Bariatric Vitamins
I was wondering where everyone gets their vitamins from. While in our pre-surgery class this week we were told to make sure that we have our vitamins ready to go as well as other stuff. Anyway, we were told that Walgreens now carry them. Great, we have one of those in town. Well, we went today and were horrified at the $28 price for a one month supply times two of us, plus the other vitamins they are telling us to take. I didn't realize how expensive this was going to be. I'm just hoping that one of you has an insider tip on where to get them. Thanks for the help.
The only bariatric advantage vitamin I'm taking at the moment is Iron, and I'm sure there's a chewable and well absorbed supplement out there that isn't that brand. I have to take a multi-vitamin (I'm doing One-A-Day Women's Gummy Vitacraves right now). I also have to take B-12 sublinguals, which is something I picked up at my local vitamin store. I also take a Super B-Complex vitamin, which I picked up at my grocery store, a D3 pill, which I also picked up at my grocery store, Calcium wafers from Twin Lab, which I picked up at my local vitamin store, and the Bariatric Advantage iron chewables. It's a lot of vitamins, and even without taking most of them from Bariatric Advantage, it's still a bit costly... BUT, my grocery bill has gone waaaay down, so I'm still spending less. It was a worthwhile trade for me.
HW (395) - I lost some before starting my process. SW (375) Surgery Date (350) CW (307)
What about all the stuff missing from those Vitacraves? Aren't you also taking zinc, copper, selenium, magnesium, manganese, the other B vites? If you add all the stuff that's missing, which you really need, it would get super costly.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
I take Centrum Silver twice a day. They go on sale periodically at Rite Aide for buy 1 get 1 free or Costco has a 285 tablet bottle of them for $19.99. I usually get my Calcium at Costco as well, 500 tablets for about $9.00. I take 10,000 IU of "dry" Vitamin D a day which I order online. I don't take B12 or Iron as my surgeon says my labs are great on those.
on 9/19/14 2:29 am
The only bariatric multivitamin I take is from vita4life. I have tried vitamins from Bariatric Advantage, Centrum, Flintstones and even Celebrate. They either made me feel nauseous or hurt my stomach. I researched and found that vitamins from these companies contained one or more fillers in the form of soy or Microcrystalline/Ethyl/Hydroxy Propyl Cellulose that were the reasons for my symptoms. I switched to vita4life after my nut advised it.
Vita4life gastric multivitamins are free from these allergens and they actually do what they claim like capsules dissolving under two minutes. I hated the idea of taking chewables as its like three minutes of chewing and then swallowing. The vita4life capsules were an easy alternative.
I take centrum chewable (around $10 at walmart), a gummy b complex (less than $5 at walmart), a sublingual b12 (a few bucks at walmart) and a calcium chewable (I can't remember exactly what brand, but it was around $10 at walmart as well).
Also, if you go to Centrum's website, you may find coupons. (I found one for $2 off that I was able to print 2x)
Your insurance MAY cover your vitamins. It's worth checking into. I was given prescriptions for all my vitamins at my last appointment before surgery, but my insurance wouldn't cover them because they are not pill form.
Walmart doesn't carry any chewable calcium citrate. We can't absorb calcium carbonate or phosphate.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
I'm sure after a while you will find better deals on vitamins, but sometimes it will probably still seem like an overwhelming amount of money..... but I look at it this way, you're spending so much less money on food since you eat such smaller amounts !! So it will all even out in the end ;)
Maureen Tired of Living my Life in the Dark 
I take the Family Wellness multi from Family Dollar, which is equivalent to Centrum. $4 for a bottle of 100.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
