need grad input please

I still do chewables.......Centrum makes a liquid and a chewable....you might want to check into that.... I use Twinlabs Animal Friends Children's Chewables....I'm looking for a new source for them as my source closed their business.....but I also take their Dry Vit A & D. I like the Twinlab products as they are high potency and not lots of fillers.... Good luck..... Darlene

I had heard that about the one-a-day. You're not the first to notice it going straight through. I was actually going to mention it to you when I saw that you took them until I read to the bottom of your post. Definitely switch to something else. I use vitamins that come in the gelatin capsules which I think disolve better. Make sure to get one that doesn't have an oil base (liquid inside) since we malabsorb oils as well. Linda

Cheryl-Funny you mention this. I was just discussing something similar with Susan Maria during my visit the other day. My surgeon/nutritionist also suggested the Flinstone chewables which I took for about 5 months. I then started trying other vitamins. I looked at Building Blocks from US Bariatric and Bariatric Advantage. Both of which appear to be good vitamins-I am especially impressed with the Bariatric Advantage, but they have to be taken more often than what I prefer if I remember correctly. I tried the Vista vitamins for a while, probably about 6 months. The reason why I chose them was because it was 4 capsules in the morning and 4 at night--easy. I liked them and always had excellent lab work with them. I like swallowing capsules so everything I look at comes in capsule form. Then after a while I decided that it would be best to supplement B-12 and calcium in additon to the Vista. So I started doing that. Still my labwork was awesome. Then the cheapskate in me started to take over and I started to research other things. I guess I figured if I had to supplement anyway-the Vista was kind of expensive for a regular multi-vitamin. I started looking at Solgar vitamins as they are the made by the same company who makes Vista (Albion labs I believe). I compared all their multiples (capsules only) and came up with the VM-75 from Solgar. I take two of those every morning. In additon to that I take my calcium citrate and B12(sublingual 3 times a week) and lately I have been supplementing with iron to prepare for plastic surgery. Again my labs have been absolutely perfect. Back to my conversation with Susan Maria--she said she sometimes takes the same vitamins and suggested that they are more tightly packed than the Vista and that is the primary difference. She suggested ripping the capsule--I think I would prefer to slice it or something. I haven't tried that yet. There is one vitamin that touts itself as being for bariatric patients and some docs recommend it--it is called Optisource. My own personal opinion on this vitamin is that it is a pretty expensive multi. Not the right kind of calcium and I still think B12 needs to be supplemented despite what they say. Just my opinion. I am extremely long winded lately. Hope your day is great!

I was using One a Day also until my niece who is a sophomore in high school did a science project last year. Her experiment dealt with vitamins and how fast they dissolve. Centrum was the hands down winner in how fast it dissolved. One a Day never did dissolve completely so I switched to Centrum. I could tell a big difference. She told me the exact times but since it was last year, I can't remember the exact minutes. But I was very impressed with what she had found out. Becky

Drop your vitamin in some lukewarm water. If it doesn't dissolve in 30 minutes, don't take it. It's just going to be expensive poop. Deb

Cheryl.....There is something in what you say here....its happened to me too. I read some documentation from the company who makes the vitamins my sister and her family take. There was a testimonial from a 'porta-jon' company....it said...when they clean out the jons with water....the only thing left is lots and lots of intact vitamin pills. This company makes a liquid...so I thought...yeah. Right. So I called a local porta jon company and asked them. They guy laughed....and said yeah...they did see whole vitamins. Do I still take pills. Yes. Does it worry me. Yes. My Doc insists on pre-natals. I used to grind them up with a mortor and pestle, but being the lazy bum I am....I stopped doing it. So starting today....as much as I detest doing it...I'm going to chew the hell out of my pre-natal and wa**** down with water. ICK. Need to do the same with my B complex I guess. Or go back to grinding. My sister swears by this stuff she takes..but you have to order it in gallon plastic jugs....its really expensive...and has to be refrigerated. So I just never started it. Plus...its one of those pyramid sales things....and I don't want to be involved it that. I guess liquid vitamins would be the best tho. Vita Mist....well...I wouldn't take a chance. Hugs from Georgia?? Charlie

My standard answer to posts like this is, Sure your labs are great now but let us know in five-ten years down the road. I speak from personal experience with osteoporsis after having been on a certain calcuim for twenty years faithful every day. It took about ten years for my low blood calcuim to show in labs. By then it was too late. These posts irritate the heck out of me. I have gotten to the point I hardly ever respond to a post about calcuim or iron. It is like beating your head into a wall. People are so ignorant at times.

"Don't knock it until you try it" is a nonsensical arguement, and not worth debating. There are a whole lot of things in this world that you do not need to try to know it is unhealthy or wrong. I haven't tried Arsenic, but I will nonetheless discourage its use as a dietary suppliment. "Wait until 1, 2, 5, x years, and you will see the error" is equally nonsensical and somewhat condescending. We are all different, with different belief systems. Research will yield conflicting information, and we choose the information that makes the most sense based on our belief system. The best we can do is state our case accurately, fairly, and respectfully, and hope others do the same. Sadly, many people exagerate, belittle, and inflame in attempts to win arguements. Tek

Tek--I guess what frustrates/concerns me is that the original poster came on to ask about the spray, for someone to tell her they are great based on his results at 3 weeks out just seems irresponsible. Maybe irresponsible is too strong a word, I'll save that word for people who choose to allow manufacturers of junk to advertise on a site. I thought the idea of Vitamist made sense to me and I tried to do some researdh on it. While at the OH conference in DC I repeatedly asked for documentation on the absorbibility of Vitamist and they had none. Based on this and the newspaper article I would not choose to trust these as MY vitamin supplement. What we, as "grads" have to offer is real long term experience and I think there are enough grads who have experienced deficiencies to make this an important issue. I don't see how responding to someone who is touting successful labs at 3 weeks out that long term is what matters and to look at the results then is non-sensical or condecending. So on that we disagree.

I'm sorry, I thought my post was supporting you. The person that responed to you (and you referenced this in your original post) was "Don't knock it until you've tried it." For the reasons I stated, I think such reasoning is nonsense. I accept that you don't believe there is evidence supporting Vitamist's effectiveness. There are people (obviously) that believe there is evidence. My hope would be that discussion either way would be based on reasoned debate and not nonsensical "You can't say anything unless you've tried it" or "You will pay in the future for your ignorance" or worse "You're ignorant for not believing what I believe" type arguements. Your arguements pointed at lack of evidence, and others pointed at where absorbtion occurs, which IMHO were far more effective. There is a ton of what I WOULD call irresponsible advice handed out as gospel based solely on the posters personal experience (which happens to be a pet peeve of mine). We are all different, we have had different surgeries, and different variations of the same surgery. NOTHING in nutrition or medicine is applicable to every individual. So *MY* experience may be useful and interesting, but may have no bearing on *YOUR* (generic) experience. Tek