taking pills

Hey Guys, I just have a quick question. When it comes to pills (vitamins mostly), my doctor said to take chewable vits, but I don't know if that is for life, or just for the first few months. If I swallow pills whole, will they not be absorbed? Anyone have any input on this? Thanks, Dig

I was told that the regular horse-pill vitamins were designed to be broken down in a normal sized stomach. With the size of our pouches and the lack of digestive juices, the pills may not break down as well (if at all****il it gets further down in the digestive tract.

Have you tried the new liguid soft-gel multi-vitamins made by NatureMade? I just bought them last week and so far so good. You can get them pretty much anywhere (Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, Rite-Aid...) and they're only about $10 for 60.

Their great because they are liquid inside of a soft gel capsule so they will break down much easier than the regular hard mult-vits. I also like them because I can't stand chewables so at least you don't have worry about that (and the liquid tastes nasty after a while). The only problem is that the pills are quite big (about the size of a Mike&Ike candy) but I get it down no problem.

I'll check those out. The multi vitamins aren't really a huge problem for me. Centrum chewables, while disgusting, are tolerable. The problem I have is with the calcium citrate. Those pills are huge and nasty.  Thanks for suggestion.

It was suggested that I use this form of the Calcium.  It is a powder that can be put into a little water.  I take one scoop in the morning and evening to get my 1000 mg. http://www.colonialmedical.com/product.php?productid=20018&cat=0&page=1 Jim

. . . not to mention those big pills can get stuck with the new pouch opening into the intestine so small (dime sized). And you do not want that to happen. It is miserable.

My program goes to pills after at least 3 weeks out from surgery. No more bad tastes. In fact, the vitamin they recommend is a once daily time-released from GNC. I take all of my meds and supplements by pill, except for B 12.
Just recently, I changed to take all my pills with food and not on an empty pouch with jus****er. I noticed a difference in the effect of my BP meds as soon as I started taking them with food and not washing them right through the plumbing.
Hope you are doing well.

Lou

I take a fistfull of pills every morning, and some are biguns. There's no problem once the internal swelling goes down, about 4-6 weeks after surgery. You definitely want chewables and/or liquids immediately after, though.  Follow your doctor's instructions. If in doubt, ask.

We just had a doctor talk at our local support group. His practice now tells people chewable  for life. They say that in their experience they get a better absorption rate from the chewables than they do from the standard oral pills.

I swollow the horse pills I buy at Walmart. I'm about 18 months out and have had blood work done 3 times. Everything remains within normal levels.

I use a very good liquid vitamin with additional health forumals included, at $20 a month. It's on my profile page.