Three Month Check Up- Vitamins Galore!

I had my three month check up today and everything went well.  I have lost 33% of the projected first year weight loss goal to consider my surgery a success (based on a goal of 60% improvement in BMI).  The nurse was very open and kept asking me for my "honest opinion" on things.  Those who know me know not to ask that if they don't really mean it. 

So I told her my concerns about their recommendations on Flinstones Vitamins and their lack of necessary things like selenium and zinc.  She totally agreed with me on that one but said they have had an internal "battle" for awhile now because the surgeons and nutritionists think that a lot of people will be scared away from taking their vitamins if they have to take more expensive ones.  I told her that I got mine at Trader Joes and they actually worked out to be cheaper than Flinstones.  She had never heard this and was planning to take that information to a team meeting they were having later that day.  I also mentioned that I thought I had seen a list comparing other chewable vitamins with the Flinstones that broke it down by cost per day.  I volunteered to send it to her if I could find it, but of course I can't.  If anyone has seen something like this, please let me know!

I also had a conversation with her on vitamin D.  She was very alarmed that I'm taking 50,000 IU Vitamin D each day and said that she could give me a prescription for a lower dose that would be higher than the over the counter one.  When I told her that the prescription D was the wrong kind she said they prescribe it all the time and haven't had a problem.  So I guess I also need to find the ABS guidelines for that, too :)  

She was very impressed with my knowledge of vitamins so a shout goes out to Kelly, Lora and the other VitaEducators on OH!  She didn't, however, draw my labs.  She said that they wait until the sixth month follow up appointment with the dietician before doing labs because they have found most people aren't deficient within the first three months.  Because I'm doing well supplementing my multi vitamin with D and Iron, I'm not super worried about this but am wondering if I should be.  Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

 I feel the EXACT same way. My Dr told me 2 flintstones complete a day and read on here that there not good for us. I take 2 caltrate chews a day, also read on here that we dont absorb them so its like we arent taking any calcium. I was given 1 green liquigel of 50000iu of vitamin D per week. I read on here that we do not absorb liquigels very well. I was NOT given any other vitamin regimen but I did put myself on B12 sublingual since it wouldnt do me any harm. I was also given a script for Urso to help prevent gallstones and I have read on here and know many post ops who were not given that.  I guess my thinking is that Im not going to mess with my meds/vitamins until I go for my bloodwork and see what my vitamin levels are. If I am lacking in anything the Dr will change it then. I will be bringing my concerns forward with what I learned. You know every Dr has a different philosophy on what an RNY needs. I would really like to believe that with all the surgeries our Dr's do a day that they would have found things that did/didn't work with their patients. 

So you're thinking that you'll take the Flintstones and the calcium carbonate and D2 until you go for your blood work and see how deficient you are and then try to get those problems fixed?    Well, I guess that's one way to go about it.

Personally, I would start taking the things I would be most likely to absorb and see how well they were working when I got labs done.

One reason surgeons don't find out what things don't work for their patients is that in many cases, they don't do long term follow up.  Many patients see their surgeon for a year or so, then start having their PCP order their labs.  But another issue is that surgeons don't always order all the labs they should.  You doc says Flintstones is a good vitamin for you.  That either means he doesn't believe you need selenium, even though the ASMBS says you do, or he hasn't read the label to know what's in those Flintstones he's prescribing.  And how much you wanna bet that he does not normally test patients' selenium levels?  So he would have no way of knowing if his recommended Fred and Barney vites were working well or not.

Yes, there are a lot of PCP docs out there who fail to understand the benefits of a dry D3 over those script D softgels.  I had D issues as an early post op, 8 on my initial labs. 6 months of those script D, one per week, and my D levels "skyrocketed" to a 14. Normal starts at 30. After 5 weeks on a liquid vitamin with only 600 IU dry D3 pe daily dose, my D levels got to a 33, low normal.  I then went onto taking 4 of the 50K IU dry D3 from vitalady for over 2 years.  My labs one year ago were now up to 65, giving further credence to how beneficial the dry D3 is to post ops.  In an effort to get to the "target range" of 80-90, I now take a 50K IU dry D3 daily now.  As a new post op, I doubt I'd recommend taking one daily to new post ops, but each post op's body has varying needs for D3.  Get labs done and adjust accordingly.  But I'd begin taking 3 or 4 per week now, so you don't have to play "catch up" on getting your D labs up to where they should ideally be. DAVE