Vitamin compliance - brands, timing, etc.

There is an awesome bariatric vitamin that can be purchased from Bariatriceating dot com. I take 3 twice a day and it has everything you need in them. My labs are excellent though I do take an iron supplement as that's sometimes low. They are hands down the best vitamins I have taken in 8 years.

(Edited to add photo)

I put my pills together 3 weeks at a time so I don't have to do it every day (except the calcium which are too many to fit in my pre-made containers). Each day I transfer the pre-sorted daily pills to a portable container and add my calcium tablets.

I sometimes swap meal 2 pills and meal 3 pills, but as long as I have everything setup the night before or first thing in the morning, it works for me whether I am home or out.

It took me a while to get the routine down. Keep trying different things until you find what works for you. I would suggest not taking your multi unless you are eating as I find that my pills can make me nauseous if I don't follow them with food. I also have a low gag reflex so I actually take my pills with food rather than liquid. With the exception of the morning pills (that I take with coffee), I chew a bite and pop the pill in right before I swallow. I find that prevents any stomach upset (especially considering how many pills a day I take!)

I take my pills 4 times a day:

I have coffee in the morning with premier protein shake (as creamer) and take:

• two calcium pills
• one multivitamin
• 3 BP meds
• a PPI
• a thyroid pill
• a probiotic
• biotin
• an antidepressent
• an antibiotic (a prophylactic dose to ward off infection from chronic lymphodema)
• and a B12 (sublingual)

Then with meal 2, I take:

• two calcium pills
• one multivitamin
• a vitamin D

With meal 3, I take:

• iron pill
• vitamin c

With my final meal of the day or snack I take:

• two calcium pills
• one multivitamin
• an antibiotic (a prophylactic dose to ward off infection from chronic lymphodema)
• a PPI

Don't give up, but don't let it frustrate you. Keep working at it.

For folks taking thyroid medicine, the following can interfere with absorption and are recommended to be taken separately (2-4 hours apart).

• PPIs
• Iron
• Calcium

That would make sense and would also explain why they would wake me up at 5 o'clock in the morning to take my thyroid pill every time I was in the hospital. Thank you for the information. I don't know that my doctor has ever explained that to me. I think I'll start taking my thyroid pill before I even get out of bed.

That is what I do, take my thyroid medicine before getting out of bed in the morning. And I don't take any vitamins with breakfast; I wait until late morning/lunch to take the first batch.

Okay, I take Flinstone chewables with iron with breakfast and lunch, and my Citrical petites at my first two snacks.

I have been doing this since before my surgery and the first thing I put in my mouth is the vitamin/supplement! That way, I don't forget them.

Don't feel overwhelmed. Just pick up and go on! Mistakes, or missing things will occasionally happen. If you take them consistently for about a month, it becomes a habit. So, if you need to, set an alarm on your phone or computer, whichever you need to get you through that first month until the "habit" settles in!

FYI: Flintstones are WOEFULLY insufficient. You are almost two months post-op, you can (and should) take actual vitamins that will meet your nutritional needs.

I am taking exactly what my bariatric team told me to take. The Flinstones Compete Chewable, with 18 mg of Iron and don't forget I take 2 a day. That is the recommendation of my team and I will be sticking with it. (Of note is the fact that I have been treated for colon cancer and the following is from a study, "Thyroid Cancer Basics of influence from Iron, Cortisol, D, K, B-12, others. Bone and Joint" published on July 7, 2015...Note that long term taking of multivitamins with iron is associated with colon and GI cancers. The idea of boosting iron is boost awhile and go off awhile, thus supplement with something other than a multivitamin. Decades of taking multivitamins with iron increases colon and GI cancer risk."

I was told that they don't want me taking 65 mg a day, due to recurrence of my colorectal cancer. This came at the recommendation of my doctors at the Memorial Sloane Kettering Hospital (top cancer center in US) in New York City.

Remember that you're the one who will have to deal with the resulting vitamin deficiencies, not your bariatric team.

I would rather deal with a deficiency of iron than real with rectal cancer again. Until you have had internal radiation along with chemo, you have NO CLUE what I dealt with.