vitamins etc

I will tell you of two cir****tances of why you need to take your vitamins.

First of all, a lady named Denise in our group will tell you again and again to take your vitamins. She slacked off and will tell you how much she regrets it.  Her iron completely tanked to the point that she now has to go regularly to the hospital to sit for a few hours to get iron transfusions. They were amazed that she could even function - her iron was THAT low. Unfortunately your levels can look fine at one appointment and they can literally go in the toilet over a short time when your body can no longer mask the deficiency. Then you tank and end up having to get hospitalized for a severe deficiency.  Other deficiencies such as B vitamin deficiencies can lead you to suffer from seizures or brain functioning issues.  Levels may be fine for a while, but when you do "tank" in your levels, again you may tank severely and have to be hospitalized.  Truly it is better to be safe than sorry especially early out. You are not taking in a lot of food early out, your body needs the supplementation for plain old nutrition levels.

Second, in the case of calcium for instance, your bloodwork will rarely reveal any low levels....that is because if your body does not get it from supplementation or food, it will begin to "rob your bones". Therefore, you will not know it, until you have developed osteoporosis and then you might as well be an 80 year old lady who fractures easily.

Don't mess with vitamins. Too many people have been deficient and suffered horribly.

Dawn

ty for the replies.. a few were a bit harsh which i expected.. but i didnt ask to be blasted either.. i asked a simple question.. and maybe i missed it or what ever but it was not explained to me the way it was explained by you all.. It was said we needed them because our body would not process things properly.. but they did not tell me that it could be much later down the road... I actually understood that if our blood work was fine we were fine.. call me nieve or whatever but I didnt get it honestly.  I will be starting on them today .. and as for why did i even bother having the surgery if i wasnt going to stick to things.. there is no way I am the only one who questions something or other i am human and i do question things unless they are put to me black and white. so now that i understand the actual why and what fors of it i will have to change what i do.. and to who posted that if i had to take diabetes meds etc for my life .. i would be in big trouble i kid u not.. i am extremly bad at remembering things and unless someone hands them to me with a glass of water i will forget to take them. and thats with notes stuck all over my house..

but again thank  you for all the advice now that i know the actual facts i will have to change what im doing..

Just to add to what has been said... You can't get all of your nutrients from food post-surgically.  Because of the changes to your digestive system, you will malabsorb micro-nutrients for life (even though you will eventually start to absorb more calories, doesn't that suck!).  I'm glad that you now understand the need for vitamins and intend to start taking them.  Don't worry, it will become a habit (a habit generally takes a few weeks to form) just as the new way of eating will become a habit.

Do you still have your clinic's pre-op info re: vitamins?  If not, just use the search box on this forum to check for old posts re: vitamins, and you'll get a very good idea of what other people take and which ones are palatable.

I'm glad that you posted before getting sick from vitamin deficiencies, not after!

A way I remember to take my vitamins is to set my iphone. I always remember my breakfast vitamins but ofter forgot my lunch and dinner vitamins so I set my phone to chime at 12:15 and 6:15. I carry an extra dose in a small pill container in my purse in case I ever forget to pack it in my lunch.

I really hope you change your mind and get in the mindset and start taking the supplements, your life could very well depend on it.

^ what Monica said....

Check this out:
http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/amos/4444066/Visual-of-non -compliance/

I am really glad to see that you have taken these responses seriously and intend on taking your vitamins from now on.  I would suggest making yourself up a week or two worth of vitamins in individual servings.  Put them somewhere that you know you will see them regularly like your coffee cup, a desk, work,  the phone whatever.

I will get easier for sure!

In your post you said that you told them right at the very beginning that you were not one for pills...it seems that your clinic is not one for explaining things very well...I think it is good that you question why they want you to do certain things but why didn't someone follow up if you said right at the beginning that you were not one for pills? Has no one ever asked you since surgery if you were taking your supplements?



Go to the drugstore and buy a dosette. It is a little plastic case with 7 days of the week and usually 4 little boxes for each day. Every week you load up the dosette, leave it on your dining room or kitchen table or somewhere you are going to see it during the day to remind you to take your supplements.



I don't know about the clinic that you are going to but at every appointment or information session that I have been to at st. joe's it is emphasized about taking supplements for life. For someone that I know who is a patient of st. joe's to say to me that they haven't been taking their supplements I would be stunned. St. Joe's has explained and reinforced the rationale for taking supplements several time, I'm pretty sure every person I have talked to has said it...at the first info session, the nutritionist, the nurse, the social worker, both doctors and again at the pre surgery class. It is in all the information papers we've been given. From the information that I've seen on this board I thought most clinics did this as well. So you can't really be that surprised that people react the way they are. It is difficult to be supportive when it seems people are being defiantly non-compliant with what they've been told by their clinic.

Just to make clear.. i was told that we had to be on vitamins the rest of our life but it was said that we had to for our levels if our levels went down all sorts of things could go wrong.. they didnt stress enough I guess that you had to take the vitamins to keep your levels up and that it could be fine for the first bit then fall later on in life if you didnt.. I even reasked my daughter who attended all meetings etc with me and she said no she was under the same understanding.. that as long as my levels were fine i was doing good and didnt need to take vitamins.. and as for my clinic they ask about my vitamins i tell them i have them.. which i do.. i have them just dont take them but as i said that changed as of today.. thank you all for your replies and information it answered the question that i asked.. now i know better and will get back on the right track.