I'm at the very beginning of things and went to the hospital's seminar yesterday. They talked about the vitamins (Calcium, B12 and Iron) that I would need to take forever (after RNY). I was just wondering if these are OTC or would I need RX's for them? I suppose I could go to the store and look....lol.
My doctor recommended 2 Flintstone vitamins and 3 Tums a day. I also take 2 fish oil capsules a day so everything comes out all right. All of them are over the counter. I had RNY 3 years ago this October. So far all my blood work has come back fine. I wish you the best.
Dr. suggested taking the chews from Viactive both the calcium and multi, an iron suppliment, B-50 liquid...tried the Centrum chewables though I wish that they had other flavors...got tired of the orange.
I hate the word "yummo", but that is another subject.
I take a prenatal vitamin. I was taking the Walmart brand (by RX) for $12.00 for a three month supply. I recently had the doctor give me an RX for the ones from Meijers because they now offer them free. The doctor's was going to cost me anywhere from $25 to $40 a month. They told me I could take two Centrums a day, but this way is actually cheaper. The Meijer prenatals have 38 mg. of iron.
I take a sublinqual B12 (under the tongue) 500 mcg twice a day OTC Walmart
I take one 1200 mg fish oil twice a day for joint and heart health and for bowel health, if you know what I mean.
One 500 mg of vitamin C with my prenatal to help with iron absorption
One Nail, Skin, and Hair OTC twice a day from Walmart
One Vitamin B complex from Walmart
One 600 mg. Calcium chewable with 400 mg of vitamin D. They suggest you take two of these daily, but I'm doing yogurt and cottage cheese during the day. Most people who live in a place like Ohio are Vit. D deficient. My mom was and so is my sister.
Two 500 mg of Cranberry extract with for bladder health (hey, I have an old bladder, what can I say?).
Why so much? I'm trying to head off any future problems and if you read about people who have absorption problems and are a few years out the have trouble with iron, Vit D, B12s. Calcium is not to be taken within two hours either way of iron or caffeine. There is some discussion about rather you should be taken calcium carbonate or calcium citrate. So make sure you read about that. Also there is some concern for people who have had the RNY that the part of our stomach that absorbs iron is missing and they suggest that you crush the iron and mix it with juice. Well, it is awful. I burp it for a hour, so I won't do it unless I come up with an iron deficiency. Try to do a variety of foods that are rich in these things naturally, so you won't run into problems later on. My labs have been excellent and I hope to keep them that way.
I wish you the best in this journey toward a healthy you. I am still in the process of working for the insurance approval. I was quite surprised, at my very first visit that they gave everyone a RX for Vitamin D. I never knew that most people in this area are deficient. I will have to keep reading the blogs on the vitamins to get all the great advice.
such smart people we have around here! bottom line, you don't need a prescription, although at some point, a few of us might need prescription iron. i turned into a pill-wimp after the surgery. those big pills just got stuck.
so, i take centrum rugrats chewables - two a day. it's been working well. a couple of times a year i take 1000 mcg b12 for a couple of weeks, and occasionally i need to take some prescription iron. oh. and caltrate [haven't been REAL GOOD about that - and i need to be better!!!!]
I get most of my vitamins from Bariatric Advantage. I take their chewable ADEK vitamins, iron, and calcium. I recently tried their dry formula A and D, but am going to switch back to Twinlabs dry A&D because it is smaller. I recently started taking probiotics (Trader Joe's brand) and will probably be switching brands soon. I've occasionally taken the Centrum chewables for a change. I'm also going to get a higher dose D from Vitalady (my D came back low on recent labs), and get out in the sun every day.
I've never swallowed pills well (even preop) so the chewables work for me.
RNYers need more than 2 Flinstone (or other childrens) chewables per day! Your labs may be fine for a while but eventually this will catch up with you. I advise you all to visit VitaLady - she has a website vitalady.com - there she has lists of what RNYers need to take daily - you don't have to purchase from her either to get advice from her...she's wonderful about that! She had RNY herself so she knows...
me, I had DS and I take even more than I think is on her RNY recommendations - she has a separate list for us DSers too....
I only post this to encourage you all to be proactive about your supplementation...surgeons are great at being surgeons....but notsomuc in the area of supplementation...
In preparation for my surgery I went out and bought Centrum liquid multivitamin as well as B-12 liquid sublingual. Both are the most disgusting things ever. So i came up with a plan B.
I went to CVS and bought Flinstones chewable multivitamin and B-12 sublingual dots in cherry flavor.
Both are working just fine and are not making me sick.
For the calcium I found a sugar free chocolate soft chew from the supermarket near me.
Just remember....everything is trial and error. What works for one person may not really work well for you. I hope this information helps!
What Vitamins Do You Like?
