Hi.  I have to buy vitamins for after I have my weight loss surgery, which is 10/1/12.  Do you start taking the day after surgery when you are on the liquid diet, or does the doctor have you wait until have the liquid diet.

Also, I have thin hair and I am worried about hair loss.  Any one take anything internally that help prevent hair loss?



Thanks.

Chewable vits & calcium after release from hospital for 1st 6 weeks post-op then vits & calcium either regular or chewable.  Hair loss is a fact of life 4-6 months post-op.  It will grow back.  70+ gms protein per day plus biotin supplement will help but not totally prevent hair loss.

The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery says we should start taking our multi and iron as soon as we are released from the hospital. They say we can wait up to 30 days to start taking our calcium citrate and up to 90 days to start our B12, if we want to wait that long.

I wouldn't worry about hair loss. Just realize it's almost 100% a side effect of major surgery.  Take your supplements daily, take plenty of protein--that will help. Inositol (google it) along with choline bitartrate offer some cell rebuilding help, which will help rebuild your lost hair.  Eqyss makes a product called MegaTek. It's a cream rinse made for show horses. It's made by Ovations Hair Therapy, but costs only about 1/3 the cost as Ovations.  All you need is your good shampoo, and use the MegaTek. It helps to prevent brittle hair shafts, which break easily. DAVE

My surgeon had me start the vitamins as soon as I could tolerate them... the multis made me nauseous for a couple days, but everything else was fine.

As far as the hair loss, it's called telogen effluvium and is triggered by any trauma to your body. That includes both the significant surgery we have, as well as the greatly reduced calories, but may also be (for some people) things like car accidents and child birth. There is nothing other than not having the trauma that will prevent it, although people respond differently (for example, I had no hair loss after a nasty childbirth, but my SIL lost a lot after a mild childbirth. It's really variable).

Your body is cycling through your regular hair loss/regrowth cycle faster than usual, which means you lose your longer hair and grow new hair. As a result, you look shaggy and unkempt for a while. That's why many of us cut our hair shorter during this time as it masks some of the shagginess.

As far as regrowth, my reconstructive guys told me to keep my protein at about 100 grams per day (yes, that's higher than most recommend. Your mileage may vary), keep up with my iron, C and zinc 2 or 3 times per week.

I had loss, but the regrowth came in fine, and it wasn't really noticeable with shorter hair.

 There's nothing you can take to prevent telogen effluvium, which occurs a few months after a traumatic event to the body (i.e. surgery) that kick-starts the hair growth cycle, making new growth push out the old growth.  Vitamins would benefit the new growth, but not stop them from emerging.

 There's no stopping hairloss post surgically -- it's a reaction.  For most, the hair comes back.  Vitamins won't necessarily help.