More newbie questions: Tips needed on supplements and stuff

You have all been very helpful so far and I am just going to keep asking questions. I have read a lot of the posts looking for answers but I find myself getting hung up on the 'negative effects' posts and they are starting to get me to chicken out. So i think i will just ask and not research this forum for a while. Sorry to be sissy but I am!

My doctors office has been little or no real help on what I should be getting prepared for the days after the surgery. They gave me a sample pack from Bariatric Advantage Nutritional Supplements and said read the pamphlet. I did and I figure it is going to cost me like $300 a month in supplements. which seems a bit insane?

So here goes:

When I get home from the surgery I am on clear liquids what should I be looking to buy?

Where is the best place to buy it?

Do I really need to buy a Multi Vitamin specifically formulated for DS surgery patients?

What type of protean shakes do you all use? I dislike the whey based ones and currently am using a pea protean based one but it taste like well peas and burned hot chocolate.

Looking around this site I noticed a banner talking about a vitamin 'patch' has anyone tried this or is this just another banjo minnow commercial?

Thanks in advance for any tips you can give me. Yeah i know I will become annoying but I figure I should ask as much as I can before I buy something from web ads and informercails.

Keep in mind that those 'negative', 'what if' posts .reflect what happens to a very tiny minority of people. People with complications post far more often than people or whom everything goes just fine.

No, you don't need a multi especially formulated for DSers. Centrum is a good choice, but remember that you'll need to take two of them, at least, and in two separate doses.You'll also need to take separate, dry-formulated (also called 'water miscible') A, D, and K. You can ONLY find these in the dosages DSers need by ordering on-line. BioTech brand has A in 25,000 IU, D in 50,000IU, and K in 1000 dosages, and you can order them from Amazon. You'll also need iron, calcium CITRATE, and maybe some other things. Over time, you'll need to adjust your dosages and what you take based on your individual lab results. How much you'll need to spend will depend on exactly what YOU need, and on how much shopping around you do. I average about $40.00 a month.

The patches are new, but some people are reporting very good results so far.

I've already told you what I think about protein powders. (*grin*)

Clear liquids are anything your can see through, and swallow without chewing. How long will you be on them? I came home on pureed foods

e is also a fat soluble vitamin that you need in dry form in large doses along with A K and D. 

The designer bariatric vitamins are extremely substandard to what the majority of DSers need, and you don't have to spend anywhere near that amount.  Like Ms. Batt, I spend around $40/month....less than that when you take into consideration stocking up on BOGO deals. 

I also hate the whey protein and can usually get all the protein I need with real food (have been since 6 mos post op).  For those days I don't eat as much, I found egg white protein to suck less.  The only way I can say I 'enjoy it' is mixing a slurry with a little heavy cream, then adding it to my coffee.  It's okay then...no aftertaste or foamy crap.

When I did liquids at home after my DS I did things like beef and chicken broth. Strained creamed soups (not tomato - too acidy early out).
Flavored waters like gatorade G2, propel, power-ade 0. 

I like the whey protein so that was OK for me. Jay RObb makes an egg based protein you might try and some 
people like Unjury unflavored even though they generally don't like whey mixes. They put it in coffee, yogurt,
stuff like that. There is some issue about pea proteins not having all the amino acids and being somewhat less 
bio-available so you might want to keep that in mind.

Patches didn't really give me a boost. I tried vitamin D patches. I did see another person who did great with the
patches for thwir vitamin D levels so everyones mileage may vary.

Ditto on the bariatric vitamins being more expensive and usually not in doses that are really helpful. My initial stock
up on individual vitamins was over $200 but since then maybe an average of $60 to $70 a month. Some months I don't
need to buy anything and others I buy more for stock purposes or see something on sale. You might wait on vitamin E
until you see a trend in your labs. For some reason not a lot of people have trouble with E although there are some that do.

Good to research. I usually buy some from vitalady. Most from best picks off amazon. And either vitamin shoppe or GNC 
around my house if I just need something when setting up my vits for the month.

Pete