I've read about what you should take after and in what form but opinions seem to vary... What is working for you, whats your daily routine with the pills!
Good Q, luvbug. i'll tell you what i'm supposed to be doing [a few of ya'll know i haven't been the best at vitamins lately]
right after the surgery, i became a complete pill wimp, and it's pretty much stuck with me. so, i do well with two chewable children's vitamins [i read the labels - compared them with the adult formulations, and found they were the same, and they tasted better!]
caltrate because it's chewable. tiny B12 tablets that i hold under my tongue until they melt [i go through 1 or 2 small bottles of 1000 mcg per year]
some folks do well with liquids. and others just swallow their pills, like the really true grown-ups they are [i seem to be regressing!!!!]
I have a different procedure than the RNY, but I have about the same amount of malabsorption, so here's what I take:
- 2 multivitamins per day (I refuse to take children's - if you need a chewable, Centrum makes one for adults)
- 1800mg calcium CITRATE per day (this would be Citracal or store brand equivalent, not Caltrate, as that is calcium carbonate, which is almost impossible for a post-RNY body to absorb due to the very low level of acid remaining in the pouch)
- sublingual B12
- B complex tablet
- dry vitamin D3 (this may vary, but most Americans are low in vit D even without surgery, so check your pre-op labs)
- dry vitamin A (must be retinol or palmitate, NOT beta-carotene, as beta-carotene is absorbed in the duodenum, of which yours will be fully bypassed) - this is another "check your labs" because not everyone needs it
- iron (now, different types of iron will work differently. If you take any form of iron other than heme, then you can NOT take it at the same time as calcium, as they will battle for the same receptors, and the iron will lose. Also, if not heme iron, take it with Vitamin C to help absorption due to the lowered acidity of your stomach. If you choose to go with heme iron, which I do, then you can take it at the same time as calcium and do not require the extra vit C.)
Now, I also take a formulation called "Hair, Nails & Skin" which includes things like vitamin E and biotin. I also take vitamin C and a daily strong probiotic.
This all probably sounds like a lot, but I don't even count how many actual pills it is; I just know I take 4 doses per day. I also choose to take everything possible in capsule form because I'm a big baby and find capsules easier to swallow than tablets. The only tablets I take are the hair-nails-skin and my B complex; everything else is in capsule form (well, except the sublingual B12, which I take in liquid form). So, 4 times a day, I take 2 gulps of pills. I couldn't do this early out, of course, but once I was fully healed, it wasn't a problem. I never did chewables or liquids, but that is an individual choice - I never felt I needed them and was taking small pills (birth control) while still in the hospital from surgery.
I take 2 adult multi vitamins per day, 1500 mg calcium citrate, 2 b-50 pills, 1000mg magnisium(my legs twitch without it), 5000 UI vitamin D3, and Iron. I also get a B12 shot every 3 months.
I am scared silly not to do as my dr suggested so I take ALOT of big chewable pills and such.... but I am ALSO on the hard loss phase losing a rediculous amount of weight so someday I might alter the program but for now:
4 Fusion chewable (orange cream) vitimins a day
3 ADEK ...Vitimins A, D, E, and K Chewable (Also in orange)
2 Bariatic Advantage calcium citrate chews
1 ferrous Sulfate Iron tablet
1 500Mg Vit C with the iron
For other reasons than vitimins, minerals and such there is:
4 tramadol 2 in the morning and two at bed
6 tylenol that I break in half spread out through the day (I have end stage bone on bone arthritis)
one 5Mg Abilify tab...
then I take a 100Mg wellbutron pills 4 times a day (which I have decided to get a pill splitter for since I wonder if part of my mood issues stem from not getting enough of this medicine due to it being coated... for now I am scratching the surface of them first)
Once a week I sit down with my big 4 a day pill pack and load it up and I have the Iron and C by my bed so I can take it sometime during the night since it is hard for me to get away from calcium since ALL of my vitimins have it.
I have seen what vitimin and mineral deficiency did to my grandmas health and appearence and I am determined that as long as I can I will continue on this regiment until labs say I am getting too much.... yes it is PRICEY (with my Nectar protein $70 a month) but so are some of the things I fear happening and YES I HATE the chewables but I am a big girl (excuse the pun) and I know I can do it, I use to take a handful of pills at once so the main difference now is I take them one and two at a time and chew the big nasties though the orange does not make me sick like the Berry Fusion or Tropical ADEK.
I have decided this year that I am going to strait out ask my family if they want to give me gifts for my b-day and holidays to supply me with vitimins. I dont know how long I will be on this many pills, maybe someday I can get anywhere near part of my vitimins from food but now I am lucky to get 10 oz of food down me a day so you KNOW that is not happening now.
Spooky, with the DS, you'll likely always be on just about that many pills, if not more. Although, hopefully you will be cleared soon to get away from the chewables. You can get just as much from 2 good multivitamins as you're getting in those 4 Bariatric Fusions (actually, you can probably do better with a good multi in pill form since the BF only contains 25% of many things, so you're only getting 100% per day in 4, whereas the ASBMS recommendation is to get 200% of the daily recommended value). However, you're likely going to have to switch out the ADEK for separate A, D, E, and K - I have yet to see a single person be successful long-term while taking a combo ADEK, at least not without additional A and D supplementation, at a minimum. You'll also likely have to tweak your calcium intake since the BF multis contain more calcium carbonate than citrate, and 2 additional calcium citrate chews will only get you 1000-1200mg of absorbable calcium per day, max (assuming you spread them out and don't take them at the same time).
Vit & MInerals& Pills??
