More Vitamin Questions....

Hello all:

Hubby and I are thinking of adding another one to our family.  We have a 4yr old from pre WLS.  Anyway,  I am looking into vitamins and spoke to my Nutritionist. 

My nutritionists stated not to switch to a prenatal because the vitamins I'm taking are more rich in vitamins and nutrients.  I compared a general prenatal and my current multivitamin (Bariatric Advantage).  And she is absolutely correct.  in many cases I have more than double the vitamin than a prenatal.

Here comes my question to those who might know.

My Multi has 800 Folic Acid (btw.. prenatal only had about 400).  There was a suggestion to just take an addition Folic on top of my Multi.  The folic is 400.  So a total of 1200 (before pregnancy).

Does this seem to be the right amount to you guys or is that high?  Thanks in advance.

Hi. Since you had RNY, keep in mind that you are mal-absorbing 1/2 your vitamins. If you are taking the chewable, then you need to take 4 of those (not 2) to actually get that amount of nutrients listed on the container.
I never took 4, just 2. But i definitely added folic acid before and still take 800mg daily on top of the multi. It's very important and I don't think you can OD on it since it is water soluble (you just pee out any excess that your boddy does not use)

Congrats on your efforts to expand your family!  My OB/GYN is used to working with post-ops and recommended double the regular amount of Folic for me.  I've been taking 1600 mcg's for 6 months now to get my body ready.  I agree that you can't really OD on Folic Acid.  But once you're pregnan****ch your Vitamin D intake.  I tend to run low on D, and my Dr. said to eliminate the extra now that I'm newly pregnant. If I were you, I'd do more Folic on top of the Multi just like you said, but do ask your OB/GYN if he/she is knowledgable about GBpatients.  Blessings!!!

Yep, it was recommended to me also to stay on the bariatric vitamins vs switching to a prenatal or a combo as some do. (I was taking Celebrate at the time but now am on Bariatric Advantage), and I add a 400mcg folic acid on top of it...

Plus I take... 6 calcium citrates, 2 vit D (5000iu ea to keep my levels up), 1 iron (60mg I think? It's from VitaLady in a capsule form), 1 b12, 1 b6, 1 DHA (non fish so i dont worry about mercury).. I think that's everything :D

HTH!

Lisa

I use Bariatric Advantage chewables too and they do have double what prenatals have, so I've always taken 1 Prenatal and 1 Bariatric Advantage chewable (1/2 the serving) and I get all I need. I've had a Panel done every 3 months and have had great viatimin levels so far, well except for my Viatimin D (which Calcium Citrate D3s can help with that). My folic acid has always been great too, but too much Folic Acid can be harmful, so be careful when adding additional Folic Acid supplements.

~~Gina

 

I take 2 Bariatric Advantage multis and an additional 800mcg folic acid supplement...of course, along with our other requirements.  My 10 weeks preggers labs came back perfect and I am now 7 months out from surgery.  

Also, I think the general consensus for a typical pregnant woman is to not exceed more than 1mg (or 1000mcg) of folic acid a day.  For us, I think we can go a bit higher.  And since we don't process softgels like we used to, I've been trying to find creative ways to add extra Omega-3 oils without eating fish every day...I bought cooking oil, butter, and milk with added omega-3s and I just found some squeeze packets at Walgreens that contain 650mg of omega-3s, 350mg EPA, and 230mg of DHA.  I haven't tried it yet, but it's worth a shot! :)

Good luck to you!

Thanks for all the responses.  Very helpful!