flintstones update

Per DrLowe the Flintstones are fine to take.. hopefully everybody didnt call the office and blow up the phones asking - lol. I thought about it after I made the post :-)

Interesting you should bring that up, Jenn, as I have been lurking on the WLS grads Yahoo group's postings and they are SO anti-Flintstones mentality.  They say it just isn't enough supplementation for us in the long run.  That we need much more supplementation of vites and minerals and protein than the nuts and the surgeons are telling us.  They are so militant about it!  I am not sure what to believe.  I mean I know I have to die someday, but I also chose this surgery to prolong my life, not to cut it short because I am destroying all my organs and muscles through inadequate protein and nutritional supplementation. They insist we just can't get it through normal means like non-ops.  So I am listening and learning... like most things it's take what you can use and leave the rest.

My MD office recomends buliding blocks vitamins. They are specially formulated to be absorbed by those with gastric bypass.  These vitamins are periodically reformulated. 18 month post op blood work revealed that I was low in vitamin D. The next batch of vitamins I ordered had an additional 500 units of vitamin D. My 2 year blood work revealed iron deficiency anemia. I faithfully take all my supplements. I'm currently working at conservative measures to increase my iron.  The moral of my story. Have your blood work done as recommeded so that vitamin or iron deficiencies can be discovered before they become huge problems. I also recommend getting the print outs of the results. After I found out my issues this go around; I requested the previous blood work info so that I can compare. B

I feel a lot of what we really need depends on how much is bypassed - DrMelkonian and Lowe bypass on the lower end - many of the people who push all these suppliments/vitamins have had much more bypassed so are malabsorbing more... even if you look at the basic vits/supps they are told to take its typically more than what I was told. I think there are different issues for the different amounts bypassed so a 'general rule' doesnt always apply to everybody. I take what I hear on OH with a grain of salt - people run with things like wildfire on here... I could tell somebody something completely made up and it would be repeated for years to come. We live the surgery so in some cases we do know better than surgeons but I see many people just say surgeons are flat out wrong and you should be doing a, b, c... if I ever feel they have a valid point I always discuss with my surgeon to find out his feeling/knowledge about it. You cant just run around taking vitamins and suppliments as you see fit... just because you can buy things over the counter doesnt mean they are always safe for you or you are taking them correctly ya know? I also do my own research and make concluisions based on what I find and based on what Ive lived.  Again you never know each persons situtation... as time goes on you find people start to say more about their situtation and you really see why they have to take certain vits/supps... could be they dont eat enough or had a medical issue, could be they were noncompliant with the vits/supps for a while, developed and issue then had to really step it up to correct past behavior etc... just hard to really believe everything when you dont know the entire truth about it *shrug*.

Jennifer,  I think you're right about each person's situation being different.  What I need as supplementation may not be what you need.  We must be committed to taking what is prescribed for us, individually, and then getting our lab work to make sure we're really getting what our own bodies need.   Take the calcium carbonate vs. citrate debate, for example.  That recommendation (along with multivitamins) changes periodically.  At this year's bariatric conference, there will be MORE changes and recommendations.  It's how medicine is, in general.  One year it's fine, the next it isn't.  How about circumcision for male babies?  That's been debated back and forth for years ... it's great, no it isn't, yes it is, no it isn't.  It's just how the medical world operates.   Change is constant.  We have to remain flexible.  And we have to continue to make sure that our labs are normal ... and then make the changes we need to in order to keep them normal when the need arises. I take the Bariatric Advantage chewables right now.  This is not the vitamin I've been taking since day 1, mind you.  I've changed through several!  Either I didn't like the taste or form I was taking, or another one was recommended.  Right now, I like the one I'm taking -- the taste, the price, the texture, the flavor, the availability to me, and the results -- my labs are normal right now.  But if any of that changes, I'm gonna change vitamins again.  I've switched calcium so many times this year that I swear I've had them all ... except Upcal D, which is the next one I'm going to try.  But I'm going to use up the bottle of capsules I'm using right now before switching yet again.   Thank goodness there is a variety out there and that we don't all HAVE to take the same one.  Because what if there was only ONE, and it was nasty? 

Dr. P. told me the same thing that Suzanne has said. NO flinestones........

Good God, Bea!  You just get more beautiful every day!

Just my 2 cents worth. I am 4 mo out this coming Sunday. I just had my bloodwork done and all my levels were normal. No deficiencies. I take 2 Flintstones w/ Iron and 2 Caltrate D+600 and a b12 each day.  I will stay on the Flintstones for now. I feel like I can get my candy fix with them