Vitamin question for post-opers

So I am scheduled for surgery in 23 more days for lap RNY.  I was told by my dietician that I will need to take a multi-vitamin, b12, b-complex (b50), iron and calcium citrate.  I spent a bunch of money at bariatricadvantage.com and got all the vitamins needed above (plus some liquid and powder protein supplements)... I got all the vitamins in chewable form.  Now my question... is this chewable requirement forever?  Can I switch to a normal tablet form of those vitamins?  Buying all those vitamins and shipping is about $150 for a 3 month supply, which is a bit high im my opinion.  If I can switch to a OTC vitamin for the multi or iron or bcomplex... and use the b12 sublingual and chewable calcium...atleast the overall cost would drop some.    What have you other post-op rny'ers done about vitamins?

I'm still taking Centrum Chewables (or a drugstore brand which is a clone of the same) 3 months post-op.  But that's because I think they taste good.  I also used the Citrical Creamy Bites for a while, but they're no longer being sold.  I then switched to a ginormous "chewable calcium citrate" tablet, but I had to take 6 to 8 of them a day--it was really ridiculous. After about 6 weeks, I started taking non-chewable thiamine (B1), vitamin D, iron and Citrical tablets plus the sublingual B12 tabs, without any problem at all, and they quite reasonably priced at my local drug store.  Cheap enough that I don't really notice the cost. /Steve

I am at 15 months and just had a complete blood screen. Passed with flying colors. My calcium was actually a bit high. I take: 2 GNC Ultra Mega Gold Muti-Vitamins a day. ( whi*****ludes iron) 2 Calcium Citrates a day. ( going to cut to one, as my calcium was high) Also, don't take your multi and calcium together. The iron and the calcium compete for the same receptors. I also take Omega 3, 3x a day. Your mileage may vary. Good luck next month. I wish a complication free surgery for you! JP

On my nuts recommendation,I bought a years supply of chewable multi-vitamin, iron and calcium citrate from bariatricadvantage.com. After those expensive chewables were gone, I switched to Sam's OTC version (non-chewable) and added a couple of fish oil tabs daily. Labs have been great and no problem with the old pouch. I'll also add that I eat a big honkin' salad every day and get in plenty of lean protein on a daily basis so eating well in conjunction with your daily vitamin ritual is the key to good labs imo. Best of in your WLS journey.

I had open RNY 2 years ago and don't take any chewable pills.  I do use sublingual b12 dots that I get at the Vitamin Shoppe.  Between vitamins, supplements and meds for other conditions, I take at least 27 pills a day ( it varies based on how many Tylenol I take for pain in knees).

The program I went to wants everyone to use 2 childrens chewables daily, morning and evening.  The nutritionist there flat out said that, if you want to spend a lot of money on fancy supplements, fine, but she suggested that you just buy a big bottle of complete children's chewables from Sams or Wal-Mart or Costco. In her opinion, she said, vitamins are vitamins, why spend more than you have to. So I bought a giant jar of children's chewables at Costco for $11.  Only problem is, they taste like fish, so after about a month, just switched to a regular complete vitamin tablet.  I cut it in half since it's so big.

I buy all my vitamins at Wal-Mart. No problem swollowing the big ones. Just had extensive blood work done and all my numbers were in the normal range except calcium which was a bit high but not clinically significant. I'm about 13 months out and I switched over to the Wal-Mart vitamins as soon as my supply of those expensive baraiatric ones was gone.

Great Question.... almost 3 years out....I take to generic chews a day...a years supply for $12.. if you have insurance....they will cover the b12 injections for $5 for about 10 month supply...get the doc to write the script...or the b12 squirts...they are pretty cheap... Iron...that one is iffy...they can stop you up...I need to take more iron...but i'm rebeling... the calcium...people take that from Sams.... ck you dry russ

50 clams for a months supply of pills may seem expensive.... but not compared to our pre-op monthly pizza bill

I started out with cheable kid vitamins and Now a year out I only take a multi vitamin twic a day.  All of my blood work has come back good and i have had no problems with any of the vitamins.  My only problem is a ibought a bunch of expensive vitamins pre surgery and discovered i could not stand the tast of them.  So now I have three bottles ($70 i think) of vitamins that I can't stand to take.  Live and learn I guess.   Jim D