitalady's plan when DSrs start having problems. The surgeon recommends Vitalady's capsule dry D3 always, and perhaps all her dry forms or A, D, E and K if his patients show problems, but I doubt he has a clue about doses. 

--gina

Thanks! Do you buy the daily pre packed doses or the bottles and put together your own daily doses? I will get a copy of my labs on Monday.

Hi!  I buy the bottles and sort my vitamins for myself. It's cheaper and I have more control. The pre-packaged plan is fairly new...or I'm getting fairly old.  lol

--gina

Great I hoped that was more what people were doing. Will using regular vitamin A be helpful at all until I can get the dry vitamin A ordered or is it a waste of my time to even try to take it?

I struggled with vitamin A too early post-op. It wasn't until I was on Vitalady's/Bio-Tech's dry vitamin A (palmitate) that things started improving. It took about 6 months for the labs to get up to the top of the range but once they are there they stick and you can drastically reduce the dose or even stop the A (palmitate) for several months. One thing I learned, and it took a couple of years, was that vitamins aren't like a medication, you don't see immediate results, you have to take the right doses of the right stuff and it may take a year for the labs to get to where you want them. Patience is key. 

If the regular vitamin A is oil based or beta carotene, it's pretty much useless to us. 

--gina

What iron do you recommend? I buy chewable from my surgeons office currently and I couldn't find anything on DS facts and I'm still learning my way around vitalady so I couldn't figure out what to get.

Never mind I remembered to check your profile for your list...is this what you would purchase from Vitalady?.. Vitalady Tender Iron (60mg) with Vitamin C (400mg) Capsules, 400/btl

and you take 5 of them every morning?

The thing that worked for me was a combo of her Tender iron (cabonyl), which comes in a chewable and a capsule w/vit C on her site, and Proferrin ES. I would take 300mg of Tender carbonyl iron w/C in the afternoon away from everything else. I'd take the 1 caplet of Proferrin snapped in 2 at bedtime with nothing more that an antacid and a sleeping pill.  Some folks have trouble with the capsule iron, it's all very individual. They get motor burps and even stomach pain but they didn't have trouble with the chewable Tender.  

My iron numbers are awesome and my dietitian had me reduce the Tender carbonyl iron to 180 mg a day and 1 Proferrin M-W-F. 

Hi,

I am very low on Vit A I take 150 thousand iu a day which I also get from vitalady. I also buy my vitamins by the bottle and sort them myself I self sort a month at a time. My labs are always changing so if i have to up something or take less of another I might just as well do my own. Best of luck

Trish

I agree with everyone here but back to one of your original points.

I think the tablet would be considered "dry" - although I saw a good comment earlier about the source
of the vit A being important. I take the biotech D3 50k and it doesn't say "dry" on the label. I think the real difference is the
delivery medium - IE gel capsules, gummies - are things to be avoided. I've seen much better
explanations in the archives. If no one chimes in specifically on this issue you may want to do a search.

I use optimum nutrition 100% Whey for my protein shake - I like the vanilla and double chocolate I get from Amazon.
Low carb, Cheaper than many.

I purchased protein samples from Vitalady that I am working through - one every couple of days.  I just tried
Nectar Sweets Chocolate Truffle this morning and it was great. Low carb but I have no idea of the cost.

This is a great forum to help on your purchasing decisions. A lot of knowledge available so you can make the best decision for you.

Welcome to the DS life - I'm at 5 months and know well the feeling about not wanting to make any wrong decisions. Whatever decisions you make just be open to adjusting them if experience and labs show you something different. No one gets it right every time.