Vitamins made easy
We talk a lot about vitamins on this board, which makes sense because they are so important to our health, but sometimes it gets pretty confusing with all the different types of one vitamin, like calcium citrate, calcium carbonate and tricalcium phosphate. And then add in the different forms, like liquids and chewables and tablets you swallow, and different brands and doses, and then how much you can absorb at once and all of that, and it starts to seem pretty complicated. Some people share my fascination with all of that and wanna talk about it in great depth, but others just wanna know what the heck to go buy at the store.
So here is my short and easy version of what vitamins the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery says we need to start off with. If you wanna know why they say we need a certain kind or any more in depth info, I’m happy to talk about all that, but this is the short, simple version here.
The ASMBS says we need:
- And adult multivitamin that has 100% of the RDA of most stuff in it. Something like Centrum is fine. We need two of these a day.
- 500 mg calcium citrate, three or four times a day. It needs to be citrate, not carbonate. Any generic calcium citrate is fine if you want pills to swallow. If you want chewables, check the Vitamin Shoppe, or order online from Celebrate or Bariatric Advantage. Tums, vitafusion gummies, Citracal gummies and Viactiv are all the wrong kind of calcium, so don’t get those.
- 54-63 mg iron for menstruating women, 36 mg iron for everyone else. Count the iron in your multi, if it has any iron. Then add more iron if necessary. Carbonyl iron is less likely to make you constipated than other kinds. Brands you can get in stores include Sundown Perfect Iron and Feosol, or you can order chewable iron online from Celebrate or Bariatric Advantage. Take your iron at least two hours away from your calcium.
- B12. You can do 500 mcg sublingual (a tablet that melts under your tongue) a day, a prescription nasal spray once a week, or shots (you can do them yourself at home or get them at your doctor’s office) once a month.
You might need other stuff, depending on your labs, but these are the basics.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
Let me add my trick for making it all easier.
I bought 4 (count 'em -4!) of those daily pill containers. The simple ones, about $2 at CVS.
Once a month, I like them up on the bathroom counter and I fill each day's comparment with the daily lineup of vitamins.
Everything fits but the calcium.
It's an assembly line: multis, B12, B1 (recommended by my doc), and I add Biotin daily.
And for the next month - no juggling the pills, no bottles cluttering the counter, no remembering "Did I take this one yet?"
By the end of the day, the compartment should be empty. Not many brain cells required for that!
I coppied and pasted it to a document so I can go back and look at it. I just wish the stuff I already bought didn't make me dry heave....maybe next month :)
Donna Q. --5'8" -60 years old
Band 2005
hw320 sw276 lw with band 195 gw 160-180?
Bypass 4/4/2012
pre sw 258 lw RNY 162 cw 203
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
Even though some of us may be in the medical profession and understand all of the pathophysiology and stuff, this vitamin crap is way to tedious for me and I appreciate just having the knowledge handed to me!
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
