1) I have heard some ppl say there is a specific way u have to take ur vitamins..like don't take calicum and iron together etc...I didn't know anything about this, but could someone pls tell me exactly how to take my vitamins meaning Wht I can and can't take together and how long I have to wait between taking certain vitamins...

2) My surgery is this Wednesday, and I want to know Wht exactly do I need to take to the hospital..like my cell phone, house shoes, etc..pls help me ...thanks in advance

I didn't need much at the hospital-I wore the hospital gown because you will have a heart monitor with a bunch of wires, IV, and probably a drain and catheter.   Those are such a pain but makes it easier to mange all the wires.  Plus you may get a little blood or yucky stuff on the gown also so you won't want to ruin your clothes.   So I didn't take any pajamas or anything.  I just made sure my butt was covered when I went walking.  The hospital gave me socks with the plastic grippie things for walking.  I took my cell  phone & charger and went home in the same clothes that I came to the hospital in.  I did use some chapstick because my mouth & lips were really dry.  You may want to take some slippers to use but I didn't.

I took a little face soap to wash my face with and some baby wipes.  Comb or brush.  My husband  & I wished we had taken our laptop.  By day 2 I was pretty bored with watching TV all day.  I did wish I had taken my own pillow too.

I had imagined that I would be in agony and just sleep all day but that was NOT the case-I felt way better than I expected to!    Good luck to you! 

Oh and my doctor (yours may not say this) told me not to worry about vitamins for 2 or 3 weeks after surgery. He said they would probably just make me sick.  So you may have time after you get home to work out the vitamin situation. 

 Well the only thing i really know (new vitamin taker also) is that you need to take 200% instead of 100% of your daily vits so multivitamins you need a double dose.  And flintstones are not a good choice.  I am currently taking centrum silver.  I think you need 1500 - 2000 mg a day (mg???) of calcium and in the citrate version NOT the carbonate because it doesn't absorb like we need so read your ingredients and make sure its citrate.  I know you need to take them with food.  I am on a look out for 500mg calcium citrate 's so i don't have to take a million of them a day.  lol  I think iron takes away from the calcium so you need to take them 2 hours apart.  BUT do not quote me on any of this.   I probably shouldn't even have said anything probably. lol   I want to try to take b12 by injection once a month so i don't have to worry about that everyday but that depends on insurance i guess.  And D3 sublingual (i believe this means it melts under your tongue) and not in soft gels because the oil the vitamin d3 comes in the gels also messes up the absorptions process and i think those need to be taken 1000iu a day.  Most people just spread things out throughout the day.  

I took very little to the hospital.  Got my little friend the day before surgery so i had to take pads and i took a couple pair of undies.  I wore the clothes home that i wore there because they were clean.  Make sure they are comfortable as you will be bloated a bit when you go home from the gas they put in your for surgery.  Throw a pillow in your car to hug on the way home.  I took my phone and phone charger.  Had my hubby bring my laptop but really it was all i could do  to keep myself awake, drinking and walking i wasn't into my computer or books or magazines or anything else really.  I used the hospital robe and their slippers.  You could take toothbrush, toothpaste, deodarent and chap stick.  Oh and shampoo.  

good luck on the surgery and let us know how your doing..

1.  Iron and calcium should not be taken together, unless it’s a very small amount of calcium.  300 mg of calcium or so will block the absorption of iron.  The reason some multis have both iron and calcium is because they often have only small amounts of calcium, maybe 200 mg.  That amount won’t block the absorption of iron but much more will.  Iron and calcium should be taken at least two hours apart.

If your multi has iron in it and you want to absorb that iron, do not take your multi with your calcium.  If your multi has no iron, it’s fine to take your multi with your calcium.  If you take additional iron at another time and so you don’t care if you don’t absorb the iron in your multi, then you can go ahead and take it with your calcium.

Now, if you use heme iron instead of ferrous sulfate or ferrous fumerate or carbonyl, etc., you CAN take it with your calcium.  Most people don’t use heme iron, though, because it’s so expensive.

Take your iron with vitamin C for best absorption (unless it’s heme iron).  The ratio is 200 mg C to every 30 mg iron.  That’s 30 mg elemental iron, so if you take 325 mg ferrous sulfate, for example, you’re only getting 65 mg elemental iron, so you’d need 400 mg vitamin C (but carbonyl iron is absorbed better than ferrous sulfate).  The point is, you would not need 2000 mg vitamin C with 365 mg ferrous sulfate because ferrous sulfate is really only 65 mg iron.

Keep in mind that people can only absorb about 500 mg calcium at once, so divide your calcium into doses of about 500 mg and take them at least two hour apart.  Keep in mind that the ASMBS recommends 1500-2000 mg calcium citrate per day, so you need three or four separate doses.  And make sure you’re taking calcium citrate, not calcium carbonate.  Understand that if you take a multi with 200 mg calcium and take that with another 500 mg calcium citrate, you will then not absorb the 700 mg total calcium you’re talking.  However, the calcium in you multi may well be calcium carbonate or some other form that is not absorbed so well anyway, in which case it would be fine to take your 500 mg calcium citrate with your multi, just with the understanding that you won’t absorb the calcium carbonate in the multi.

B vitamins work together so it’s good to take your B’s at the same time.  Your multi has lots of B’s in it, so take it with your B12 if you use a sublingual B12.  If you take a B complex and/or biotin, take that at the same time.

2.  You might want chapstick and might want your phone.

Otherwise, they will have everything you need but take anything you think you'll really want.

Like, they will have toiletries, but I really wanted my own toothbrush and my hairbrush.  Don't bother with makeup or stuff like that, though.

You can wear your own clothes if you want.  You'll have to wear a hospital gown into the OR.  You will most likely have a catheter in for a little while afterwards, so you could wear a nightgown but not pajama bottoms.  You'll have an IV that might get in the way of a top.  You may also leak fluids from your incisions or otherwise mess up your clothes so I personally just wore the gown.  But if you feel you'll be a lot more comfortable in your own clothes, take them.

I took slippers, but they will give you those socks with nonskid bottoms, so just take your slippers if you really like them better than those sock things.

You're not gonna feel like doing much.  You'll mostly be sleeping or up walking.  You might want a book or something to read while you're waiting to go into the OR or if you can't sleep and get bored, but don't take a lot of stuff.  You won't need it.