Old timer with a newbie question (re: vitamins)

So I am 6.5 yrs post op and have been a horrible patient in that I stopped taking my vitamins.

That is until this past weekend when I spent 3 days in the hospital having 4 bags of blood pumped into my body because my hemoglobin count was 4 and the doctor was telling me if I were 10 yrs older or didn't have such a strong heart, I would have been wheeled in under cardiac arrest.

So here I sit, about to start a regimine of iron transfusions and want to get back on the vitamin bandwagon. I bought my Centrum women's 50+ multivitamins & my calcium citrate but for the life of me I can't remember how many I take when. (I am taking 324 mg of ferrocite iron at night until the weekly iron infusions & b12 injections start - I had a b12 injection in the hospital)

I believe I used to take 1 multi 2 times a day and 1 calcium 3 times a day but I cant remember for certain.

Any help would be appreciated!

yes - that's correct (at least for most of us) - take a multi twice daily. Most people need 1500 mg of calcium citrate a day, but you can only absorb about 500 mg of it at any one time. So take it three times a day, spaced out by at least two hours.

Reminder: Take iron and calcium separately. Calcium also competes with magnesium and zinc for absorption, which is why it is best to take Ca on its own.

I'm another veteran - coming up on 10 years

My vitamin regimen looks like this:

B1 - 100 mg. daily - but I know that some long time post ops need the injections

B12 sublingual - 1000 mcg daily

Calcum citrate - 3 daily

Multivitamin - 2 daily

I add a probiotic and cranberry daily.

Because of my age (63) I do not take iron. My faithfulness to my vitamin regimen has varied a little but mostly I'm reliable with it and sure enough, the bloodwork has been good so far.

Calcium and iron shouldn't be taken together. So take one of those with your multivitamin (morning or night), and the other one at least 4 hours later.

Glad to hear you're OK after being in the hospital!

I appreciate all the help!

I took my iron last night (like a good girl) in case it gave me the grumbly tummy like it normally does.

Then this morning I started off with a multi and a calcium, had another round of those at lunch, will take my last calcium when I get home and end the night with an iron again. Thinking tomorrow I will space my multi to before and after work to make sure I'm not overloading my system and just flushing vitamins down the drain (literally!)

This stint in the hospital seems to have put the fear in me. I stopped smoking and am officially on the patch for the next 10 weeks, actually drank some water, have had 500 cals between b, l & s ... lord I'm back to being normal lol.

Welcome Back

Here is an article talking about vitamins and the RNY.

https://www.obesityhelp.com/articles/gastric-bypass-how-it-w orks-pros-cons-and-vitamins