Vitamins ?'s

What is the BEST vitamin for a post op Roux-en-Y patient?

You need a wide selection of supplements post op and one brand is not necessarily better than another. That said, it's more important to get the right form.  Any good multi is fine, as long as you take twice the RDA levels each day. You need a sublingual form of B12.  Most women need to take iron--don't rely on a small amount of iron in your multi.  Vitamin D shortages are very common, so a dry D3 is needed. DO NOT get the dry D3 in a softgel form, as you won't absorb it properly due to the oil in the softgel. I'd suggest starting with a 50K iu dry d3 three days per week.  You can adjust levels after you get some labs. Initially, many surgeons suggest chewable or liquid forms of vitamins for the first 3 months.  Calcium citrate is the only form of calcium you should use.  Do not take your calcium and iron together, take them at least 2 hours apart.  You may need other supplments too.  I take extra vitamin K to help prevent severe bruising on my arms. DAVE

Any adult multivitamin with 100% of the RDA of most things in it (take two a day).

Any calcium CITRATE (not carbonate or tricalcium phosphate).

Carbonyl iron.

B12 (sublingual, shots or  nasal spray).

Dry D3, any brand but since we usually  need big doses, I suggest the 50,000 IU dry D3 from vitalady.com.

For vitamin A, dry retinyl palmitate or retinyl acetate (not beta carotene).

Any I missed that you'd like to know about?

And please, don't trust anyone who says you only need their vitamin once or twice a day and nothing else... it will not be functional for you!

Absolutely.  The ones that say only take that tablet four times a day aren't suitable for us, either.  And children's vitamins and gummy vitamins aren't suitable for us.

Which vitamins do you all take, brand names? I have been wondering to change my chewable vitamin....I cant do them anymore Ive been taking bariatric advantage for the past 4 mths now since my surgery but my doctor said I could change now.

Currently I have the Meijer store brand multi, which is basically the same as Centrum only cheaper.

For calcium, I use Upcal D, Calcet creamy bites and/or Bariatric Advantaged chews.

I use Sundown Perfect iron and whatever generic brand of vitamin C I happen to find when it's time to buy some.

I use Tender D3, Tender A and Tender zinc from vitalady.  My magnesium oxide comes from vitalady, too.

I do B12 shots, which I got at the Kroger pharmacy last time.

To be honest...my multi is the same one I took for YEARS pre-op.  I had almost an entire bottle left and I refused to toss it in the trash...I can't bare to throw away useful stuff...my parents drilled into my head images of starving kids in Africa..so I still take them.  I use women's one a day (but now I take two a day per the RNY guidelines).  I also have some Centruim Silver chewable that I'm still working through.  I keep a bottle of vitamins in my desk drawer to take mid-day for my second dose.

For my b-12...I use the nature's made (walmart brand I believe) sublingual...2500mcg.  I take a higher dose because the 500mcg that's recommended didn't keep my b-12 levels up.  Since b-12 is water soluble, whatever isn't used by my body is washed out.

My b-complex is some that was left over from my pre-op days (i think it's from GNC).  It's a chewable that has more than 100% of the RDA for b vitamins.  My multi also have b vitamins in it, but since b vitamins are water soluble, I'm not concerned about taking too much since it washes it anyway.

My calcium is citrical petites.  2 pills 3x a day = 1200mg of calcium.  When this bottle is gone, I'll get the regular citrical since 2 pills 3x a day = 1500mg of calcium.

I also take vitamin C, biotin, and iron chewable.  The vitamin c and biotin I got from Vitamin shoppe and the iron I got from www.vitacoast.com.

My dry D3 is baratric advantage 5000mg.  I actually take 2 pills 2x a day = 20,000mg of D3.  I started doubling the D3 because I've always suffered from a vitamin D deficiency for the past several years.  Post-op my level increased 1 point when I was taking 1,000mg a day.  At my 6 month check up I'm hoping to see significant improvement in this number.  Once I'm out of the 5,000 mg D3, I'll likely purchase a higher dosage of the D3 so I can stop doubling up and taking it multiple times a day. 

I personally don't buy into the marketing of specific vitamins to RNY patients (other than chewable for the first few weeks/months post-op.  Most of the vitamins in Target, Walmart, GNC, Vitamin Shoppe. etc are just fine for us to take.  Just like with our food, you have to read the labels and know what you are taking.