Pills!

So, Ok. I know the post op life is a vitamin filled life. I need to buy them all now, to make sure everything is here for my return from the hospital. My questions are... what do I need? Any links will be helpful. I know I need a good multi vitamin... will I need a pill crusher? I want this EASY! Thanks, Amy

no pill crusheer ewww that will taste bad. I did okay with chewable multis and calcum

where did you find them?

hello congrats you will greatly appreciate how your life is going to change I'm from leesburg FL my doctor wrote me a script for pre-care its a prenatle vitamin and they carry them chewable but you only get them as a prescription but there great and you get a burst of energy and your GYN can also give them to you also b-12 sublingual I take 3 times week you will be doing blood work later on again after surgery stay on tract with your meds and calciumcitrate +D , and thats the major things every thing like fish oil and other vitamins is just extra .

You will get a MULTITUDE of answers on that one..from Herbalife to whatever!! And it can make you go crazy - personally my doc said - he didn't care what multi-vitamin I took but that I needed to take B150 (which I believe is the strongest of the B-complex vitamins). I did chewable Centrium and then switched to chewable children's (Flintstones). Then I take the B150 and for calcium I take a generic Caltrate (chewable) as well even though I'm 16 months out. Those early days you want everything chewable. Though I don't think iron pills come like that. I tried a pill cutter which cut it in half....but then I had to hard swallow twice.....ouch.....not fun! Vitamins can be found - ANYWHERE! From Walmart, Walgreens, CVS to the Vitamin Shoppe, GNC....have fun choosing and good for you to start early!

What about Biotonin, I'm terrified of my hair falling out!

I have some suggestions on my profile Amy. Your tastes may change post op, at first I could tolerate the chewables, then I couldn't stand them. Then I went to liquid, and now to vista vitamins with b supplements. Yes, stick to a good vitamin. Flinstones is not good enough, not for the long haul. I do like the vista vitamins from bariatriceating.com. But its a trial and error thing. hope this helps! hugs, Tami

Generally each surgeon has their own vitamin regime, call your surgeons office and find out what HE wants you to take. I am a pre-op so my opinion may not count for much, but I would not start out taking anything that is not on your surgeon's list. If you start having trouble with feeling sick to your stomach or bowel issues -- you don't want to have started a whole lot of new things that you could be reacting to. Keep it simple at first. Then as you heal and start adding things to your diet you can start adding the other things -- like vitamins for hair and such, when your surgeon says it is ok. Your surgeon is the one you should be listening to on all of this. Red

I was told not to worry about vitamins in the beginning, didn't get a list til I was a few weeks out. For multivitamin, I first did the chewable bariatric vitamins from Walgreens...expensive, then I did liquid, yuck!, then I cut the multivitamins, ouch pain, then I did viactiv, I liked them too much....now I do Centrum Chewables, I like these. Now on to calcium, chewables were ok, I switched to viactiv then switched to a regular citrate non-chewable. B-12...I was told by my doctor to do B150 also, I choose not to do that. I did B150 for awhile, then went to sublingual, then gave myself shots, then back to sublingual, now I am doing my own shots again. I like doing the shots because it is only once every 3-4 weeks and it is soooo cheap, I pay $12.00 for the b-12 that lasts me 18 months and I paid $.10 per needle, so $14.80 per 18 months. Tracey

I take Optisource, Specially formulated for use after bariatric surgery, chewable vitamin & mineral supplement, 4 a day...120 in a bottle. I get them from Walgreens. I keep one at work and one at home. It has everything we need and no fuss. Betty