Vitamins and supplements

[miiasan 370]

I take Bariatric Advantage chewable multi essentials and a chewable Calcium twice a day. My NUT gave me a list of all the Vitamins I would need after surgery and the one I take has them all in it.

[Cervidae 2,389]

@@Yazan Masa you only had surgery a few months ago. In another 6 months you're going to have serious health issues and malnutrition if you go on taking no Vitamins and not getting enough Protein. You can die that way.

@ I take a supplement that is iron/b12/folic acid all in one, in one capsule, twice a day. It's prescribed by my doctor and covered by basically all insurances. Taking this allows me to reduce my necessary daily regimen to: a Multivitamin, a calcium+D3, and my Iron supplement. That's a LOT more manageable now. Eventually I may add back in Biotin and fish oil, in which case I will probably get a second pill holder. One for meds, ones for supplements. Hope you're healing well.

[Pedro Valle-Inclan 275]

Yes, this is odd hearing how different other people's programs are!

I too am foillowing my dr's directions to the letter, but not taking any Vitamins these first three weeks seems counter intuitive. There must be a reason

[Jessica Ellison-Correa 66]

The reason my doc doesn't do Vitamins early on is your still healing and it might be hard on your tummy for those vitamins to go down

[Djmohr 6,965]

@@Pedro Valle-Inclan

It is normal for the first month following recovery for you to hold Vitamins. It is all about your new tummy healing and the fact that you have some Vitamin stores built up in your system.

This is exactly why they don't test you for the 6 months. It is really important that people understand it is so important to get your Vitamins and Water.

I had a friend (Peggy) who had gastric bypass surgery about 29 years ago. She thought she was doing so well because the weight was coming off fast and she was feeling pretty good. I lived with her at the time and I know for a fact that she never once took vitamins or focused on Protein. In her defense she was not given detailed instructions like you get today with Bariatric surgery. What she ate, never changed. She had 5 kids and did not have a lot of money to buy good Protein and veggies. Their main meal was macaroni and cheese with canned tuna in it. They ate Pasta probably 5 days a week.

She was nearly 400lbs and about 5.5. After a year and a half she was down to 97lbs and severely malnourished. Peggy almost died before they went back in and reversed her bypass.

Back then they did open bypass and I remember it vividly because I lived upstairs and took care of her children for 3 weeks while she was in the hospital.

Within the first year post reversal she had gained over 150lbs back. Yes, she was still malnourished but now overweight again.

She never exercised, never took a single Vitamin nor did she ever focus on protein. She was critically ill. I got married, moved states and lost touch with Peggy after that so I don't know what ultimately happened but she was very ill.

Can you imagine losing all your weight, becoming too small and then gaining it all back? I always wonder and believe that had she been better focused on her diet and vitamins would this have happened to her?

Peggy is one of the reasons I waited so long to have this surgery. I spent months researching and understanding my role in Bariatric surgery success. I vowed I would follow instructions to ensure I did not put my family through my getting critically ill.

[cookarue 233]

I'm having trouble with the B Vitamins. I find that when I take them I'm having a VERY hard time sleeping, or not sleeping at all. I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this, and what some alternatives might be?

[Dar200 285]

I'm having trouble with the B Vitamins. I find that when I take them I'm having a VERY hard time sleeping, or not sleeping at all. I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this, and what some alternatives might be?

B vitamins will keep me awake if I take them late in the day. I always take them first thing in the morning, definitely not after 3:00 pm. If you are taking them early in the day and they are still keeping you awake, maybe try a different brand? I find the bariatric B vitamins don't effect me this way. I don't know what is different about them, they just don't bother me. I take BariMelts multi and B12. I like the BariMelts brand of everything they make, I use all of them. They are less expensive than some other brands of bariatric vitamins, they really melt in your mouth or you can chew them very easily and they never upset my stomach or keep me awake.

[cookarue 233]

Thank you for your tips! Yes I take them in the morning and I'm still awake at night. Maybe switching brands will help. I've tried 2 so far.

[gpmed 623]

My nut advised me to space my Vitamins at least two hours apart. If you've been told to space yours out too, here's something that helped me: setting the timer on my phone. I would take one Vitamin, set the timer for two hours and when it went off, it was time for the next one.

Edited February 20, 2016 by gpmed

[Daisee68 2,493]

I take mine with meals which helps me to remember. But I really just wanted to weigh in to say, I was SO overwhelmed with this in the beginning. I just want to encourage you that once you work out what works for you, it just becomes habit and you don't think about it much.

[SHOTzY* 114]

Absolutely!! I'm 2 weeks post op and it is overwhelming at first!! You feel like there are not enough hrs in the day to drink and chew all this stuff down!! I was paid stricken and down in the dumps until I made myself calm down, break everything down into 4 oz sections and blocks of time for chewables. Now I'm okay!! But do what works for you and calms your nerves [emoji6]. You can do it!! Good wishes for us all !!

[lgrif1201 6]

It seems odd to me that I'm NOT supposed to take any Vitamins until my three week checkup, does that seem odd to anyone?

They're probably trying to see what your levels are naturally after surgery before they make recommendations for vitamins etc

[Pedro Valle-Inclan 275]

This is an odd segue, but

on day 8 here, I drank a 20 oz bottle of Water today over an hour period at a meeting, I was amazed I could do it.

Can anyone else drink Water that easily?

[lgrif1201 6]

I'm at day 5 and I'm still struggling to get all my liquids in ... Took me 2 hrs to get 8oz of apple juice and Water down ... I really feel it in my chest when I'm getting full

[IH8theW8 12]

@@pedro,

I'm 7 days out from bypass today. From the start I've been able to drink as much as I want, hot or cold doesn't matter. But today a went to full liquids and had 1/2 a Greek yogurt. Gas pain was horrible. Now I'm afraid to do anything but liquids.