Do not understand vitamin supplements

I am confused about how (hard) vitamins can absorb as they say RNY and DS do not allow for absortion of food .I would think it would do better in a powder form .Sure don't make sense to me ? I have heard vitamins generaly don't absorb even w/o any WLS.

If DS do not allow for absortion of food, How is it possible to absorb hard vitamins. Seems like the vits would need to be injected. I know that is done with B12 . And then I read everywhere that most vitamins r a scam and don;'t absorb and come out in our stool whole most do not  work anyway..

A bit confused

Gary

Thanx for your input

Gary

We don't absorb some of what we eat - but not all. We supplement our pants off to make up for what we pass through.

On average, we absorb:

20% fat
50% protein
40% complex carbs
100% sugars

You wouldn't absorb vitamins in fat or gel so you need DRY ADE and K.  We take HUGE amounts so that we do absorb and we know how we are doing by EXTENSIVE labs done very often.

I take a LOT of Calcium, more than most anybody but I am paranoid about my bones.  I not only watch my bone related labs very closely but get a Dexa Scan every year.

It is a small price to pay for all the benefits of the DS.

~Becky

Sorry to inform you but vitamins are not a 'scam'. lol Everyone needs vitamins to be healthy, since we don't absorb most of what we intake (like a normal person) we need to supplement. The hardest vits for us to absorb is fat soluble vits (A, D, E & K)because fat is the hardest for us to absorb. Having our ADEK's in 'dry' form helps considerably with absorbing better. Granted we still need a lot of it but if you were to take them in gel form ... good luck.

I promise you if you do not have extensive vitamins after a DS, might as well start picking out your coffin. It is not instantaneous but after awhile your body will be so depleted and malnourished you will eventually die. I see the effect of my vitamins every 3 months in my labs. I have had to tweak and stay on top of what I need adjusted and just seeing this in hand is proof enough for me. The science behind this is simple. Have you checked into dsfacts.com?

Having the DS is serious business and taking care of your body afterward is vital.

So what do these supplements typically cost .I live on a very limited income so it would be important for me to know 

I live on a limited income (Social Security) too.  But, there are many ways to get what you need.  You will start out at the very minimum with multivitamins, Calcium supplements, B12 and Thaimine (B1), In addition to your protein supplements.

Check out  luckyvitamin.com for lower prices and higher potencies.  I even find some of what I need on eBay!

I get my multis and calcium citrate at Walmart - $6.00 each for 200.

My first month post-op, I ordered Vitalady's DS plan.  After that became a little more than my budget could bear, I went looking for the individual components online.  I have found most of what I need from various online supplement companies, and the Dry D, believe it or not, I found on eBay for under $6.00!

Cost varies from person to person based on what they discover their needs based on labwork.  I spend around $40/month.  Most of them I get locally on the cheap, and I get my dry vitamins online.  Others may spend up to 3x that amount, so if you cannot afford this, then I would highly recommend you look more to getting the VSG instead, where you will absorb all of the nutrients from food an only need a multi like the rest of the population.

Gary-

I guarantee you, if you do not take your vitamin, mineral and protein supplements in the specified quantities, or not at all, this is what will happen:

1) You will suffer from myriad nutritional deficiencies and protein calorie malnutrition

2) If you still refuse to get on the bandwagon,  * you will die* of malnutrition, just like the starving children you see on TV from time to time.

DS malabsorption is nothing to play with.  That is why the best DS surgeons screen potential patients very carefully.  You have to be able and willing to understand nutrition, how the DS works, and be committed to having a battery of blood tests, as well as using vitamin and mineral supplements for the rest of your life. Type A personalities in particular tend to do very well with DS aftercare. (This is from the nurse who leads my support group, not me.)

Nutritionally speaking, the DS is the least forgiving of patient non-compliance of all the bariatric surgeries.  

As to your question about vitamins and digestion, many of us use vitamins in capsule form, which dissolve quickly, exposing the finely ground powder inside, which is easier to break down.  For supplements that come in pill form, many have other tricks to get them more dissolvable. some grind them, I cut mine into quarters, to get past the coating, expose the ingredients to stomach acid and make them easier to break down and be absorbed.  I also take my supplements with something acidic, like lemonade, (real lemonade, not Kool Aid or Country Time).  I keep a two gallon dispenser of it made up in my refrigerator at all times, so I can get my fluids in.  I also make "water slushies" by putting containers of water in the freezer until they're half frozen.  That's the only way I can drink plain water.  Or, I snack on crushed or thin cubes of ice. 

Everyone has their tricks to make sure their vites  and fluids get in, and it's borne out in lab results.  That's why we get labs, to make sure we don't have any deficiencies going on.

Hope that helps explain the vitamin issue.

I understand your query and I've heard some folk rationalize that capsules are better than tablets for that reason, but at the end of the day if I have a headache I take a paracetamol TABLET and the headache goes.  I do take the rapid absorb paracetamol, but they work nevertheless.  Therefore I rationalize that vites must work in appropriate doses.

Huneypie-

Not all tablets have coatings, and the coatings are the bugaboo with regard to absoption.  The way to tell if your particular pill has a coating or not, is by its outer surface texture.   There are exceptions to this, like everything else, but here's what has worked for me, and is something I learned in one of my classes toward my goal of becoming a bariatric RD:

Look at the pill or caplet.  If it's glossy-looking, it has a coating. Coloring can be a clue as well, as some pills and caplets are a different color inside than they are outside.

Feel the pill or caplet ( if you are the one consuming it!).  If it feels smooth, it likely has a coating.  If the surface feels a little powdery, and that powder gets onto your fingers easily, or leaves a residue on the inside of the container, it likely does not have a coating and is simply compressed. 

I also take my vites and meds with something acidic, like real lemonade, to help things along.  My routine might seem a bit extreme, but I want to make sure I get every speck of my vites in that I possibly can!  The extra push  for me is also due to omeprazole (Nexium),  the acid reducer that treats my GERD.