Vitamins...

I had my meeting at Dr Jawad's office yesterday and felt really comfortable..LOVED Kevin so I am glad that he does a Jacksonville office which is nice and close for me. Anyhow, just wanted to see how much you all rae spending on vitamins a month...are you doing them thru the Dr's office, GNC or just Walmart, CVS sort of thing. The insurance lady told me that with my insurance, I could be approved in 2 - 4 weeks, so things may be moving much quicker than I had anticipated. That is AWESOME news for an obsessive girl like me! I do not need 6 months to worry and stew and mull things over!

Hi Toni, I wish you all the luck on your journey. Ok about vitamins I buy the ones from Bariatriceating.com and the cost me around $87 a two month supply they are capsules and are made specially for Bariatric patients which I like a lot. Well take care of yourself and again all the luck and keeps us posted. Have a wonderful day, Heidi

That sounds great...I was thinking it would be hundreds a month...of course, once I have my surgery my chicken wing bill alone could cover that! I'll check out that website! Thanks ! Toni

It's not that bad. I buy the Centrum chewables, about $6 in either Target or Walmart. I highly recommend the Twin Lab chewable calcium citrate wafers, I've tried all kinds of calcium and these, to me, are the best, and the best absorbed. I get them at the Vitamin Shoppe and they are just under $12, it takes about 2 bottles a month. You can also order them online, Vitacost.com and actually I recently found them onsale through Vitaminshoppe.com and got 2 bottles almost for the price of one. That's all I really take, the B12 sublingual is cheap at GNC and the bottle lasts a long time. I've never had to add iron or anything else, my labs have always been fine. Thank God. How are you doing on protein powders? At almost 18 months out, I still drink at least one shake or protein drink a day. You can order samples on bariatriceating.com or vitalady.com. And word of caution - your taste buds may change after surgery, so you may find a powder/shake you love, and then get home from surgery and not like it, that's pretty common! So save the samples for afterward!! There are a great deal of very, very good powders on bariatriceating.com, she is a Florida based company and a real good person. If you order from her, the order most times is shipped the same day!! Also, just the plain chocolate of Vitamin Shoppe's own brand of whey protein is very good and about $7 for a 1 lb can! That's a good one to buy to make protein balls with too. Let me know if you want the recipe. Good luck to you! Let me know if I can help in any way. My kids say I'm FULL of advice LOL. Take care. Jeanne

I would LOVE a recipe for the protein balls....I have been looking for and writing down any recipes that I find because I like to cook so I am trying to prove to myself that I can still "get busy" in the kitchen but just cooking different things. These will also be great for my 11 year old daughter who is a very picker eater (has been a vegetarian for about 4 of her 11 years) and I worry about not getting enough protein on a regular basis. Thanks for all the advice about the vitamins and about ordering and waiting for trying the samples. I am all about preparing ahead and am keeping this notebook of all this info..I admit to being a little overboard with my preperations...I already have a list of things that I need to cook for my family to put away for the first few weeks after surgery....you should see me before hurricane season LOL!! I have a friend who works at Walmart who says I probably stockpile more water than they do ! Tell your kids if they don't want your advice I'll be glad to take it ! Lucky me I don't have to give advice because my 9 & 11 year olds know everything already! LOL Toni

I use Building Blocks since I had the RNY gastric bypass (they are bariatric formulated to absorb without stomach acid). http://www.bbvitamins.com. $30 per month for multi, calcium and iron. HTH, Kristen

Toni, I would recommend that you check out Bariatric Advantage chewables or Solgar capsules on BariatricEating.com website. Dr. Jawad sells the BA chewables and the Solgar has everything he recommends and they are very affordable. You canNOT take the Centrum chewables as they do NOT have enough thiamin (B-1) in them and you would have to take a B complex that has enough thiamin and not all of them have enough, either. Write me if you need more Dr. J. recommendations or if I can help you.