CENTRUM users

I did a bariatric panel a year after my RNY.  That was 2006.  Everything was good.  As the years went by and I was eating what a normal child would eat I figured I didn't need supplements anymore.  Well I knew something was wrong but never figured I was so anemic that I would need a transfusion.  But I was and I did.  The duodenum which is bypassed in RNY is where we absorb iron.  Take your iron and stave off a lot of problems.  I do.  Now after 5 years if being anemic I am finally back on track with 325mg FeS04 a day

Thanks for the information! This was very helpful. I have been taking my calcium all at once because no one said otherwise. I am going with 2 centrum and 3 calcium in the right time. I have labs in 9 weeks so I will see how I fare.

Make sure you read the calcium dosage on the bottle.  Most of them are two tablets in a dosage.  If you are taking 3 tablets per day, you are taking half the required amount.

I have not been taking iron in addition to the iron that is in the Centrum, but I make sure to take the Centrum apart from calcium in order to absorb the iron. My labs showed a one point increase in my ferritin level, but if it ever drops I will start taking more iron. Please make sure you are taking enough calcium and b12 in addition to Centrum. 1000 mg a day of Calcium is enough for me, but 1500 is what is recommended. My NUT told me take a b-complex 50 instead of sublingual b12. I started feeling like crap a couple of months after surgery, and then I started having nerve pain. My symptoms got better once I started taking sublingual b12. Don't risk it. Take at least 500 mcg of sublingual b12 a day to save yourself the pain. Unlike with iron, there is no risk of taking too much b12.

We can't absorb the B12 from our multi vitamin.  We have to have B-12 in a sublingual tablet, nasal spray, or an injection.

Why doesn't my surgeon's office get this? It's not like this information is hard to find. They told me to go see my primary when I said I was having nerve pain and that my legs hurt because I was crossing them too much! I couldn't believe it. I don't care what they say anymore, I am taking the recommended supplements and reading my own labs. If they can't even spot the symptoms of one of the most common post-op vitamin deficiencies, then what good are they?