When did you start your vitamin Regimen?

Folks,

I am 6 days post-op and doing remarkably well...even suspiciously well. I'm able to keep my fluids down, haven't vomited once (knock on wood), and have been bumping up my protein intake day by day by adding a little bit more powder to whatever it is I'm drinking (not exceeding 20 g per sitting of course). I've even tolerated a splash of milk.

Two questions for you:

1. When did you start taking your vitamins? Did this cause discomfort or pain as you didn't yet have solid food to digest with the vitamins like acidity or gas? In the past, pre-op, if I took vitamins on an empty stomach or even with just some tea, I'd feel some discomfort.

2. 6 days out and no BM, I don't really feel pressure or typically constipated but I know it isn't good. Unfortunately I'm unable to taper down my pain medications as I'm still quite sore at the incision sites. I finished dose 2 of Miralax (17g in 4 oz of water X2 days) and no dice yet. I'm ready to reach for milk of magnesia, is this OK to do at this stage so early on? I've taken milk of magnesia many times before and never had an issue with it but I know I've been rerouted a bit, so I wouldn't want to do anything dangerous. Is this OK to do this early out after surgery? It seems like "waiting it out" is a dangerous game? Should I look for a stimulant laxative? Those seem more dangerous.

My surgeon has you start your vitamins right away. He starts folks on chewables or sublinguals for the first few months. But I couldn't do the chewable multis (Centrum in this unholy orange flavor) so I started swallowing mine by about week 3. Some folks surgeons are ok with them starting to swallow pills immediately. You don't have to worry about the stomach acids they get washed right through the pouch and into the intestines. I would start them as soon as you can. But that's me.

BM. It's not uncommon to not have a BM when you are on liquids. When you do it will probably be liquid. I take a dose of Miralax daily. You'll see a lot of the folks here have to do that to keep things moving. But it does initially take 3-4 days for Miralax to kick in and work. So I wouldn't panic. You should have a follow up with your surgeon soon, yea? Might want to talk about it then. If you are not uncomfortable I don't think I would worry too much.

Oh and vomiting. That's actually not supposed to happen. So that is really good news. As you get further along you will see that if you make it past about 30 minutes of eating solids, nothing will come up unless it is stuck in the pouch. After that 30 minute point your pouch is usually emptied.And the only time I had liquids come up was when I had used a little water to try to wash down a piece of pot roast that was stuck.

Edited to add: When some find themselves doing really really well recovery wise they are tempted to test the waters with some foods earlier than they should. Or eat things that we shouldn't have much of period regardless of where we are in our journey. My advice: You seem to be doing good so don't test the waters too early with foods.

Day 14 here and same as you, zero issues with nausea, vomiting, or even getting absolutely everything in. My surgeon has me on clear liquids and diluted protein which means I've been making my shakes with skim milk (12 oz skim milk to 1/2 ration of protein powder..the milk makes up for the protein deficit while thinning out the mixture) and no issues with that either. I have my 2 week followup tomorrow and at that time he will most likely tell me to start vitamins and advance to full-thickness protein shakes and yogurt without fruit pieces. For protein powder I've been using the Celebrate ENS which has vitamins in it, but since I don't want to drink a milk-y shake more than once a day (why pu****) I've been using Isopure Cocotein for my protein since it's already a watery consistency.

I also agree that the Centrum orange chewables taste like earwax.

I started my vitamins as soon as I was discharged from the hospital, as recommended by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.  They made me nauseous - but then, everything made me nauseous in the beginning.

At discharge!!

I chewed the gnarly chewables until I was cleared for solids at week 3; been swallowing all my pills ever since.

I pooped at day 4 and take 4 Colace Daily.  2 in the AM and 2 in the PM.

You don't really have much in your system to poop, so as long as you don't feel constipated don't worry!

I think I started my vitamins the day after I came home from the hospital so day 4.  I started with Wellesse for Calcium and chewables for my multivitamin.  I had no discomfort or pain from taking them.