daily vitamin check in

Got yours in today?

I still need one more calcium and then my iron and C before bed.

one more calcium, one more multi, iron before bed (it is hard to break the habit of both multi's at the same time!)

Eh, kind of a repeat of yesterday. I got my morning vits in.
Missed afternoon and dinner because I spent the day in the pool.
So I'm going to take my iron and probiotic and D right now. I'll take a second multi and calcium at bedtime.

So really, I'll only be missing one calcium again.

So Kelly, have you seen all the stuff lately on calcuim suppliments?  When I went to the surgeon for my 18month visit and they looked at my labs, they had me drop my noon calcuim.  I actually kept it and cut the morning and evening to one instead of 2 caps. Basically, the news is saying to stop taking supplimental calcuim, trying to get it from food because there seem to be heart issues related to the addtional suppliments.   I know we need it because of the malabsorption, just wish I really knew how much.

they also had me drop my D3 for 3 months.  Not sure I like that but I figure 3 months isn't going to kill me.

Yeah, I've seen it.  And it drives me nuts.  I think the study is flawed. 

First, they did not control for the type of calcium study subjects took.  There is a big difference between calcium citrate and calcium carbonate.  It is possible that one type of calcium would increase the risk for heart attacks but another would not, just like calcium carbonate increases the risk of kidney stones while calcium citrate actually decreases the risk of kidney stones.

As far as I can tell, they also didn't control for the health of the subjects.  I am wondering if people with health problems are more likely to take supplements than those without health problems.  It would make sense to me that people with health problems would be more likely to have heart attacks, so if the group taking supplements had poorer health in general, the results would be skewed.

One thought that occurred to me is that people that have been told they have osteoporosis may be more likely to take calcium supplements.  Vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteoporosis, and it can also cause heart disease.  I wonder if that might have been a factor.

Of course, the study also included "normal" people, not RNY patients.  Because we have little stomach acid in our pouch, we absorb very little calcium from our food.  It's fine for most people to get most of their calcium from food.  But that will not work for us.

I'm really cynical sometimes, but I also think the "medical establishment" likes to warn us about the risks of vitamin supplements because they are cheap, we can get them without a prescription, and docs and pharmaceutical companies don't benefit when we buy them.  They would prefer we stop taking calcium, get osteoporosis, and then buy an expensive medication which our doctor must prescribe.

What about your labs suggested to your doc that you should reduce your calcium?  And what was your D3 level?  If you've stopped taking D3 altogether for three months, it won't kill you, but your level will drop significantly.

I'm still kinda dumb when it comes to the vitamins.  All the paperwork that I have from the Dr says I need 2 mulit-vitamins a day, and it doesn't say anything else about it.  I can't seem to find anything about Iron, Vitmain C, Vitiamin B, or D.  What exactly should I have when I come home?  It did tell me to start taking them when I got home though.

That's scary.  He's setting people up for serious deficiencies.

The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery says you need two multis (adult multis, not kids' vitamins), 1500-2000 mg calcium citrate (not calcium carbonate), iron and B12.  They recommend 54-63 mg iron for menstruating women and 36 mg iron for others.  For B12, they recommend 350-500 mcg a day if you use a sublingual, or you can do weekly nasal spray or monthly shots.

Some people take vitamin C with their iron because it helps with absorption.  You need 200 mg C for every 30 mg iron.

Most people also need D3.  You need to get your vitamin D level checked to find out how much you need.

Thanks Kelly!  I am gonna jot this down, and go back through my booklet again.  I may have missed it.  Trust me, that is possible.  LOL 

My ALK was up, 144 (32-91) as was ATL 59 (1-40).  Caluim was 10 (8.9-10.3)  D3 was122 but that was back in Aug and I had reduced the dose from 1x daily to 3x week of 50,000u. 

this was before all the stuff about the study came out so I don't know if there is any link other than in my head.  I agree, it all drives me crazy too.

I'm not sure how those things indicate you're taking too much calcium.

122 is fine for vitamin D.  You really need it above 80 and if you cut it out totally for three months, it's gonna be below 80.