VITAMINS

Im a little confused about the vitamins we are supposed to take so I thought I would post my question here. Do I need to wait until I have the surgery to see what vitamins I need to buy or do I need to go ahead and get the mulivitamin,b-12,calcium citrate,vitamin D, and iron pill? From what I have noticed everyone does not have to take the iron pill.  Do I need to purchase these things.  Thank you in advance and MERRY CHRISTMAS.

You should call your surgeon's office and find out.  Every doctor is different.  My program has a very detailed booklet about 50 pages that goes through all stages of the diet and all sorts of info, frequently asked questions, etc and also a very detailed section on supplements that the NUT went through with me and checked off which ones I would need.  For example. I take iron but not everyone does.  I did not have a malabsorption surgery (had VSG), but I already had iron-malabsorption anemia and have been taking iron for years.  Now I take the BA chewable strawberry iron, but I dont think it is something everyone needs to buy.  However, if you are having an RNY then you definitely need a good multi, my doc recommends 2 a day (200% the daily requirement).  I take Centrum Silver chewables since although I am 45 I am surgically menopause.  CAn get these just about anywhere and they are relatively not that pricey as compared to buying BA vitamins online.  (By the way in case you don't know, BA = Bariatric Advantage).  Also, everyone needs calcium citrate.  Since I can take tablets with a VSG, I just buy them in the store.  But after much hunting, I could not find anyone who sells them in chewable form in a brick-and-mortar store,  If you need chewable because you are having RNY, then definitely order before surgery because you need to get them online.  Also I think everyone needs the sublingual B12 and these are cheap.  I got a bottle of I think 200 for about 10 bucks at walgreens.Happy Holidays and happy vitamin shopping!

As Donna said, check with your own Dr., they all seem to vary widely! I can only tell you what I did. I had to do an insurance required 6mo supervised diet. When I started it I decided to try to do everything I would be doing after surgery so things would already be a habit. One of those things was taking vitamins. I went ahead and bought what I was going to need from BA. I know there are cheaper alternatives but my thinking is that for at least the first 6 months or so, when my pouch is healing and getting used to it's own new life, I want supplements that are formulated for my new system....mild enough to be easy on the pouch and formulated for my new needs. So I started with
Multi-Formula Chewable (180 Count), 29mg Chewable Iron - Passion Fruit (90 Count), Sublingual B-12 - Black Cherry (90 Count), 400mg Calcium Citrate Lozenges w/ Vitamin D - (270 count), Dry Vit. D 5000 IU Capsules (180 count). I added the B-50 Complex (180 count) when I started reading so much here about all the B vitamins. Also from reading here I did some more research on B-12 and found out that the liquid methylcobalamine form of B-12 is better absorbed and what we need after surgery, so I changed from the sublingual tablet to this sublingual liquid. I'm 55 years old and past menopause so when I started having some serioud constipation problems the Dr. dropped my iron down to the 18mg chewables. My first labs were good so we'll see what happens there.

I am very glad I started my vitamin routine when I did. At that same time I also started adding protein shakes and supplement non-flavored powders into my meal plan. So not only did I establish a good vitamin routine but I also got my body in fairly good shape before surgery. I healed very fast! I have tweaked my schedule since surgery to schedule water intake. Until I did that it was very hard to get all my water in every day.

Again....this is what I did, with my surgeions approval. Check with yours and see what he says.

As everyone else has said, check with your surgeon about the vitamins he/she requires for your type of surgery.  I started my vitamins 3 months before my surgery to get into a routine also.  I tried 2 brands before I finally just dished the money out for BA.  I have severe taste issues and these have worked well with that problem.  If you are having the RNY just make sure that whatever you choose will be either in a chewable or liquid form.  Remember you will be taking these for life so you will need to figure them into your budget if you go with the more expensive ones.  I figured with the medication that I had to stop taking after surgery would pay for the more expensive ones for me.  Maybe 6-8 months down the line I might look into something cheaper if my taste buds will allow.  Also, BA has samples you can purchase  (can't remember the cost) if you want to try that before you buy a big bottle.  Good luck and hope to see you on the losers bench soon!


Kim

Thanks guys I called the nutritionist and she has not gotten back to me yet but I did go on bariatric eating.com and ordered the multivitamin and the calcium citrate in chewables. Thanks for responding

I get in trouble almost everytime I post about vitamins, but I like everyone here on BMI>50, so I'll take a chance...

Do what everyone else sez: check with your doctor or nutritionist. Some docs have people start vitamins immediately after surgery, others make you wait a little. If your doc say start up right after surgery, you need to get shopping.

However, I do have a few comments. Initially, I did follow exactly what my doctor's office said, and they had it a little wrong.

I feel Flintstones chewables weren't enough for me. I take two adult Centrum everyday. I took the chewables at first, now I'm doing the normal Centrum. However, I'm shopping around for something that doesn't have iron and calcium carbonate in it.

Make sure the calcium you buy works with your surgery type. I had RNY -- I need to take calcium citrate. My sister got a sleeve, she's fine with calcium carbonate (her doc recommends that).

Whatever calcium you take, make sure you're getting enough elemental calcium from it to do you good. My doctor's nutritionist recommended a specific capsule that taking three a day only gave me about 400 mg of elemental calcium per day. Post RNY, I need 1500 - 2000 mg a day.

Menstruating women need more iron than everyone else.

Post RNY, I don't have near the problems taking iron than I did preop. I've only felt sick from iron once postop -- I tried taking both of my Bariatric Advantage chewables at the same time. (Preop, I felt like I was going to die if I took one regular multi on an empty stomach. Now I usually take both a multi and iron pill on an empty stomach with a Vitamin C tablet.)

Whatever your doc's office says, you should start there and then when your labs indicate a change is in order, make the change. Ideally, your doctor should be guiding you. But when it comes right down to it, you have to really monitor all of this for the rest of your life.

Andrea U. is an Obesity Help guru on vitamins. She responds to a lot of these questions on the Main Board. If your doctor's office confuses you, I'd suggest posting on the Main Board and see what she says.

All of these are great questions for your doctor's office. Start with them.