Vitamins and meds

[NewAshes 232]

So what Vitamins will I need and should I even be preparing before hand or should I wait till I find out if I'm approved? Also I hear that you need liquid and chewable vitamins after surgery, does that apply to other meds as well? I take meds to sleep and I don't think they have those in chewies lol

[Mari_Sem 2]

My bariatric surgeon recommended a specific brand of powder Vitamins for me to use for the first year after surgery. But now I had a Vitamin supplement pill twice a day. Maybe yours will also have something they want you to take.

You should not be swallowing any pills directly after surgery, I recommend going to your doctor and asking them to change the RX to a swallowable kind.

[DonRodolfo 1,416]

So what Vitamins will I need and should I even be preparing before hand or should I wait till I find out if I'm approved? Also I hear that you need liquid and chewable vitamins after surgery, does that apply to other meds as well? I take meds to sleep and I don't think they have those in chewies lol

The bad news: most prescription meds don't come in a chewable form - two that I take I have to crush beforehand and as you can imagine they taste nasty!

Vitamins, however, come in chewable form. Prepare yourself to take the following for the rest of your life:

A chewable Multivitamin twice a day - avoid gummies. I use Centrum Silver chewables, but you might not be old enough for those.

Calcium Citrate - 1500mg daily. This must be 3 tablets spread out across the day, can't take them all at once. I use Celebrate Calcium Plus 500 Chewable from Amazon.com. If your doctor says you need an Iron supplement, that will change how you take these.

B12 sublingual - 500mcg daily. It MUST be in sublingual form which means you put it under your tongue until it dissolves. I use the Spring Valley brand from Wal-Mart. Your other two choices are B12 injections (I think these are once a week) or B12 administered as a nose spray.

[karpouzian 94]

The bad news: most prescription meds don't come in a chewable form - two that I take I have to crush beforehand and as you can imagine they taste nasty!

Vitamins' date=' however, come in chewable form. Prepare yourself to take the following for the rest of your life:

A chewable Multivitamin twice a day - avoid gummies. I use Centrum Silver chewables, but you might not be old enough for those.

calcium citrate - 1500mg daily. This must be 3 tablets spread out across the day, can't take them all at once. I use Celebrate Calcium Plus 500 Chewable from Amazon.com

B12 sublingual - 500mcg daily. It MUST be in sublingual form which means you put it under your tongue until it dissolves. I use the Spring Valley brand from Wal-Mart.[/quote']

What do you you use as a pill crusher, if you don't mind the thread jack. The pill crusher I bought from wal mart makes it impossible to get all the 'powder' out after you've crushed a pill.

[NewAshes 232]

The bad news: most prescription meds don't come in a chewable form - two that I take I have to crush beforehand and as you can imagine they taste nasty!

Vitamins, however, come in chewable form. Prepare yourself to take the following for the rest of your life:

A chewable multivitamin twice a day - avoid gummies. I use Centrum Silver chewables, but you might not be old enough for those.

calcium citrate - 1500mg daily. This must be 3 tablets spread out across the day, can't take them all at once. I use Celebrate Calcium Plus 500 Chewable from Amazon.com. If your doctor says you need an Iron supplement, that will change how you take these.

B12 sublingual - 500mcg daily. It MUST be in sublingual form which means you put it under your tongue until it dissolves. I use the Spring Valley brand from Wal-Mart.

how long does it take for b12 to dissolve? I have to take my bi polar and sleep meds for the rest of my life so I figure a few extra Vitamins isn't a biggie. Thanks for the info!

[karpouzian 94]

A minute to two, faster if you're talking.

[NewAshes 232]

A minute to two, faster if you're talking.

thanks looks like ill need a pill crusher. Do they give you your regular meds in the hospital? And do they crush them up?

[920amy 409]

I had surgery in Mexico, and when I was released, they gave us a course of antibiotic pills to take for a week. The pills were enormous! I didn't think I'd be able to take them. They gave us Malox, and wew were instructed to take 2 T of Malox 30 minutes before the pills. I did, and was fine. Now if I have to take pills, I do them the same way. I did get liquid vitamins and chewable ones from Nashuta nutrition online.

[SpaceDust 585]

The bad news: most prescription meds don't come in a chewable form - two that I take I have to crush beforehand and as you can imagine they taste nasty!

Vitamins, however, come in chewable form. Prepare yourself to take the following for the rest of your life:

A chewable multivitamin twice a day - avoid gummies. I use Centrum Silver chewables, but you might not be old enough for those.

calcium citrate - 1500mg daily. This must be 3 tablets spread out across the day, can't take them all at once. I use Celebrate Calcium Plus 500 Chewable from Amazon.com. If your doctor says you need an Iron supplement, that will change how you take these.

B12 sublingual - 500mcg daily. It MUST be in sublingual form which means you put it under your tongue until it dissolves. I use the Spring Valley brand from Wal-Mart. Your other two choices are B12 injections (I think these are once a week) or B12 administered as a nose spray.

There is actually a fair amount of variation on the details of what doctors say regarding Vitamins, though they all pretty much say you'll need them for life. That doesn't bother me, since I take them anyhow. I'll just be adding a bit more of some and changing "formats" for at least a while. It sounds like your doctor is the cautious type and is telling you to take vitamins closer to the amounts necessary for gastric bypass patients, who have malabsorption issues to a degree that we sleevers don't generally have. My requirements aren't quite so high - For example, the calcium is 500 mg twice a day for me. I'm allowed to take gummies if I want to as long as I chew them thoroughly (I don't want them - I am not a big fan of gummies in general). I've also been told that I will quite possibly be able to resume taking a number of vitamins and medications in pill form after my stomach completely heals and the swelling has reduced sufficiently to allow the pills to pass comfortably.

Of course, your mileage may vary, follow what your doctor tells you!

[DonRodolfo 1,416]

thanks looks like ill need a pill crusher. Do they give you your regular meds in the hospital? And do they crush them up?

I was not given all of my meds in the hospital, only the metoprolol which was injected into my IV. I was not given my metformin in the hospital and my discharge instructions said not to take them any more. My surgeon dropped one of my heart meds a week before surgery and made my lansoprazole "take as needed".

[DonRodolfo 1,416]

A minute to two, faster if you're talking.

Only about 30 seconds for me, but I have a big mouth.

[Purrplelover 48]

My doctor told me I could take all of my pills as they are and crush them. If I have issues with them, I can crush them if I want. Since I hate the bitterness of most medication I pray I can take them whole! Check with your doctor and see what he has to say about that.