Upcoming Surgery - Need Advice About Vitamins

I am ready to have my surgery on June 15th....couple of weeks away..........so excited but have some questions about my surgeon's recomended vitamin sheet he gave me the other day.

B12 - I was wondering if our own PCP would give us this shot once  a month??? Anybody out there take the shots??  Does your health insurance cover it??

Calcium Cirate - 1500-200 mg daily.  Any brand better than another that I can buy at Walmart's or a pharmcy??

Multi Vitamin - Daily???  Which brand is a good one...smaller pill or are they all huge??

Omega 3 - 3000 mg daily   Walmart Brand o.k. gel cap??

Vitamin D3- 5000 IU Daily  --  Can I get these at Walmart??

Biotin - 150 mg. daily (optional)  Any good brand you know about??

Any advice would be apprecated!!  Thanks!!

I keep things very simple where my vitamins are concerned.

B12 - I use the sublingual tablets so cant comment on the injections.

Calcium citrate - citrical petites work well, but be sure to take enough of them because the dosage in each tablet is smaller. I also like Bariatric Advantage chewable lozenges, which you do have to order or get at a surgeons office.

Multivitamins - my doctor recommended 2 Centrum chewable a day. These are readily available at any major store and I do watch for sales.

Biotin - again, watch for sales. This can be a bit harder to find on the shelf, but GNC carries it and I am sure the Vitamin Shop does as well. The biotin is co side red to be good for hair regrowth, but I have stayed on it because it has strengthened my nails really well.

The only other vitamin I have to take is a B1tablet daily.

A hint that works for me (from Pam T here) is to get the little vitamin boxes and prepare your vitamins for several weeks - I do a month at a time. I use the simple one compartment per day type, since most of my vitamins are taken in the morning. No juggling bottles every day this way!

I do the Centrum with Iron pills - twice a day.  I started on the centrum with iron chewables which were hard to chew and swallow - yuck!  However, they were easier than the bariatric advantage berry flavor for me.    I am   thankful that I can swallow pills now.  Some folks say they always could swallow pills - maybe I could have too but just thought I couldn't.  Pills are much better than chewables for me - I hated taking the vitamins every day when it was the chewable.  Now - no big deal.

I buy generic calcium citrate pills.  I started (and still use) the bariatric advantage chews - chocolate is my favorite and the Calcet creamy bites - lemon is my favorite.  I switch up - pills, chews, bites - the chews and bites are like candy for me.

I do the sublingual b complex drops - about every other day.

I wasn't told to take omega 3, vitamin d3 (but I think it's in my calcium) nor biotin.

Walgreens often does a buy one get one free sale on the calcium and the centrum.

Calcium - I use the Wellesse liquid calcium (1000 mg) with Vit D3 (1000 IU).  From what I understand, you can only absorb about 500 mg at a time, so you have to spread it out through the day.  It has a good flavor and is sort of an orange creamcicle flavor.  This is a calcium citrate and tricalcium phosphate.  Their website states that there is 80% cal. citrate and 20% tri. phos. so you may need to take a little extra to get the full 100% absorbable citrate.  This is at Wal-Mart for like $6 or so.  I bought this to tide over until my Bariatric Advantage chewable calcium arrived.  I wasn't too fond of the chewable calcium so will probably stick with the Wellesse after I finish the chewables and/or post-op.  Do not take your calcium and iron together as they cancel each other out.  Wait about two hours before taking one after the other.
D3 - I do not know if Walmart carries this in liquid form or not as I was not looking for it at the time I got my others.  I happened to see it at the Publix grocery store and bought it.  It is 5000 IU and mine has a citrus flavor. Most pharmacies probably carry it.
B Complex Sublingual liquid I got at Walmart.  This has various B vitamins.  B12 is 1200 mcg.  From what I understand, we cannot absorb B12 after RNY in our new pouch.  B12 is usually absorbed in the lower intestine and lower stomach.  You should get the liquid drops you put under your tongue or they have some little "dots" that are a tiny dissolvable "pill" that you place under your tongue.
Biotin - The Biotin that I have, I already had in my Vit collection so just finishing that pre-op.  Mine is 5000 mcg and is firm enough it could be cut smaller for post-op. 
Multi Vit - I started out buying a liquid multi and it was HORRID.  Never tried any others.  I went and bought the Centrum Silver Chewables.  They are ok and can be cut if needed.  Once you can swallow pills you could get any multi and cut in half with a pill cutter.  I got mine iron free and take my iron seperately.
Iron - I did not see iron on your list.  I am currently taking 18 mg iron a day.  I have been told that carbonyl iron is the best for us post-op, but have not looked to find that yet.
L-Lysine - I also take L-lysine 500 mg

Some of your vitamins you can also find at Dollar General a lot cheaper than you can at Walmart.

Thank you all so much for your advice.  You know I didn't see iron on my surgeon's vitamin sheet.  I will definately ask this week about it.  I also see the nutritionist this Wednesday, so I have some questions for her about protein shakes...I see on my surgeon's list 60 GM Minimum of protein per day.  Trying different shakes right now..........I do lik Atkins...but there is only 15g. protein, low sugar which is good.  Today I bought a protein shake that has 23 g. protein..........so I will try this one.  So many things to think about...........but it is so worth it.

Again thanks for your input!!  -Holly

If you can find Premier Nutrition shakes (I get mine at Sam's Club, have heard Costco carries them) they are 30g prot, 3g fat, 1g sugar.  They are my top fav. as they are no****ery, not proteiny tasting or chalky.  Today I also bought the Premier Nutrition bars and surpisingly, those too are 30g protein.  They are good, but do have 8-10g sugar.  BUT cut in half, 15g prot and 4-5g sugar is the same as some of the other brands of protein shakes.  There are three flavors to a case (Choc Peanut Butter, Double Choc Crunch, Yogurt Peanut Crunch)and they don't taste like cardboard.  I am trying them pre-op just to see if I will want to try them post-op once I am able to get to that phase to eat them again. 

 Hey Holly, I am getting done the day after you!  

I have been taking pre-op vitamins to get in the habit.  I got most of my vitamins buy one, get one free at Walgreens.  This includes Biotin, D3, DHEA, Sublingual B-12 and a Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc compound.  I got the pre-op multivitamin from Bariatric Advantage.

I asked for and recieved many sample packs from the companies that cater to bariatric patients.  They all left something to be desired except Bariatric Advantage, so I decided that I would at least do my first 3 months of supplements from them.  Adding it all up--multivitamin, iron, calcium--will be about $100 for 3 months.  I will get a prescription from my surgeon for the B-12 injections.  I've been giving myself Enbrel injections for 11 years, no biggie.  If the B-12 isn't covered by your insurance it shouldn't cost much for a vial.

The omega 3 is the only thing I haven't decided on.  My doc recommends Coromega liquid that comes in single serving packets.  I've got samples on the way from Vitacost.com.  

You still have time to cruise the bariatric vitamin websites and ask for samples, especially since you won't be taking them right away.  There are alternatives at your local stores--I would print out the ingredients & amounts of a bariatric vitamin and get as close as you can to that.

Hi Tammy,
Thanks for the advice.  We are a day apart!!  Cool!!  I will add you to my friends list........that way we can ask each other questions!!
-Holly

Yuck you have alot more vits than i had ahahha....

Flintstones, 2 a day, chew em up they are great..... ive been taking them from the getgo, sounds crazy but my surgeon told me to!

bioten -  you should get the hair nail and skin vits from walleyworld, they have bioten and a couple other things you need to keep your hairs, hahahah!

b12 - you can get a monthly shot, i still do 2 years out and my insurance covers it, dont know about yours, but if it covers surgery most likely youll be in the green!

calcium -  they make some really tiny ones, but the chewable one's are the best for you right out of the gate, so you can get them from a vit store in chewable, im surprised most vit stores dont have an isle for us by now, hahhaha

All the rest i never had to take, alot of it was included in my multi or my shakes, i think

hope that gives you some ideas