Vitamins are expensive!!!

For the multivitamin Trader Joe's High Potency Chewable Vitamins was either $7 or $8 for 90 tabs of which I take 2 per day.  45 day supply.

Calcium Citrate on a budget I buy a generic version of Citrical from Krogers grocery but I believe Walmart has a generic version as well.  At Kroger I paid about $8 for 200 tablets and take 4 per day therefore a 50 day supply.  Now I know they aren't chewable but I crush them into powder (two separate pharmacists say it is OK to crush these) and two go into my protein shake in the morning and two go into my oatmeal at night (after cooked so that I am not cooking the calcium citrate).  I came up with a clever pill crusher that is pretty easy.  Calphalon makes a garlic press that is all metal and has metal spikes that pushes the garlic through the holes.  I take the two tablets and apply enough pressure to break them and then bounce the plunger in and out of the press until the tablets are pushed through the holes and therefore crushed sufficiently for taking.

Being a man I don't worry much about the iron issue but I think that the Trader Joe's multivitamin as mentioned above has 9mg iron per chewable and I do take two per day therefore I get 18mg iron.  I have no idea if that is good for women or not quite enough.

For B-12 there are two versions.  There is one that is better utilized called Methylcobalamin than the other commonly available Cyanocobalamin.  I get mine from The Vitamin Shoppe for about $13 per 120 sublinguals of which I take 2 per day (2mg total).  This becomes a 60 day supply.

http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/store/en/browse/sku_detail.jsp? id=SR-5939

There would be vitamin D in my multivitamin as well as the Citrical generic calcium.  

Doing the math I am spending about $5.33 per month for the multivitamin, about $4.80 per month for the calcium citrate, about $6.50 per month for B-12.  I have no idea if this gives enough vitamin D or iron for your requirements.  For me this comes out about $16.63 per month minus the taxes involved.  

The amount that you are paying is shocking me.  Your $225 vs my $33.26 per two month supply.  I could never live on your budget.  Heck I could add in one month of food and still be under $225 for the two months.  

Hope this helps.

Um,no,lol. where did you order  these vits from? that is outrageous. I get a huge amount of vitamins a month for $50-75.00.

I can pretty much top everyone! My surgeon told me I can get actual bariatric vitamins from www.procarenow.com or call 1.877.822.5808. They are $10 a month, once a day, small chewables, that taste good! Its $5 shipping. Or you can do a 3 month supply for $30 and its still $5 shipping! Also if you order for 12 months the 13th month is free! They also have calcium powder but idk how much it is.

I do Trader Joe's Mulitvitamin, Sam's Calcium citrate (calcium and vitamin D), B12 - I think I got from Vitamin Shoppe, but it wasn't very expensive, and I got Sundown (I think) iron -- iron carbonyl because it's the gentlest on your stomach.  I had to get it from amazon.com, but I think vitalady.com is about the same on the iron.  The iron carbonyl is hard to find, and I couldn't find it in Baltimore -- so I had to order it online.

Thanks for the replies. I knew I was way overspending but with my rheumatoid arthritis it's rare that I get out of the house to shop. My nut gave me different samples from all of the big WLS vitamin companies. All of the vitamins I got are either chewable or they dissolve underneath my tongue. I went online to Celebrate & Bariatric Advantage which I now know is a complete disadvantage.. Lol... Oh well, live & learn. I think most of them are 2-3 month supplies too...

Thanks All,

Hilary

I bought the online bariatric ones for the first four weeks.  The vitamins and Calcium Citrate with a full days D and paid $40 for the two.  I had Sub lingual B-12 from Sams Club but ours quit caring themfor like $12 for two big bottles.  I don't need the iron, post menopausal.  After the four weeks I will be getting every thing OTC.   We aren't as fussy as the RNY'ers so Now that you can get Pettit vit D there isn't any issue.

I have to take fairly high doses of Iron & Vitamin D because I'm anemic, my doctor said "severely anemic" whatever that means???

Look at prenatals. I take a prenatal gelcap from Wallyworld, chewable vitamin D, cal-mag citrate and biotin. I spend about $20 a month.

My doctor says we need to use the bariatric vitamins since they are formulated for what we need post-op. The ones my doctor has is a chewable. I only need 2 a day and she said it is $45 for a 119 day supply. So, about $10 a month. Not too bad. I think they are bariatric advantage. I haven't bought them yet. Nurse said the doctor will have me purchase them at my 1 week post-op visit.

I get my right at CVS and/or Target. I probably spend less than $50/mo on my vitamins, probiotics, etc.