Question:
Liquid Vitamins vs Capsules

Just wondering if liquid vitamins would be a better idea after surgery. Also, any suggestions of which website has the bext offers, prices, etc?    — Jessica Rhodes-Touchet (posted on August 31, 2011)

August 31, 2011
When I had my surgery, I couldn't take any form of a pills for at least 6 weeks, so I took a liquid vitamin, YUCK! Go to Bariatric Advantage and buy their chewable, they are great! I say do everything that makes your process easy for you, it is difficult enough.
   — FSUMom

August 31, 2011
I take liquid vitamins and LOVE them. I take ones made from Biometics (www.biometics.com) and I mix them with Proti 15 Orange flavored Protein mix in a water bottle and drink that while taking the other supplements I take. It is yummy!! and I had no hair loss and the vitamins are GREAT
   — tfqh99

August 31, 2011
If you want to save yourself alot of headache you will only really need one multi chewable vitamin. My doctor told me about this product and my blood work has been perfect including the d and b-12. both which I had difficulty with maintaining before switching. You will only need two in the morning and 2 in the evening. and they come in so many flavors. and for your dollar you are getting great value. It is called "Bariatric Fusion". You can order them on line as they are not available in stoors to the best of my knowledge. They were developed for Gastric bypass patients by surgeons in thaa field.I will put the link here but I don't know if it will be able to be posted. And no I do not have any conection to this company other than that of a patiend operated in Feb 2010. www.bariatricfusion.com/supplement Hope that this helps you. By the way they also have meal replacements. I found these great on the days that I have a cold or flu and can't seem to get anything down. My doctors are very pleased with my weight loss 100plus to date and no weight gain. I started at over 319LBS and now am 210LBS I had a RNY for those that don't know me.
   — OntarioSilk

September 1, 2011
Greetings. Why are you "just wondering?" Wasn't this very important and singularly most critically important question addresssed by your surgeon and other folks you saw prior to your surgery? The answer depends upon the type of surgery you had. If your surgery was a lap band, you have no restrictions on whether your medications should be in pill form or liquid. If you had RNY, where 80% of your small intestines were removed which makes you 50% malabsorptive for the REST OF YOUR ABSOLUTE LIFETIME, then, all medications and supplements must be in liquid form for the rest of your lifetime, and if not available in liquid form, then, they must be ground up and pulverized. Unless Jesus intervenes and miraculously your body regrows the 80% surgically removed small intestines of if Jesus simply gives you new small intestines, you will always require your medications in liquid or pulverized form. You will remain malabsorptive for the rest of your lifetime. Unfortunately, the number of surgeons who perform bariatric surgeries either do not get training in this most important subject, or they refer you to primary care physicians, who most likely have not been trained in this most important subject, or ..... Why is this a critical question you've asked? One of the functions of the small intestines, is the processing of food substances to benefit our bodies. We don't have, for all intents and purposes, the small intestines anymore. This means that pills pass right through the small pouch for those of us who have had RNY surgery, and exit almost immediately to your large intestines and out your body with you receiving no benefit at all. Being 50% malabsorptive for THE REST OF YOUR ENTIRE LIFETIME, if you have had this restrictive surgery, means you must get educated on what you must do for the rest of your lifetime. Ask a question, by all means, at this site, but weigh the answers you get by understanding the knowledge base of the folks who answer you. And then, really do your own research. Why ever would you want to waste valuable money on getting your medications or supplements in pill form in order to have them pass right out your pouch and out your body going into the toilet? And, why would you ever want to place any value on making life-long decisions based on how some liquid medication tastes right after surgery when everything tastes quite abnormal and yucky. My own surgeon has absolutely no training and background in nutrition or the life-long impact of anyone having RNY surgery. He's an excellent surgeon, cuts well,and has a great bedside manner, but this knowledge is not in his forte. Perhaps he simply likes doing this surgery because it pays well and obesity and morbid obesity is rampant in the United States. Even my primary care physician who referred me to this particular bariatric surgeon 7 years ago, and who I've valued as my primary care physician for almost 20 years, told me only 6 months ago that he never had had any training in what the impact of malabsorption has on a person. So, there I was for the past 7 years willy-nilly taking medications and supplements in pill form, doubling up on the dosage because of the malabsorption issue, but figuring I was doing OK because the blood work tests which I get 3 times a year, consistently check out OK. But consistently good blood work tests have nothing to do with pain! I found out purely by accident how crippling was my ignorance and the ignorance of my doctors for the proper care of me. I always have really valued him as my primary care physician. I no longer do, and I've replaced him with another physician with whom I think I stand a chance of getting prudent treatment, and I've worked to really better educate myself on what measures are necessary to ensure my medications and supplements are at the proper level and liquid. You see, I have/had osteoarthritis so crippling that I required a very strong narcotic medication to control the pain because I had bone on bone while I waited to have my total hip replacement surgery. Because this medication is a narcotic, my primary care physician prescribed a very small dosage in pill form and cautioned me to be so careful about taking this medication. I cut those pills in halves and in 4ths, so that I could really stretch out my meager 30-day supply of these pills. The 30-day supply was the best he could do. The pain escalated! It was so heinous, that I remained in a fetal position in my bed with 24/7 screaming pain for almost 1 solid year. I had to quit my part-time job because of the pain. I needed/need that job because without it, my income is such that it has been a real challenge to keep the lights on and the water running in my home, and oh yeah, ensuring I get the right quantiy of my protein powder, green vegetables, and fruits for proper nutrition -- you know, food. If I had received the medication in liquid form, and in the right medication level, I would have been able to continue to work while I waited for my total hip replacement surgery, and I wouldn't have had an absolute nightmare 1 1/2 years of hell. I still cannot work because my body is slow at recovering so I'm still upside down on my finances, but I do see the light at the end of the tunnel and the opening to this tunnel is rapidly approaching. Because of the pain, I couldn't drive. I couldn't get to his office 26 miles away. I had to get a refill on this medication and went to another arm of the very large group seeking to get a refill. I needed to have a hard copy of the original prescription in order to get the refill. The prescription got lost in the mail. I had to have another hard copy of the prescription mailed to me. Remember? I couldn't drive because of the pain? The facility where I went locally to get the medication also had doctors. I requested to see one of these doctors in order to get a refill. This company's records are all on the computer and fictitiously, you can go to any of their facilities and your records are available. But, no doctor would see me. I think it was because the need to take a narcotic is a challenging area for doctors because lots of folks use this medication for nefarious reasons. But, I do not really know the reason, I am only guessing. I'd stretched out these pills as far as I could and waited and waited for the original hard copy of the prescription to arrive. It didn't. I was totally out of the medication and my pain level was beyond descriptionn of agony. Because of the RNY, NSAIDS are also banned because these medications (aspirin, Ibuprofen, etc.) are especially dangerous to our pouches, so I couldn't take them for the pain. What about acetaminophin, i.e. Tylenol? I also have Restless Leg Syndrome, which means my legs feel like they have worms crawling in them and they jerk all night long. Through my research, I found the way I could minimize this heinous issue, was to be sure I didn't get any white bread, white rice, pasta, Acetaminophen (i.e. Tylenol), allergy medications, and almost all types of over-the-counter medications. So, there I was, no doctor would see me at the local facility. I couldn't drive the 26 miles each way to get the hard copy of the prescription for this narcotic. That left me with either taking Acetaminophen (Tylenol), or Ibuprofen. I so clearly remember me standing in my bathroom with the Tylenol bottle in my left hand, and the Ibuprofen bottle in my right hand. I thought, "Well, I would rather run the risk of getting a bleeding pouch and killing my liver, than I would want to have the worms crawling in my legs and thrashing my bed!" So the Ibuprofen tablet became my desperate choice for pain relief. I don't know why I thought to grind up the Ibuprofen, but I pulverized it -- which turned out to be an incredible blessing to me. I smashed the pill the best I could and put it in a glass with some water. My bathroom floor is heated, so I put the glass on the floor and waited while the heat from the floor permeated the water in this glass liquifying the pulverized Ibuprofen tablet. Then, with great trepidation about the possibility of causing my pouch to bleed, or to seriously damage my liver, but in screaming pain, I drank this concoction. 15 minutes later, I WAS COMPLETELY OUT OF PAIN! I hadn't been out of pain for 1 solid year! Yet, there I was, out of pain! I recognized it happened through LIQUIFYING the Ibuprofen. Through my own horrific agony, I accidentally found out the absolute necessity of having ALL MEDICATIONS and SUPPLEMENTS in liquid form for the rest of my lifetime. Vitamins in gell-type capsules are OK. Since then, as I've adjusted my medications to accommodate the need to be in liquid form, I've found that some supplements don't pulverize at all, they become everlasting sluggish concrete. No one in their right mind would want to drink sluggish concrete. So, I've had to make adjustments. Which is great! Because, now 7 years later, I know that I know that I know that I know. Last, when I finally had my total hip replacement surgery, I finally met not only doctors, but nurses and surgical staff who are most cognizant about the proper medication needs for those of us who have had RNY bariatric surgeries. A common reason they are so knowledgeable is because the knee replacements and total hip replacement surgeries occur more often in the more senior of us folks. I'm 74. We come to them with our lives determined by the lives we've lived. I am most grateful after 7 years since by RNY surgery, to finally learn by my own actions, and facilitated by the knowlege of the folks who helped me with my recent surgery. I was informed by them that what works for me is THREE-TIMES THE NORMAL DOSAGE! 3-times the normal dosage? Yes!!! You would think this dosage would make me "loonie-toons." Not so. That narcotic only treats the pain level and doesn't have the bad side-effects of drousiness, or other issues. 'Nuf said. I'm still recovering. But, this is such an important issue, I plan to write out critical information folks need to know who've had RNY and other bariatric surgeries which make them 50% malabsorptive (on average). I will be posting this information at my www.ObesityHelp.Com/group/BellevueWA site, hopefully within the next several weeks. Yes, I am an Obesity Help trained support group leader and Bariatric University trained support group coach. My group is currently inactive, except by e-mail and telephone because I've been recovering. But, my goal is to update serious information like this subject at my site at OH. I also plan on getting my group up and going again. So if folks in the Greater Seattle area are looking for a support group which doesn't pull the punches but works to be the best we each can be, drop me a note. But, my friend, please do do more than wonder. I pray that what I've written above will help you and others get on the right path on this critical subject. Blessings, Christine Gibson
   — Christine Gibson

September 1, 2011
When I first had my surgery (RNY) I used chewable vitamins and pulverized anything that I couldn't purchase in that format. Did this for the first few months, or until my initial 90 day supply was gone. From then on I've taken everything in pill/capsule form and have had no trouble whatsoever. My blood work is fine and I feel great. Speak with the nutritionist and ask for recommendations. There are some things you can't take together, such as iron and calcium. Since my multi-vitamin contains iron, I take it in the morning (along with nearly everything else, including the few prescriptions I am still on) and I take my calcium in the evening. Every office has it's own regimen, so checking with your health care team is the best thing you can do.
   — Elizabeth T.