32 Vitamins a day?

I use Vitalady's plan and yes I take 30 something pills a day.  I am 8 weeks post op and am not perfect all the time with them.  My goal is to have the entire regimen down pat by 3 months.  It is hard at first, I'm not gonna lie, but it does get a little easier with each day.  The vets say as time goes by it is second nature.... I hope so!

Yes, it is drastic BUT...so is not taking what you need based on your labs which SHE recommends once you start getting lab work done. And it's easy to lower your numbers than to raise them.

The alternative is to listen to the surgeons who are great cutters but lousy aftercare and come back in a few years with major vitamin deficiency issues.

I take 9 pills a day. According to the Mayo Clinic, my labs are excellent. I'm 2 years out.

The Mayo Clinic does the DS now?

I take a minimum of 12 calcium capsules a day for a total of 2000 mg of calcium.

Shortages in calcium will not show up on a blood test.  Your blood will draw the calcium from your bones and give you a stellar calcium level on your blood report.  Unfortunately, your bones suffer and you'll never know it until you fail your bone scan.  

That's why it's important to have a blood test for Calcium PTH level .   It will show if you're actually losing calcium regardless of what your "current" blood level is .. 

what are the 9 you take and where do you buy?

I've been on Vitalady's plan with tweaks from labs since I was 9 months post-op. I'm 6 years post-op now with awesome labs. Some folks can do ok with minimum vitamins for a couple of years and then they crash. Much easier to reduce doses than to bring up crashed labs.

--gina

I don't count them,  I just take them.  I try to get at least 4 doses of Calcium,Magnesium and Potassium throughout the day along with the two main batches of vites I take AM and PM.

My labs are good on VitaLady's plan AND my body also will tell me if I am off.  Too little fat and I get constipated.  Too little calcium/magnesium/potassium and I get muscle cramps.

I watch my labs and I get yearly dexa (bone) scans.  I know that for me, 7 vitamins would leave my labs terrible and I wouldn't be able to function due to muscle cramps and loose stools.

~Becky

I had my surgery 5 months ago with Dr. Roslin.  He is the best!  As for the vitamins, go with the VitaLady program.  I started on it a month after surgery, following the blue book guidelines the office gives you for the first few weeks.  I wish I had ordered the mostly chewable DS supply at first.  For the first two months, I was doing a lot of crushing of vitamins until I could swallow the bigger pills.  Now I'm used to it.  It is critical for your health, and definitely not a choice!  The gift of the DS comes with some cost.  In fact, while I'm writing this, I'm in the midst of taking my evening vits!

PS - there is a support group meeting this Thursday.  I would highly recommend going to it - you will get info you will not get from the doctor or NUT by talking to those of us who have had the DS!  This was invaluable for me, especially just before surgery!  Hope to see you there!