It's NO joke folks...

I think andrew lessman's products are very expensive, and probably good for normal people, but his forumulations are all wrong for RNYers and DSers.  We do not absorb oil based suppliments well, we do not convert  alpha and beta carotene to vit. A well,  it doesn't have enough B vits for most of us....  there isn't nearly enough ADEKs for most RNYers and DSers, etc etc etc.  Is the formulation good for a normie?  again probably...but we're not normies.  So why spend 35 dollars on a month of multis when I can get the same benefit from a 3 dollar bottle of generic centrum...esp when I have to add a ton of stuff to it anyway. Scott

You forgot the shipping and handling... I figured it out to be about $1.50 a day for Lessman's "essential vits" (the most minimal of the group) which like you said do not have all the basic daily recommended vits that are in a Centrum for .08 cents a day. In order to get the rest of the vitamins missing or if you were like me with a few near deficiencies or full blown ones and I wanted to order all my supplements there I'd be looking at a monthly car payment... I'd rather put that money in quality food for my family...If I could eat all my vitamins I would still rather do that above and beyond vits...Now that I know I cannot manage that much food without extra vitamins...I just take (a a small price) what I am low on and still put my money into eating healthy foods. (And really yummy non healthy tidbits now and then) Hey... you DSers can't have all the fun! (Well...actually , yes you can!) You lucky dogs, you!   My owner still feeds me a variety of tasty food! ....So, I'm on a shorter leash! What can I say!?  It's better than being a porch dog with no leash that can't even walk down the stairs to play in the yard! I'm feeling all punny and silly today...Don't mind me! 

scott, i would like to say something in regards to the lady who said not to buy centrum or flintstones. to make such a statement she has to a licensed and registered dietician or even a medical professional or reseacher with printed documentation in her finding to validate her proof to what she is saying. i checked over her list and noticed that the procaps elites although has extremely high level of nutritents, she has to take into account the amount she is adminstrating it to herself and if she is without proper guidance or exchanges with her registered dietician, bariatric surgeon or experienced postop peers. too much may be harmful to her health and cause certain reaction to other things. the body can only absorb a certain amount (even for a wls postop) and given in intervals for the body to take in throughout the day. centrum is acceptable and able to be taken by DS as is flintstone and centrum chewables is acceptable to be taken by RnY, in addition to other mulitvitamins to provide the nutritents given in a safe dose which she didn't take into account either. the elite vitamin she speaks of has high level of vitamin A. it has 10,000IU and more than 25,000 IU may cause liver damage, alopecia, blur vision and even headaches. i am not sure how many per day she is taking of this elite vitamin. i did speak to my bariatric surgeon about this the elite has 50mg of B6 per serving. 6mg is 300% of recommended daily allowance. at 50mg that is 2500% of what is recommended. high doses of B6 may cause numbness of the hands and even difficulty in walking. selenium at 70mcg is consider 100%, the elite has 240 mcg which is 358% per serving. with selenium, you have to be careful, because such high dosage can lead to poisoning and toxic enough to cause death. the zinc level for 1 dosage is 30mg and that is 200% over recommened allowance. high dosage of zinc interferes with the absorption of iron that regulates her immune system and with interference of the iron, she will have absorption problems in that area and may lead to anemia.  we need our vitamins and although the lessman does look impressive, it may not be the safest or even healthiest to take. that is why people have to make sure they know what is the best for their current sitution, know the correct amount need for them right now and it may change from time to time as well know have the ability to understand which vitamin they are able to absorb or not as a postop and know which viotamins conflict with each other per serving or time interval. she can take what i have written above and speak to her bariatric surgeon who should be aware of this and know the correct amount of vittamin nutritents that is for her needs and the amount she is taking how it affects her other nutrients. i take centrum performance after consulting with my surgeon about it and looking over the nutrient value per serving. as postop we must know what is the proper and safe amouint our body needs. we are not normies, but there are certain amount of vitamins that if taken over excessive can harm us still and like you said, andrew lessman products are not meant for a postop RnY or DS. i just purchased duane reade's multivitamin performance which is identical to centrum performance for $10 for 150 tablets to take in addition to my bariatric advantage multivitamin chewable and other vitamin supplements i take. another thing is, my vitamin and supplement are alway being adjusted according to my needs and with my surgeon's supervision with time. i do not take the same pattern or dosage consistently. it does vary and change accordingly.

Thanks for caring about us. This scared me a good bit. I'm not the best at taking vitamins, but I'll sure try to do better after reading this.

Want to know something scary!?  This happened to me and they thought that I also had a stroke!!!  Scariest thing that ever happened to me!  Needless to say that I never skipped another vitamin! I never will again!

Hi...what was it that you were deficient in to cause stroke symptoms...b vites? I'm also in cleveland and new to this (grad) board. thanks...marilyn

Bekah - thank you for the timely reminder.  I took the liberty of xposting on the OK Board and my own Support Group forum as well.  Thank you so much!!!

what a great reminder.  I think people play russian roulete with their health after WLS.....this is the reason why my surgeon cherry picks his DSers.  He thinks it's a great operation but he doesn't want to see anyone die because they stopped taking vitamins. I hope that lady recovers. Scott PS do you mind if i cut and paste this on the DS forum?  I think there are some people there that need to hear this....i'll give you credit and post the link also...but id ont' like to do that without getting a persons permission first.

Thank you so much for this Bekah. Sometimes, I kinda fall off the wagon with my vits but 9 months!!! What was she thinking??? The most I'll miss is 2 or 3 days! Just because we live a "more normal" life than right after surgery doesn't mean we're 100%. Everyone should get with this april

It's sad how many people don't take supplementation seriously. I think it would be a good idea for those of us who DO take supplements regularly to post a list of what we take, so others can see what we're talking about.

My daily routine includes:

1 dose (2 tablets) of Prenatal Vitamins which contains:

Vitamin A 10,000 IU 125% DV
Vitamin C 150mg 250% DV
Vitamin D3/ergocalciferol 400 IU 100% DV (D3 is the type we absorb - D2 really does nothing for us)
Vitamin E 100 IU 333% DV
Thiamin B1 15 mg 882% DV
Riboflavin B2 15 mg 750% DV
Niacin 40 mg 200% DV
Vitamin B6 50 mg 2000% DV (yes, two thousand)
Folate 800 mcg 100% DV
Vitamin B12 20mg 250% DV (As a DSer, I can absorb this - an RNY patient might need to supplement sublingually)
Biotin 600 mcg 200% DV
Pantothenic Acid 25 mg 250% DV
Calcium 600 mg 46% DV
Iron 36 mg 200% DV
Phosphorus 200 mg 15% DV
Iodine 225 mcg 150% DV
Magnesium 225 mg 50% DV
Zinc 15 mg 100% DV
Manganese 6 mg 300% DV
Potassium 6 mg <1% DV

It also contains 10mg each of Choline, Inositol & PABA of which there is no RDA.

In addition to the Prenatals, I also supplement Potassium, Vitamin D3, Calcium & Iron, and I adjust them (and add new things) as indicated by my labs.

Potassium 100 mg
Vitamin D3 50,000 IU (in a dry form - available from Vitalady)
Calcium 1500-2000 mg
Iron - 125 mg

Note: The dose I take of D3 is safe for DS & RNY patients, but could be lethal for someone who has not had a malabsorptive surgery. I am NOT absorbing that much. I have to TAKE that much because I malabsorb fat.

Also - when I have blood work done, it takes ten vials of blood. If they are only doing a CBC and a CMP on you, you are NOT getting enough labs done.

--BT