3 weeks post op and 2 questions...

 When can I swallow a vitamin?    Chewables are making me nauseated.

Any and all protein drinks make me throw up.  The NUT moved me to eating tuna, chicken and soft cheesed and those sit well.  What can I do to augmeny my intake?

I have been taking Nature Made MINIs soft gels. They seem to work fine. I was on liquid vitamins but have a hard time finding them and this brand is everywhere. You might try them so far nothing has gotten stuck and they are not too big.

It was awhile before I started swallowing vitamins, but I would check with your NUT or
surgeon.  I had the same problem with the protein shakes....actually just the smell of the
powder would nauseate me.  You could also try refried beans with melted cheese on top, if
you like that sort of thing.  There is also a ricotta bake recipe that has good protein numbers.
Go to eggface's website or Nik's website.  I can't recall which one has it, but I lived on it.  PS...
I'm not a ricotta fan and substituted cottage cheese, instead.  It was wonderful.

The ASMBS says you can swallow vitamins as soon as you tolerate swallowing pills.  I was able to swallow pills about 12 hours after my surgery.

You can augment your protein intake by eating more foods high in protein or by finding a protein shake that you tolerate.

Hey girl, I'm 3wks out too if you recall.  I'm kind of in the same boat with some of my vitamins.  My multi is too sweet and I can not tolerate the iron or probiotic.  My calcium I LOVE...it's cinnamon!  I've been swallowing some pills since week one so I'm going to get an iron and probiotic.  As far as the shakes.....I'm right there with you.  Have you tried the ready to drink?  I keep them in the fridge and just drink 3-4oz at a time through out the day.  I find the strawberry goes down better. 

I'm five weeks out and started swallowing vitamins last week - I wasn't able to tolerate chewables either, and everything else is incomplete. I've been swallowing other things (BP meds, Tylenol) since the first day without a problem.

For protein, I hated every protein shake I tried, so I got some unflavored powder and mixed it with skim milk and then mixed that with sugar free / fat free pudding mix for protein pudding. It got me through the first couple of weeks on full liquids. You might see about adding fat free refried beans as well.

Melanie

The surgeon had me taking pills the day after surgery, but I am 3 months out and still take chewables. I could swallow pills but I hate it and it makes me gag so I don't.

At first I couldn't tolerate shakes either. I'd eat tuna, fish, chicken, turkey, veggie burgers. But protein is all I had room for, I got my 60g of protein in though.

I'm also 3 weeks post-op.  I'm eating refried beans with cheese, I've had blackeyed peas (canned) without any problems, cottage cheese (which I love), light string cheese, Greek yogurt (can be mixed with some splenda or stevia, finely chopped fruit).  I've had meat loaf, made with tomato sauce to make it really moist, and just started on high-protein bars.  I've found some that really taste good, and are 20 grams of protein.  I think they're really a little too high-calorie, but for now, they're really helping with the protein intake. 

I've been taking whole pills since about the 4th day after surgery, and vitamins since week 2.  The only chewables I've had are Bariatric Advantage Iron (hate the taste, tho!), and BA calcium citrate chewy bites (the caramel is wonderful, tastes like candy to me).  My multi is BA in the form of a capsule.  It's takes me awhile to get them all down, as right now, I can only take one at a time with a swig of water.  As long as I take it slowly, I've no problems at all.  However, I ran out of the chewy bite calcium, and since they're so pricey, I bought some HEB brand (our local grocery) cacium citrate, in the form of so-called "petite" pills.  Ha!  They're only fatter, but no smaller than any other pill, IMHO!  In order to get at least 1500 gr a day, I have to take 8 of those things!  That's a chore, and takes even more time, so I'm planning on going back to the chews when I run out of these things.

Beth 

I cannot handle the chewables either, so I have been swallowing mine all along. 

Swallow pills if your system can tolerate.

I ditched protein shakes at 3 weeks out.  Hated them, still don't do them.  I eat Pure Protein Bars from Wal-mart.  Just chew them VERY thoroughly and in small bites.  You can probably only eat 1/3 of a bar at a time.....Those have 1-2g of sugar and 19-20 g of protein each.

Good luck.

Leslie