CRUSHED VITAMINS!!!

Hey I am getting ready for surgery and I have my dissovable b12 it goes under my tounge, but I was wondering, if I was to crush my multivitamin, calcium citrate, vitamin d3's, and my iron until they are in a powder form and then put them in my Protien sdrink, will I still get my nutrients from them. If I could crush these pilss it would save me alot of money!! Can somebody help, or I would like to hear from somebody who did this and it did or did'nt work for them

I've never tried that but its a good idea. They will still be absorbed just as well. If anything it just sounds like a lot of work but if it saves money it could be worth it. I did try once cutting up a vitamin into smaller pieces but that was worse because the sharp edges made it hard to go down.

Thanks Jen, me and my hubby decided that he would put the crushed vitamins in small zip lock sandwhich baggies. He said that he will crush them for me the night before so that I can have my next day worth of vitamins. He would have to do this for the 1st 30 days post op, anything to save money! Now my b12 was pretty reasonable I got it from the GNC store! It was $8.99 for a 60 day supply, and it has 1000 units in it , and my NUT said that I only have to take it every other day, because I only need 500 a day! I buy my whey protien powder from walmart, it was only $14.85 for the big container! It taste great ! Well thanks for the advice, this is good to know

You can buy a pill crusher at most pharmacies and they aren't very expensive.  Like, less than $10, probably.  You just put the pill in it and then twist the top.

Sure, you can do that.  I'm not sure it would taste very good.  But you can do it if you want and you'll get all the vitamins out of them.

You can get chewable versions of some vitamins pretty cheap, though, if you want.  Chewable Centrum is cheap.  Upcal D is a powdered calcium citrate and it's not too costly.  Gotta order it online, though.

Thanks Kellie! I appreciate the advice!

In my opinion, the taste of crushed tablets of any form that were meant to be swallowed is AWFUL.  Even if mixed with protein shakes, yogurt, cottage cheese, apple sauce, etc.  I had to pour out my prozac and prilosec and also crush my allergy pill and OMG it was so awful!   I gagged, and I'm one of those who doesn't gag on ANYTHING.  I've never gagged on a protein shake of any flavor.

My advice is to buy about 7 days worth of chewables or liquids of as many items (vitamins, Rx, etc.) as you can.  After that, you can evaluate whether you can swallow pills whole.  The national bariatric guidelines say you can swallow whole pills as soon as you are comfortable doing so.  Some docs say we have to crush for a month or more, but it is so awful that I couldn't even do it for three days.

If you are not convinced, try grinding them up (use the store-bought pill crusher, they work great) and mixing with a protein drink.  If you can't tolerate it now, the odds are high that you won't be able to do it after surgery.

Thanks Ramie A. I was giving this some thought, and I think I am going to buy some chewable multivitamins, and chewable calciums! I need a liquid or chewable iron as well! Biriatric advantage was just way to high any suggestions?

I suggest you get the Bariatric Advantage vitamins even though they are somewhat more costly.  I think they are having free shipping right now, by the way.

You're only going to need one bottle of each because you'll be transitioning to regular pills within a month of surgery.  It's worth it because they taste much better than store brands and you are gonna want something that tastes good.

As an alternative, you could buy the generic or store brand of Centrum chewables.  They are fairly tasty.  I don't think there's ANY chewable calcium or iron on the market that is appropriate for RNY and you must get it from BA. 

Just think, after surgery you'll be eating so little, you'll probably still be saving money despite buying all these vitamins!  And you definitely want to invest in your HEALTH, right?

Good luck to you!