Calling All Vets, Got A Question About Iron & Multi Vitamin

Hey everyone, I got a quick question to ask everyone. I had RNY done 7 months ago and I been buying all my vitamin supplements through Bariatric Advantage and they seem kind of steep to me so I was thinking about switching to another company. And my question is what type/brand of multi vitamin are you taking? And also what type/brand of iron are you using. Right now I take chewable versions of both my iron and multi. I know the body doesnt absorb certain things. So i was just curious if there are certain multi's and iron vitamins i should stay away from. Thanks for your help!   ---Andy---

What are you doing to know about the results of your vitamins, Andy?  I just discovered I am low in Iron, not below normal, but low normal.  That is only important because I do ultra distance endurance events.  Ever since surgery, I have closely monitored what certain foods and supplements have done to me by using an online lab ordering service.  I think it is called labs direct, but there are several and I am not advocating any one of them.  Just wanted to let you know that if you don't do something to monitor the results of your experimentation, you are wasting your time.  So...  about every 6 months, I order a complete wellness panel which checks all my electrolytes, minerals, and vitamins.  If anything is out of whack I try over the counter stuff first before going to a doctor. Then I have another panel pulled 30-60 days later to see if I am affecting the reading of interest.  It's important to know what you are trying is working or not.

After a while most of us tend to go for a generic version of Centrum, because of cost. Last time I got the CVS brand when they were BOGO.

I use Perfect Iron, it's a carbonyl iron. Try to stay away from the ferrous salts, as they can be very constipating. You should also take vitamin C with your iron, as it helps absorption. There are many things that interfere with iron absorption, especially calcium, but also caffeine. I rake my iron and vitamin C at night, by themselves, to avoid that.

Gummies are crap. Children's vitamins are crap. Take any complete adult multi. Learn to read the labels to see if any are missing key vitamins and minerals.

I take a generic multi that says equal to Centrum. The iron that really helped me raise my level from low is Proferrin. It is a Heme iron. It is so much easier to take. No worry about being too close to calcium or other vitamins. I get my vit D from Vitalady it is a dry form. Also get vit K2 from vitalady. Most others are generic. hth

Thanks everybody for the advice. And to answer your question, I get my blood work checked every 3 months by my bariatric doctor. So far I have been good except this last time my calcium was a little low. And that was my fault because I kept forgetting to take all my doses the last month. I hate that i have to take it 3x's a day and they have to be 2 hours apart from each other and they also have to be 2 hours apart from when i take my iron. So for the last month i was forgetting to take my last dose of it at the end of the day. So my calcium dipped a little. They said it didn't drop enough for them to increase or change anything. They just said I need to make sure I get all my doses in. But i am definantly gonna try and get my multi and iron from CVS, as long as they work. They are always running BOGO sales on there vitamins.