It mostly gets down to what your labs say that you need - what you are advised by your surgeon at surgery time is just a baseline, and often is based upon what bypass requirements are, as that is what most surgeons are most familiar with. The VSG is the most forgiving of the major WLS procedures, but you can still get into trouble if you ignore what you need. We don't typically need the B12 and lots of extra iron and calcium that a bypass person may need because of their malabsorption, but we may need some - it's a big YMMV thing. For a while I was on double dose of iron when recovering from an internal bleed, but am now only taking it a couple times a week, and probably don't even need that (we'll see on the next lab pull.) A bypass patient likely would have needed iron infusions to recover from that.

With a VSG, it's mostly down to your diet, and any individual quirks your body has, rather than the surgery itself; my wife needs to supplement potassium, not because of her WLS but because that is just how she is (and was before WLS.)

The first year or two, when we aren't eating all that much, and mostly protein for what we do eat, we need extra supplements to make up for what we are not eating. Over time with the VSG, we can, in principle, get along with getting all of our required nutrition from food, to a similar extent that a normal person can. This depends heavily on how good your diet is, and whether one can adjust their tastes and preferences to cater to your body's needs - we don't eat fish, (not gonna happen) so I do take a fish oil supplement to cover some of that. OTOH, I do eat a lot of fruits and veg (target is 10 servings per day which I rarely hit, but do consistently get 7-8) so along with the variety of meats and whole grains, it is questionable (between me and the doc) as to whether I really need the multivitamin (have cut it back to one every other day, will see what happens) but I like to keep something in there to cover the things that I may not be getting elsewhere, and aren't routinely measured in the labs - call it insurance.

Being a year out from surgery, it isn't unreasonable for you to start investigating this, but let your labs be your guide, along with your overall feeling of vitality. It's not something to just stop overnight, but to make adjustments as you get feedback on what you really need. Also be aware of how our requirements change as we age, so that is something to work out with your PCP on general age related recommendations, or with an RD if you have one through your program.

missing day or two now and then isn't a problem. But stopping them completely or missing too many days can cause deficiencies over time.

I don't plan on stop taking my vitamins, but curious to know what's the worse that can happen? I hate separating pills each week and trying to find deals on them. I find walgreens to be helpful with buy one get one half off or free plus I can use rewards. There's just days where I wish I didn't have so many medications to take = 12. I have to use the 4 slot 7 day a week pill holder to keep it all figured out.

It may depend on what insurance you have. A lot will count that as cosmetic, instead of health-related, which is completely stupid. I would fight it if I were you. My friend, who had the same problem had to fight for it to be done for her. After several medical reports sent, and other things, she was able to get it done, FINALLY! What I would do is find out, and speak to whomever you have to, to see what it takes for it to become a medical necessity, and what proof they require, then go about getting such documents/items. If worse comes to worse, and if you could afford it, I would search around different insurances, talk with them, and see if there are any that allow that surgery to be done, as well as the requirements, and if you have to wait so long for it to kick in, in order to get the procedure. No matter what, don't give up hope. Fight until you get what you want. It might be a tough fight, but it will feel soooooo good once you get that panis apron removed...Later, if you are able to afford it, then you can work on the cosmetic abdominoplasty if you want to change it, or they could only take so much off, per insurance regulations. You'll persevere, I have a feeling you got the fighting spirit to get it done. Good luck, and hope this helped some!

I don't know why My insurance will not pay for my excess skin that hang down to my knees it hard for me to walk.