Vitamins

Where do you guys go to get your vitamins and can you get prepackaged chewables combination for your vitamins and minerals. Or at least prepackaged? If i get approved for revision I want to stock up on this stuff before surgery. Like LARGE quantities. i dont' ever want to worry about running out so every month I plan to reup on my stockpile... help please

I wouldn't stockpile anything for a while, heal first, feel better, start adding vitamins as you can, everyone is different when they can take the full dose of vitamins PO some it is days some take weeks.  Forget about the chewables that should only be for days, if at all, then switch over, use a pill splitter if necessary till you heal.  Yes vitalady had prepackaged but I would get vitamins according to your individual blood work and adjust.  I buy at least 3-6 months at a time of my vitamins, but no so early PO.

I agree with Airbender.  I did fork out the $400 (or what ever it was) for the starter chewable vitamins and although I'm sure someday I will use the majority of them, it was a mistake.  I do use the A's and K's and C's out of what I purchased, but combined with other programs it is at a much slower rate. 

• First, chewable vitamin B is from the devil, especially since most ds people don't seem to need extra vitamin B beyond what is in the daily multivitamin any way. 
• Second, the chewable pills were way beyond what my body could handle, and so one of my first trips out of the house was to Costco to get the pill forms. 
• Third, you don't get a pick of flavors and the sizes are HUGE, so I have a HUGE bottle of cinnamon flavored low quantity calcium that I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.   They were way to spicy for my body after surgery and now I have a mental block for them.  Also, I learned that I hate taking lots and lots of pills, so I know now to spend the extra money to get the high potency versions. 

It is weird getting this rolling.   Until you do your blood work, you don't really know what to take at all.   The good news is that for somebody in generally good health the levels of these vitamins moves slowly.   Other than a check for obvious flags, the main purpose of your three month blood work will be so you can check *the direction* the level is heading at your six month blood work.  Only then can you really own this because you will be able to say something like "Oh, my B1 level is on the low side and trending down, so I should add a B1 supplement."    At this point you will know enough to really stock up. 

Does your surgeon have a program?  I figure the first three months are kind of their show, unless you research it enough to contradict them, which I recommend you do.  Research, I mean.  :-)

Vitalady.com has prepackaged vitamins assembled especially for DSers.  Note that this is NOT a multivitamin that "claims" to be complete for us, but instead packets of everything you'll need each day, probably a dozen pills or more.   I'm not sure if she has chewables, but I never took chewables, even from the very beginning.  I've never seen any DSers go deficient on her plan, so it gets you off to a great start.  Once you have a good grasp on your labs and what you need, you can start piecing together your own collection and save some money.

Val I sent you a private message. 

Thanks, 

Becky 

You could start with the vitalady pre-package plan but I wouldn't stockpile until after your first set of labs post-op. After that I would buy separate and stockpile the main things. (calcium, multi, iron if you take it now and vit A,D,K) the rest can be variable so you want to have a couple of sets of labs behind you. It's just irritating to realize you have an unopened bottle of something and you are not taking it anymore. 

I buy from Amazon ( only place I've found with Bio-Tech, except for company website), Lucky Vitamin, and individual eBay stores.  eBay is your best bet.  There are stores there that carry the full line of Bio-Tech capsules, which are exactly the same as what Vitalady uses.  I ordered her deficiency package for when I was first out, then replaced individually at my own cherry-picked sites.

Jenniflower, If you are interested in pricing vitamins, check out these online sites: Puritans Pride, Swanson Health, VitaminShoppe, Amazon, and one of the most loved is VitaCost (one day shipping). No waiting days for your vitamin/supplement shipment, and they have the much loved Coconut oil that is so good for your health. Presently I take Vitamins A, B1, B12, B50 complex, C, D3-50 (100,000 IU daily), Methylfolate, Calcium 2,000 mg daily, Magnesium a lot, Copper, Zinc, and other things I need. If I need iron, I go with the iron infusions as iron supplements do not affect me. As you can see, I do take a lot and hopefully you will not need so much so yeah it might be a good idea to wait and see what your labs show. Let me tell you that some months I have to pick and choose what is most important to order due to financial constraints. Good luck.

Karen