Dr. Stewart's Vitamin Regimine

Vets,
First, thank you for answering so many questions lately. Honestly, I don't think I would have ever been confident enough to have the DS without seeing how other DSers live and having a friendly group available for questions. Thanks!

Now, below is what Dr. Stewart has his DS patients start eight days after surgery. Then adjustments are made after the first lab tests at six months. Three questions:
1. Is there anything obviously missing that I shouldn't wait for six months to take?
2. Being that my hemoglobin was low (8.3) after surgery, should I start iron now? Please note that I donated double red cells in May and my hemoglobin at that time was 13.3 (that was before I had a surgery date - oops!)
3. Is there any point in getting labs done at three months? He said they don't change that quickly, which is why he waits until six months.

I'm just looking for a good general list and of course I'll make adjustments at six months. That's all I can think of for now.

Calcium Citrate w/ Vit D (4 pills per day):
Vit D 400 IU (per pill) = 1600 IU daily
Calcium 600 mg (per pill) = 2400 mg daily

Vitamin A-25 with 25,000 IU (1 pill daily)

A-D-E-K Multi-vitamins (2 pills per day):
(list below is per pill)
Vit A 10,000 IU
Vit C 60 mg
D3 2500 IU
Vit E 300 IU
Vit K 75 mcg
B1 15 mg
B2 20 mg
Niacin 25 mg
B6 20 mg
Folate 400 mcg
B12 500 mcg
Biotin 500 mcg
Pantothenic Acid 10 mg
Calcium 50 mg
Iron Fumarate 25 mg
Magnesium 40 mg
Zinc 25 mg
Selenium 100 mcg
Copper 2 mg
Manganese 1 mg
Chromium 50 mcg
Molybdenum 50 mcg
Potassium 100 mg
Phosphorus 20 mg
Choline 2 mg
Flavonoids 5 mg
Inositol 2 mg

  Check mine out and you can compare to what you take. Not just doses but also which kind it is! I've tweaked my vitamins now for the last 4 years, and so far my labs have always been good.    

Calcium Citrate:    600 mg 4 per day --------- 2400 mg   

Magnesium Citrate: 200 mg 16 per day  ---- 3200 mg   

Vitamin dry A: (retinyl palmitate)   25,000 IU 2 per day - 50,000 IU  

Vitamin dry D3: (cholecalciferol) 50,000 IU , 2 per day  100,000 IU    

Vitamin K2:       5 mg,   1 per day  

Vitamin dry E: 400 IU 1 per day  

Biotin:     5000mg     1 per day               

Boron: 3 mg     ---    1 per day  

Zinc:    50 mg    ---   1 per day  

Copper: 2 mg    ---1 per day  

Carbonyl Iron 60 mg /400 mg Vit. C    3 per day  

Poly-Iron, Polysaccharide Iron 150 mg 2 per day  

Multi Vitamin: -----  2 per day  

Prescriptions  

Iron:    Proferrin Forte            

 heme iron w/polypeptide (HIP) with folic acid - 2 per day  

Mephyton (Vitamin K1) 5mg                3 per day  

Potassium: Klor-Con MQ 20               2 per day

Wow this is great to be able to compare. Thanks!

Oh and I got the annual shot for vitamin D. It was like 600,000 mg.

I got mine done at 3 months 'cause I wanted to know if anything was headed in the wrong direction.

I think it is fine as a multi vitamin but I don't think some of the doses are high enough for DSrs in general. My surgeon tries his DSrs on 12 Vita4Life a day and they end up having to supplement this and that over and above too. He finally agreed to let me go on Vitalady's plan and tweak with my labs. Works great for me. Awesome labs. Almost 6 years post-op.

Good luck!  : )

Vitmin K1 is pretty low. I see folks on 1000+ mcg a day.
B1, B2, B6 and niacin probably needs to be more like 50mg a day.
Folate or folic acid more like 1200mcg in a sublingual
B12 more like 1000 to 5000mcg in a sublingual or an injection
Pantothenic more like 50mg a day
Magnesium citrate, not carbonate, at 280mg a day minimum


 

 

Gina,

Do you think I need to add iron to the list above?  I know it's difficult to catch up once it goes low. 

Thanks,

Norma

It is very hard to catch up and takes a long time to build back up too. I use a combo approach with Vitalady's Tender (carbonyl iron) and Proferrin (heme iron). 300 mg of carbonyl and 24 mg of heme in separate doses when I was building up. It's best to add a capsule a week of the carbonyl and go slow. The heme seems to get along with most people's systems. You split the tablet in half and take both halves. I take carbonyl in the mid afternoon and the Proferrin at bedtime.

--g

 

I'm a Stewart patient.  First of all, his multi's are not the best possible for us.  Sue his NP will tell you if you pay attention to the Internet you are "self medicating".  Not true, it is called being an informed patient!

I will be 11 mo out tomorrow.  I listen to MajorMom first and foremost for Vitamin expertise, if I can't find the answers myself.

Here is my take, Dr S's vitamins made me literally vomit.  I couldn't keep them down.  From what I have learned, his multi's are not what a DS needs.  Remember, this is a profit center for him,.  Plus, he uses the same vits for his sleeve patients & RNY patients (at the time I had my surgery, they were the same).

Our needs are much different.  Vits can fight one another for absorption.  So, after you finish his multi's I would not repeat.  I would switch over to Vitalady's plan (even if you do not purchase from her).  If you can tolerate Iron, go ahead and get started.

Dr Stewart is a surgeon, not a Hematologist.  You can have your labs drawn every week and they be somewhat different.  I started mine at 3 months because I want to stay on top of everything.  I really suggest that you find a good Internist and/or Hematologist in your area who will draw your labs for you.

I'm not sure how true it is that it would take 6 months for labs to change. My surgeon has me taking a ton of Vitamin D (10,000IU 3x a day) to get my levels up before surgery and that means only a little over a month and he is confident that will do it. I would guess that means when he draws my labs again July 19th to check he expects to see the change already.

This is all great information. Thanks! I never thought to start going to an Internist or Hematologist. I will definitely do that! And it sounds like my request for labs at three months isn't unreasonable so I'm still going to push for that. Honestly, at this point the surgery is done (and they are six hours away) so now I'm going to look for local specialists to help with the rest.

Any other specialists I should start looking into?