How do you remember to take your vitamins?
I have an iPhone and so I downloaded an app called "Dosecast" and after two weeks, I love it so far. I have it set up where it reminds me each time I have to take something. It has also helped me to organize when to take things so that I get the best absorbancy out of it. Before, I would just take whatever when I remembered it. Clearly, that wasn't a very good approach.
The app also keeps track of the doses you take, those you skip, and those that are taken early or late. You can email this information in a variety of formats (.CSV, plain document, etc.) so that you have a record. I've also learned that I absorb better when splitting doses, so, for example, my multivitamin is take 2 a day, so I take one in the morning and one in the evening. I keep some bottles at my desk at work, and some in my purse. I think I want to get a purse specifically for the vitamins, etc., that I carry around that's separate from my purse, but I just haven't gotten that far yet.
I had a lot of trouble with iron. I actually went out and found a multi-vitamin without iron. I take 2 of those per day; 2 calcium citrate (with added magnesium) - one morning, one night; one Vitamin D-3 (5,000 IU) in the morning; one Vitamin D-3 (1,000 IU) in the evening; 1 Folate in the evening, 1 Vitamin C in the evening (to help with trying to get any iron possible out of meat I might eat at night - and I avoid all dairy in the evenings, so the only calcium I get is from the second vitamin dose, which I time to be at least 2 hours from everything else). I had an iron infusion in 2011. I have low iron / low ferritin right now, but - my hematocrit and hemoglobin are great so I can't get another iron infusion. I have been researching, and might try heme iron. The challenge is trying to fit it in (if I can tolerate it). I take Levothyroxine in the morning so bedtime might be my only time to take it. I give myself a B-12 shot once a month.
I am nearly 7 years out from RNY (July 2007), and I got really lax with my vitamins. That was a huge mistake. I have had all sorts of symptoms and problems in the past year because of it, and it has been a long process to feel good again. I didn't realize how serious it really can be and but now that I know, I am determined to stay on top of it. The low iron is the last issue I have (I am physically fatigued all the time) and I couldn't imagine an exercise regime until I get this addressed.
