Suppliments

I'm just trying to learn right now, but I was wondering what sort of supliments everyone takes?  I know you need to take quite a few things after the surgery since your body can't absorb what it needs, but I was curious how many things, how many pills?  How did you get them down right after surgery?

I take A LOT of pills right now (12 different meds, one of them I have to take 5 capsules a day).  Most are for depression and some sort of sleep disorder (I have sleep apnea and I use my bipap everynight, but never feel rested at all).  I'm hoping as I lose weight, maybe I won't need as many??

Just worried about how many pills I might be taking and how you go about doing that with just a small pouch?  I would taking pills all day long if I go one at a time.

I know I need to talk to my psychiatrist about if I can even stop some of these meds post-op.  I'm afraid to, because I know some people get hit with depression after a surgery (I did when I donated a kidney), so not sure he will want to mess with them at all.

Uggg....just looking for advice/info/whatever! 

Thanks!!!

Shelly

Others have said they will have you bring your pap machine with you to the hospital but you won't use it after the surgery.

Your surgeon should have a list of vitamins and supplements you are supposed to take.

What I am currently taking:
Bariatric Advantage Multi Vitamin for RNY (chewable)
B.A. Calcium Citrate, Cinnamon Yum! (dissolvable lozenge)
B.A. Chewable Iron (chewable)
Wonder Laboratories Methyl Cobalamin 5000MCG B-12 (sublingual) once every few days
Vitamin Shoppe's Vitamin D3 10,000IU/day (liquid drops)
Biotin 1000MCG (sublingual)
My prescription meds

You will need to take them throughout the day and it will become second nature. Just get a medi-set that allows 5-6 dosages/day. I try to keep a baggy in my pocketbook with all my meds for a day incase I am running errands and forget to take something.

Here's what the ASMBS says you should start with:

A multi with 100% of the RDA of most nutrients.  Take two a day.  Stay away from kids' vitamins and gummy vitamins, because those will not have what you need.  Even though Flintstones says “complete" on the bottle, they really are not complete.  They recommend a multi with iron.  If you take a multi with no iron, you’ll need additional iron at a separate time.  They say to start your multi as soon as you get home from the hospital.

1500-2000 mg calcium citrate.  Make sure it's citrate, not carbonate.  That means no Caltrate and no Viactiv.  They say you can wait up to one month to start your calcium – not that you should wait, just that you can.

18-27 mg iron for menstruating women, unless your labs show you need more.  (If you’re using a multi with no iron, that would mean you’d need at least 50 mg iron.)  We absorb carbonyl iron best.  Ferrous sulfate will also make you constipated.  They say to start your iron as soon as you get home from the hospital.

B12.  You can use a sublingual, 350-500 mcg per day, a patch once a week, nasal spray once a week, or shots once a month.  Unless your labs show you need more.  They say you can wait up to three months to start your B12 – not that you should wait, just that you can.

They say a B complex is optional.

Many people also need D3 so you should get your vitamin D level to find out if you do.  Don’t take the prescription vitamin D, because it’s D2 and in oil so we will absorb very little of it.

In addition to those things, I take vitamin A and zinc because my labs show I'm a bit low on those things.

I'm also on some meds for depression - that's five more pills a day.  I also take domperidone for gastroparesis and that's two more pills.