Malabsorbtion, Suppliments, long term lab results

Thank you for the advice!

I'm pre RNY op now. Planned surgery end of December.  My Vit D is about 21. I'm on dry D 50,000iu once a week now. All my other labs are good. I'm also almost age 60 and female. What vitamins should I be concerned with? Also, Scottie, one question for you. What brands of vitamins do you take?  Thanks.  

I personally feel that the Vitalady regime...www.vitalady.com is a good place to start. She has one for each surgery type.

I do not purchase all my vitamins from her. Just my A, D, E, K and Heme iron. I get the rest of my stuff at Walmart and amazon (my multi is the only thing I spend big money on ...I get those at Vitamin Shoppe) ...I tried to go "cheap" with the Multis many times over the last few years because I take all kinds of other suppliments but found that I just feel better with a good quality multi.

Your labs though will be the final "test" of what is working. I take far less of some vits....I could probably give up my B suppliment or at least take it just once or twice a week at this point, I'm always consistently high...but it's just a habit now to take it daily. Everything else I adjust as needed. Right now I'm taking 200 MG of zinc per day...because I was trending downwards in that. Make sure your doctor runs all the labs you need and not just some. I found this to be a problem.

The Dry D works wonders....if you are really in the mood to get it up faster there is a Vitamin D injection you can get....although I find that the dry D works well if taken consistently.

Scottie - the vitamin A, is that once a week? I take 10,000 IU of A once a week, my regular doc told me its easy to overdose on vitamin A and that it shouldn't be taken everyday. I also take vitamin D drops once a day, 1000 IU.

I've been using patches otherwise (multi vit, calcium D3, iron, B12 and omega 3) but I am only 6 months out. I have bloods scheduled for next week so we'll see how everything is soon! My NUT told me I was her only patient on the patches but I found out from the Ontario forum thats not true lol.  I've been keeping copies of my labs since day one - highly suggest everyone do this!

Your labs will be your guide. I take 100,000 IUs of A per DAY. But i've been doing that for 10 years. I started with 50, but upped it to 100 when i started trending downwards a bit. I wouldn't adjust anything until you see your labs though.


Also, you have the RNY, and you will absorb more vitamins then I will (I have the DS). My surgery is great for keeping off the weight...BUT not so great with absorbing A,D,E,K. (The fat soluble vitamins).

Just a side note:

It's also important to take the right types of these vitamins. For example a lot of "A" vitamins sold over the counter is Beta Caroten. We don't have the mechanism (or at least it's not as efficient) to convert Beta Caroten to a usable form of A. I only take Palimate.

I just bought a multivitamin, iron with c, and calcium from Celebrate vitamins. I'm done with the Flintstones. I was using the Solgar liquid calcium but it tasted just awful.