Question:
VIACTIVE recommended by my surgeon

I'm concerned with all the calcium citrate/carbonate issue. So many poeple are saying that Viactive is no good. But that is what my surgeon recommended. Who's advise do I follow?    — janice L. (posted on June 23, 2003)

June 23, 2003
Normally I would say follow your surgeons advise but in this case, if I were you I would go to the library and look at some of the research about the calcuim and present it to the surgeon. Some of them just don't know. A good place to start would be to contact www.vitalady.com and ask her to send you the research on the calcuim. She will be glad to do this, then print it off and take it to your doc. This is not just Michelle's opinion but she has hours of research articles from several other sources.
   — Delores S.

June 23, 2003
Me again. scroll down to question number 18. Some good research on the calcuim featured there.
   — Delores S.

June 23, 2003
Janice, My surgeon reccomends Viactive also.... He has been doing rny surgery for 19 yrs.. (one of the first in the USA), I trust him fully. I don't believe he would suggest something if it didn't do the job. If you are able to do dairy... thats a bonus...your body will absorb some from "real" foods too. Good luck
   — Peg L

June 23, 2003
Yeah...is your surgeon well-versed in the nutritional needs of the post-RNY patient? Most doctors, surgeons included, take all of one nutrition course in med school and that course doesn't even address special nutritional cases like the post-RNY gastric bypass patient either. <p> If you end up with osteoporosis like Michelle & Don Curran did from taking the wrong type of calcium, it's going to be no skin off your surgeon's nose. If you go back to him at that point and say "I took what you recommended", he may say "well, you should have consulted a nutritionist familar with the post-RNY needs" or may say "oops...guess I was wrong in recommending it" - but you'll still have the osteoporosis. <p> Like I have said before, there are questions on how calcium carbonate is absorbed in the post-op RNYs - or any type of surgery where part of the stomach is removed (due to cancer or other conditions and even questions on how it is absorbed by the population in general. There don't seem to be any questions about how calcium citrate is absorbed in the post-op RNY patients or the population in general. <p> Seems like a no-brainer to me as to which you should take...JR
   — John Rushton

June 23, 2003
Hi everyone- I am still pre-op, and am making my suggestion just on what I have heard, please correct me if it's inaccurate. I have viactiv here because my son's pediatrician recommended he take it. The ingredients are: corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, calcium carbonate, sugar, etc etc etc, but those are the first 4 ingredients in order. IMHO, I am surprised that a surgeon recommended it post-op because of the SUGAR content! Can someone explain? Good Luck, Mea :o)
   — Mea A.

June 23, 2003
Ask your surgeon for the name of his insurance company so you can sue him when you end up with osteoporosis and it's irreversible and severe. The effect of not using the right calcium will not be seen in the first few years likely, but after the damage is done. <p>Unless you are having a banded surgery or the DS, which still have normal stomach function, you have to use calcium citrate. This is considered the standard by 99% of the WLS surgeons out there. Personally I would not gamble. Also, llke you said they are hardly something nutritional and I believe you need to take 4-6 a day, which is also very expensive.
   — zoedogcbr

June 23, 2003
I don't want to be all contradictory to everyone, but my surgeon AND my dietician both recommended viactive, my surgeons got about 25 years of rny's under his belt. i decided to listen to him. good luck sorting through all this info :)
   — Dana M.

June 24, 2003
Janice: Please see the question below entitled "Calcium citrate vs carbonate - repeat of previous post." It is down about 15 from this question. As a pre-op, this is one of my big concerns, so I did some research on it, and in the question I referenced above, shared the results with AMOS members. I'm not taking any chances with anything after my WLS, so I'll be taking calcium citrate. It's not that much more expensive, to be on the safer side. Please keep following the research on this issue. Best wishes.
   — Carlita