Help Please, Vitamin questions for a RNY Patient

I'm getting ready to have RNY in the next few weeks, and I have a question about vitamins and the prices. My nutritionist keeps pulling me to buy them off her site, and I don't know if it’s a good deal or not, so can you tell me && If this is not a good deal where should I go? Is this all the ones Ill need. I thought there was something I should be taking for hairloss, and for gull bladder build up.
Thanks Guys! Im sure this will not be my last question either lol. Celebrate Vitamins for Bypass 90 day package 90 days Multivitamin Chewable 90 days Calcium Citrate Chewable 90 days 18 mg Iron Chewable 90 days B-12 Sublingual $120.00

To be honest, my program at Duke doesn't sell vitamins or prescribe a specific brand. We take a good quality multi-vitamin such as Centrum. (Most patients use the type that has iron, I do not because I have an iron loading disorder that makes taking iron dangerous for me). We use a Calcium Citrate with D and a sub-lingual B-12. We use a chewable version for the first few weeks and then switch over to the normal tablets after that. I tend to use the Centrum product line. My latest labs show me to be dificient in vitamin D, so, they have ordered 1 50,000 IEU capsule per week for 8 weeks to bring the level up. They will retest after that and determine if that has effectively addressed the issue or not. 

 

Here's a run down on what my vitamins cost me: 

Centrum Silver *                 150 count $13.00 = 2.5 month supply

        * (I use the 'silver' version because it does not have iron... I can't take a multi-vitamin with iron or an iron suppliment; however, most RNY patients do use a multi-vitamin with iron. Some programs add an iron supplement as well, but it's important that you know that you are not overloading iron which can have devasting consequences. Monitoring with labs will help your Dr. know what you need.)

Citrical w/D Maximum**     120 count $12.00 = 1 month supply

        **I take 3 'doses' a day, so that I get 1800+ mg of calcium and 1500 mgs of vitamin D)

Sublingual B12 1000mcg      50 count $6.00 = 1.5 month supply

So... I think my vitamins cost me about $20.00 a month or $60.00 for a 3 month supply.

According to the folks that I talked with at Duke you can get 'special bariatric vitamins' if you want, but studies have found that the good quality OTC vitamins taken at the rates suggested work just fine.

Oh... For hair loss, many people take Biotin, which needs to be combined with Zinc to be most effective. Zinc can only be taken for 30 days at time because it can build up toxic levels when taken for longer than a 30 day interval, so you need to be careful and monitored if you decide to take it. There are people that swear by Biotin. Biotin itself won't hurt  you and if you want to take it you can, but their are no studies showing it's effectiveness either. I decided not to take it. While I lost some hair from about 3 to 6 months, it was only noticeable to me and the regrowth started back predictably at about 6 months. Just be sure that if you take it, you follow Dr's orders re th e use of zinc. 

Overall, check with your Dr to see what they recommend.

I wish you all the best,

Thank you so much for all that information! I have a meeting with the Doc on tuesday, and I will talk it over with him! 

Thanks again for all the best wishes =)

I've gotten everything I've needed from Walmart quite inexpensive.

I take pretty much what Barb said
Citrium Silver
B complex
Biotin
B 12
D
citrical minies\
All come from walmart,  cvs, or anywhere I find a god price. All that I take were recogminded by my wls dr.
My check ups and blood test show I am ok. Hope this sets your mind and pocket book at ease.
Myrtis

I take Bariatric Fusion which is an all-in-one. It's one chewable tablet 4x's a day. Easy!! A thirty day supply (120 tablets) costs me $24.99 plus shipping.

Celebrate will send u free samples if you call them. They just sent me some this past week. While I found some things were quite tasty others were not. If it were me I would be hesitant to buy a 90 day supply of anything without trying it first.

This must be something new they're doing. I'm a Dr. Mac patient and his recommendation for me was Optisource Bariatric formula from WalGreens - a month's supply is less than $30. I know they are now recommending a calcium supplement (citrate) and that runs me less than $10 a month. Talk to him about it.

Thanks so much. I go in tomorrow, Ill ask him about it.

I get the Bariatric Advantage chewable, V-D and B12 sublingual.  Three month supply is ~ $70 or so.  I have done well with them and for the first time I am no longer deficient in B-12 or V-D!!!!!  It's impressive because I was deficient before surgery.

Kelly