Questions concerning iron and ppi's

Hello OH friends!  Let me start by saying a long overdue thank you to everyone who shares here.  The good, the bad, the ugly- it has all been so helpful to me.  I can't imagine how I would have fared if I had to.go through post-op life without you all!   So I have two questions for which I would like to hear your thoughts.

When avoiding calcium two hours within taking your iron supplement, would you consider protein whey isolate as something that would interfere with absorption of iron and should be consumed outside of the two hour range?

Also, just learned that PPI's can interfere with absorption of vitamins. My bariatric surgeon has advised me to stay on Prilosec long term so I wonder if i have been decreasing the absorption of the vitamins I take?  Your thoughts, please?

I'm not sure about the protein question, and I don't usually drink protein shakes at night, but when I do, I make sure I'm done with them two hours before I take my iron.  But I'm not sure if this is necessary or not.

re: PPI's - I don't know about interference with vitamin absorption, but I know iron needs acid to fully absorb.  PPI's, as you know, reduce the amount of acid in your stomach.  Back when I was on PPI's (the first year post-surgery), the PA at my surgeon's office told me to take my PPI and my iron a few hours apart.  I don't take PPI's any more, but now I take either vitamin C or some acidic food (like grapefruit) with my iron.

Some people believe it's the acid in orange juice that helps with iron absorption, but it really is just the vitamin C that helps. Take the vitamin C, and don't worry about the acid.

good to know - thanks!  I almost always do take it with Vitamin C.  I've just done the grapefruit half + iron thing maybe a dozen times - but I'll just do the vitamin C from now on.  Thanks again!