Question:
I had surgery in May and wasn't very good about taking all my vitamins
in the last 2-3 months. I had my blood work done and found out that all my levels were just fine. I tend to eat decently but I am not good with the veggies. I dont drink milk but yet my calcium level was within normal. Very strange. Does this mean I dont need to take the vitamins??? — [Anonymous] (posted on December 3, 2001)
December 3, 2001
Especially without knowing what kind of surgery you had, I'd have to guess
NO. You DO need to take your vitamins. You're probably coasting on your
body's reserves right now. It would not be pretty to run your body into the
ground.<p>Calcium from milk is next to useless, by the way. You need
calcium CITRATE, which is the only form of calcium that we absorb well
post-op. You can find the Citracal brand at lots of drugstores; read the
label and make sure that you are buying a calcium citrate product because
they do make some calcium carbonate products. I like the liquitabs; you
dissolve them in 16 oz of water and then you have a sugar-free orange drink
that doesn't feel gritty or taste gross.<p>I must admit that I slack
a little on vitamins on the weekends but I have my routine during the week
and I stick to it. I don't think this is a good area to
"cheat" or cut corners as you will only pay with your
health in the future. Do you want osteoporosis? Poor skin tone? Gut
problems? A higher rate of infections and colds? I doubt it. The results of
poor vitamin intake and absorption are subtle and you might not notice them
but I bet your health will be better and you will feel stronger if you take
your stuff. And no, I don't sell vitamins, LOL but I've done a fair bit of
research into this area as I prepared myself for surgery. I feel like
having this surgery requires us to make this commitment to take extra steps
to keep ourselves healthy... no more chewables "once in a
while".
— Julia M.
December 3, 2001
Did you SEE your levels with your own eyes? "fine" is not really
good enough for us. If the normal range is 10-20 in an element, and you
WERE at 18, then at 15, now at 11, well, yes, you are "fine",
still within normal ranges. BUT you are not going to maintain that for
long. It takes months for many of the deficiencies to show up in blood
work. First you strip all the reserves from tissues, muscle, organs.
Calcium blood work is not very indicative of bone condition. It does
reflect other things, but you can have already lost a considerable degree
of bone mass and still have fabulous blood levels. By the time you get
your dexascan to find out about the bones, they are long gone. Blood work
is critical, but the comparison with all that went before give you a more
accurate picture than a phone call saying they are "fine". I
guess you can tell that I once settled for this, too.
— vitalady
December 3, 2001
you should really start taking calcium, You have hormones that will
regulate the level of calcium in your blood. If you do not get enough
calcium, these hormones will start removing the calcium from your bones.
You can end up with serious osteoporosis which will be hard to correct.
— [Anonymous]
June 14, 2003
You MUST take your vitamins. I took mine as I was suppose to, but my body
didn't absorb them correctly andI got VERY sick. I lost all feeling from
my neck down. I couldn't even sit up. This was from a deficiency in the B
vits. It took 2 months to be able to sit up by myself. I spent 5 months in
the hospital and still came home in a whel chair. It has now been 16
months since I first lost feeling. I still can't feel my feet and lower
legs but I have some feeling in my hands. They called it sensory poly
neuropothy. TAKE YOUR VITS and LOOK AT YOUR RESULTS YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!
— Traci G.
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