Question:
Liquid Vitamins vs Capsules
Just wondering if liquid vitamins would be a better idea after surgery. Also, any suggestions of which website has the bext offers, prices, etc? — Jessica Rhodes-Touchet (posted on August 31, 2011)
August 31, 2011
When I had my surgery, I couldn't take any form of a pills for at least 6
weeks, so I took a liquid vitamin, YUCK! Go to Bariatric Advantage and buy
their chewable, they are great!
I say do everything that makes your process easy for you, it is difficult
enough.
— FSUMom
August 31, 2011
I take liquid vitamins and LOVE them. I take ones made from Biometics
(www.biometics.com) and I mix them with Proti 15 Orange flavored Protein
mix in a water bottle and drink that while taking the other supplements I
take. It is yummy!! and I had no hair loss and the vitamins are GREAT
— tfqh99
August 31, 2011
If you want to save yourself alot of headache you will only really need one
multi chewable vitamin. My doctor told me about this product and my blood
work has been perfect including the d and b-12. both which I had difficulty
with maintaining before switching. You will only need two in the morning
and 2 in the evening. and they come in so many flavors. and for your dollar
you are getting great value. It is called "Bariatric Fusion". You
can order them on line as they are not available in stoors to the best of
my knowledge. They were developed for Gastric bypass patients by surgeons
in thaa field.I will put the link here but I don't know if it will be able
to be posted. And no I do not have any conection to this company other than
that of a patiend operated in Feb 2010. www.bariatricfusion.com/supplement
Hope that this helps you. By the way they also have meal replacements. I
found these great on the days that I have a cold or flu and can't seem to
get anything down. My doctors are very pleased with my weight loss 100plus
to date and no weight gain. I started at over 319LBS and now am 210LBS I
had a RNY for those that don't know me.
— OntarioSilk
September 1, 2011
Greetings. Why are you "just wondering?" Wasn't this very
important and singularly most critically important question addresssed by
your surgeon and other folks you saw prior to your surgery? The answer
depends upon the type of surgery you had. If your surgery was a lap band,
you have no restrictions on whether your medications should be in pill form
or liquid. If you had RNY, where 80% of your small intestines were removed
which makes you 50% malabsorptive for the REST OF YOUR ABSOLUTE LIFETIME,
then, all medications and supplements must be in liquid form for the rest
of your lifetime, and if not available in liquid form, then, they must be
ground up and pulverized. Unless Jesus intervenes and miraculously your
body regrows the 80% surgically removed small intestines of if Jesus simply
gives you new small intestines, you will always require your medications in
liquid or pulverized form. You will remain malabsorptive for the rest of
your lifetime. Unfortunately, the number of surgeons who perform bariatric
surgeries either do not get training in this most important subject, or
they refer you to primary care physicians, who most likely have not been
trained in this most important subject, or ..... Why is this a critical
question you've asked? One of the functions of the small intestines, is
the processing of food substances to benefit our bodies. We don't have, for
all intents and purposes, the small intestines anymore. This means that
pills pass right through the small pouch for those of us who have had RNY
surgery, and exit almost immediately to your large intestines and out your
body with you receiving no benefit at all. Being 50% malabsorptive for THE
REST OF YOUR ENTIRE LIFETIME, if you have had this restrictive surgery,
means you must get educated on what you must do for the rest of your
lifetime. Ask a question, by all means, at this site, but weigh the
answers you get by understanding the knowledge base of the folks who answer
you. And then, really do your own research. Why ever would you want to
waste valuable money on getting your medications or supplements in pill
form in order to have them pass right out your pouch and out your body
going into the toilet? And, why would you ever want to place any value on
making life-long decisions based on how some liquid medication tastes right
after surgery when everything tastes quite abnormal and yucky. My own
surgeon has absolutely no training and background in nutrition or the
life-long impact of anyone having RNY surgery. He's an excellent surgeon,
cuts well,and has a great bedside manner, but this knowledge is not in his
forte. Perhaps he simply likes doing this surgery because it pays well and
obesity and morbid obesity is rampant in the United States. Even my
primary care physician who referred me to this particular bariatric surgeon
7 years ago, and who I've valued as my primary care physician for almost 20
years, told me only 6 months ago that he never had had any training in what
the impact of malabsorption has on a person. So, there I was for the past
7 years willy-nilly taking medications and supplements in pill form,
doubling up on the dosage because of the malabsorption issue, but figuring
I was doing OK because the blood work tests which I get 3 times a year,
consistently check out OK. But consistently good blood work tests have
nothing to do with pain! I found out purely by accident how crippling was
my ignorance and the ignorance of my doctors for the proper care of me. I
always have really valued him as my primary care physician. I no longer
do, and I've replaced him with another physician with whom I think I stand
a chance of getting prudent treatment, and I've worked to really better
educate myself on what measures are necessary to ensure my medications and
supplements are at the proper level and liquid. You see, I have/had
osteoarthritis so crippling that I required a very strong narcotic
medication to control the pain because I had bone on bone while I waited to
have my total hip replacement surgery. Because this medication is a
narcotic, my primary care physician prescribed a very small dosage in pill
form and cautioned me to be so careful about taking this medication. I cut
those pills in halves and in 4ths, so that I could really stretch out my
meager 30-day supply of these pills. The 30-day supply was the best he
could do. The pain escalated! It was so heinous, that I remained in a
fetal position in my bed with 24/7 screaming pain for almost 1 solid year.
I had to quit my part-time job because of the pain. I needed/need that job
because without it, my income is such that it has been a real challenge to
keep the lights on and the water running in my home, and oh yeah, ensuring
I get the right quantiy of my protein powder, green vegetables, and fruits
for proper nutrition -- you know, food. If I had received the medication
in liquid form, and in the right medication level, I would have been able
to continue to work while I waited for my total hip replacement surgery,
and I wouldn't have had an absolute nightmare 1 1/2 years of hell. I still
cannot work because my body is slow at recovering so I'm still upside down
on my finances, but I do see the light at the end of the tunnel and the
opening to this tunnel is rapidly approaching. Because of the pain, I
couldn't drive. I couldn't get to his office 26 miles away. I had to get
a refill on this medication and went to another arm of the very large group
seeking to get a refill. I needed to have a hard copy of the original
prescription in order to get the refill. The prescription got lost in the
mail. I had to have another hard copy of the prescription mailed to me.
Remember? I couldn't drive because of the pain? The facility where I went
locally to get the medication also had doctors. I requested to see one of
these doctors in order to get a refill. This company's records are all on
the computer and fictitiously, you can go to any of their facilities and
your records are available. But, no doctor would see me. I think it was
because the need to take a narcotic is a challenging area for doctors
because lots of folks use this medication for nefarious reasons. But, I do
not really know the reason, I am only guessing. I'd stretched out these
pills as far as I could and waited and waited for the original hard copy of
the prescription to arrive. It didn't. I was totally out of the
medication and my pain level was beyond descriptionn of agony. Because of
the RNY, NSAIDS are also banned because these medications (aspirin,
Ibuprofen, etc.) are especially dangerous to our pouches, so I couldn't
take them for the pain. What about acetaminophin, i.e. Tylenol? I also
have Restless Leg Syndrome, which means my legs feel like they have worms
crawling in them and they jerk all night long. Through my research, I
found the way I could minimize this heinous issue, was to be sure I didn't
get any white bread, white rice, pasta, Acetaminophen (i.e. Tylenol),
allergy medications, and almost all types of over-the-counter medications.
So, there I was, no doctor would see me at the local facility. I couldn't
drive the 26 miles each way to get the hard copy of the prescription for
this narcotic. That left me with either taking Acetaminophen (Tylenol), or
Ibuprofen. I so clearly remember me standing in my bathroom with the
Tylenol bottle in my left hand, and the Ibuprofen bottle in my right hand.
I thought, "Well, I would rather run the risk of getting a bleeding
pouch and killing my liver, than I would want to have the worms crawling in
my legs and thrashing my bed!" So the Ibuprofen tablet became my
desperate choice for pain relief. I don't know why I thought to grind up
the Ibuprofen, but I pulverized it -- which turned out to be an incredible
blessing to me. I smashed the pill the best I could and put it in a glass
with some water. My bathroom floor is heated, so I put the glass on the
floor and waited while the heat from the floor permeated the water in this
glass liquifying the pulverized Ibuprofen tablet. Then, with great
trepidation about the possibility of causing my pouch to bleed, or to
seriously damage my liver, but in screaming pain, I drank this concoction.
15 minutes later, I WAS COMPLETELY OUT OF PAIN! I hadn't been out of pain
for 1 solid year! Yet, there I was, out of pain! I recognized it happened
through LIQUIFYING the Ibuprofen. Through my own horrific agony, I
accidentally found out the absolute necessity of having ALL MEDICATIONS and
SUPPLEMENTS in liquid form for the rest of my lifetime. Vitamins in
gell-type capsules are OK. Since then, as I've adjusted my medications to
accommodate the need to be in liquid form, I've found that some supplements
don't pulverize at all, they become everlasting sluggish concrete. No one
in their right mind would want to drink sluggish concrete. So, I've had to
make adjustments. Which is great! Because, now 7 years later, I know that
I know that I know that I know. Last, when I finally had my total hip
replacement surgery, I finally met not only doctors, but nurses and
surgical staff who are most cognizant about the proper medication needs for
those of us who have had RNY bariatric surgeries. A common reason they are
so knowledgeable is because the knee replacements and total hip replacement
surgeries occur more often in the more senior of us folks. I'm 74. We
come to them with our lives determined by the lives we've lived. I am most
grateful after 7 years since by RNY surgery, to finally learn by my own
actions, and facilitated by the knowlege of the folks who helped me with my
recent surgery. I was informed by them that what works for me is
THREE-TIMES THE NORMAL DOSAGE! 3-times the normal dosage? Yes!!! You
would think this dosage would make me "loonie-toons." Not so.
That narcotic only treats the pain level and doesn't have the bad
side-effects of drousiness, or other issues. 'Nuf said. I'm still
recovering. But, this is such an important issue, I plan to write out
critical information folks need to know who've had RNY and other bariatric
surgeries which make them 50% malabsorptive (on average). I will be
posting this information at my www.ObesityHelp.Com/group/BellevueWA site,
hopefully within the next several weeks. Yes, I am an Obesity Help trained
support group leader and Bariatric University trained support group coach.
My group is currently inactive, except by e-mail and telephone because I've
been recovering. But, my goal is to update serious information like this
subject at my site at OH. I also plan on getting my group up and going
again. So if folks in the Greater Seattle area are looking for a support
group which doesn't pull the punches but works to be the best we each can
be, drop me a note. But, my friend, please do do more than wonder. I pray
that what I've written above will help you and others get on the right path
on this critical subject. Blessings, Christine Gibson
— Christine Gibson
September 1, 2011
When I first had my surgery (RNY) I used chewable vitamins and pulverized
anything that I couldn't purchase in that format. Did this for the first
few months, or until my initial 90 day supply was gone. From then on I've
taken everything in pill/capsule form and have had no trouble whatsoever.
My blood work is fine and I feel great. Speak with the nutritionist and ask
for recommendations. There are some things you can't take together, such as
iron and calcium. Since my multi-vitamin contains iron, I take it in the
morning (along with nearly everything else, including the few prescriptions
I am still on) and I take my calcium in the evening. Every office has it's
own regimen, so checking with your health care team is the best thing you
can do.
— Elizabeth T.
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