Vitamins - have I been doing it wrong for a year???

I take my vitamins in the morning:

2xMultivitamin

1xCalcium

I also take 1xcalcium at night.

The only Iron I Get is in the multivitamins, so, is my morning calcium useless (since I've been taking it at the same time as my Iron)?

Get a multivitamin without iron and then make sure you have a 2 hour window between taking a separate iron with vitamin C. Be sure that you take a vitamin c supplement with the iron if vitamin c is not included in the iron. Vitamin c increases the absorbability of the iron.

What do your most current labs show? At a year out your reserves will be running low so if you are not getting enough nutrients the deficits start to show. Most of us take much more calcium and also take a separate iron.

Check out these guidelines. If your multi contains iron, you need to add an additional 18 - 29mg elemental iron per day. If your multi does not contain iron (best idea because of the interaction with calcium), you'll need 60 - 65mg iron separately.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/johns_hopkins_bayview/_docs/ medical_services/bariatrics/nutrition_roux_en_y.pdf

I just checked my multivit - it has:

14mg iron (so x2=28mg a day), and;

200mg Calcium (so 400mg total per day)

My calcium (calcium carbonate) is:

1250mg (so total 2500mg per day)

Feels like I SHOULD add some extra Iron in there. Agree?

Correct. You're getting 28mg, you need 60mg, so you'll want to take some extra :)

First, you need calcium CITRATE -- not carbonate. 1500 mg. a day, unless your bone density scans show bone loss, then you add more. Take with C, magnesium, D and K2 for absorption.

Iron should be carbonyl or fumerate taken with C at least 2 to 4 hours separated from calcium. The amount of iron should be in direct relationship to both your hemoglobin/iron and ferritin levels.

When you say 1 Calcium, does that mean one tablet? We are supposed to be getting 1500 to 1800 mg of Calcium Citrate per day. According to my Calcium Citrate bottle one dose is two tablets and that has 600 mg of Calcium Citrate, so I need to take 6 pills, daily. They need to be spaced out (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and not taken with iron.

Get a Multi vitamin for 55+ Women's formula. It does not have iron in it. I take Centrum Silver 2X per day.

As for Iron...remember that you need to take 500mg of Vitamin C per 65mg of elemental iron to absorb the iron properly. I take Vitron-C Iron. It already has the required Vitamin C in it for proper iron absorption. I take my iron at bedtime so it does not interact with my other vitamins

My calcium comes in sachets, and gets dissolved in water. I take one sachet in the morning with my multivits, and one at night on its own.