Hate the vitamin isle at the stores......

The vitamin thing is scaring me.....I get so confused!
Okay.........I have to have a Multi-vitamin (can I use Centrum Silver?)....I need Iron with Vitamin C (I cannot take this at the same time as the Calcium citrate; cause of the absorption issue)...then B12 (one's that melt on your tongue or something....are there different brands and what's used by others)then the Calcium Citrate (what does everyone use? Any special brand to use??)

I go to the vitamin isle and I want to pull my hair out.

IS this it, if no other issues with lab?

 Here.  I can help.

Centrum Silver is a great choice.  You need two a day.

You need calcium citrate three or four times a day (500 mg at a time).  You can take them with your multis.

Most iron supplements don't have enough vitamin C in them to help with absorption so you need to take extra vitamin C with the iron.  You need 200 mg C for ever 30 mg iron.

Do something like this:

Breakfast- multi, 500 mg calcium citrate, B12

Lunch- Calcium citrate

Dinner - multi, calcium citrate

Bedtime- iron, C

I use mostly generic calcium citrate that I swallow.  I also like Upcal D, which is a powder and I like the Calcet creamy bites.

Any brand of sublingual B12 is fine.

Thanks.....so do they make Iron with Vit C? Or do I need to buy them separately?

They do make iron with vitamin C but the only brand I know of that has enough C is Vitalady Tender Iron.  All the other brands I know of that have C do not have enough.

My .Dr. suggests, well not really suggest as much as requires Bariatric Fusion vitamins.  They have everything you need so you don't have to take anything else and they are chewable.  I tried one at my pre-op class and they actually taste good.  For RNY you take 4 a day so the bottle last a month.  Here's the website if you want to check it out.  My Dr.'s office has them there but if your's doesn't you can order them online!

http://www.bariatricfusion.com/supplement.php

They don't really have everything you need in four a day, not according to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.  They say we need 200% of the RDA of things, but four Bariatric Fusion only has 100%.  You'd need eight a day to get that.

Also, the ASMBS says we need calcium citrate, 1500-2000 mg a day, but Bariatric Fusion has a combination of citrate and carbonate.  We can't absorb the carbonate.  Four Bariatric Fusion won't give you enough calcium citrate.

We can't absorb the B12 in Bariatric Fusion because we lack intrinsic factor in our pouch.  That's why the ASMBS says we need a sublingual or injections.

Here are the ASMBS guidelines if you want to read them yourself.  You might even want to pass them on to your doctor:  nutrition.otago.ac.nz/__data/assets/file/0005/4784/Bariatric NutritionReading.pdf

I'm sorry to hear he recommends a vitamin that doesn't meet the ASMBS guidelines, but he can't really require you to take them if you would prefer to take vitamins that do meet the guidelines.

I didn't know all that.  They said that taking 4 a day was all I needed!  They don't really require it I guess but they did say the vitamins are non-negotiable and they way they presented it buying "regular" vitamins would be more expensive then these anyway.  I will look at that site and then bring it up at my next dr. visit!  Thanks!

Buying all the separate vitamins - a multi, calcium citrate, iron, B12 - would be more expensive than just buying Bariatric Fusion and taking four a day.  That's true.  But vitamin deficiencies can get expensive, too.  Like, if your iron gets low enough and you have to get iron infusions, the infusion itself would be pretty expensive plus it takes several hours so you'd have to miss work for the day.  Plus you'd feel really rotten if your iron was that low, but I don't know how you'd put a price on that.

Vitamins are pretty much non-negotiable.  You gotta take them, unless you want to get seriously ill.  I agree with your doc there.

It bothers me a little bit when doctors sell a particular brand of vitamin in their office, because they are making money off that vitamin.  Your surgeon isn't the only one that does it.  Some of them sell Bariatric Fusion, some Bariatric Advantage, some other stuff.  In a way, it's nice because it's convenient for patients to buy vitamins when they are there for appointments and it's cheaper than ordering them online and paying for shipping.  The part that bothers me is when doctors try to tell patients the brand they sell is the best.  There is no "best" vitamin for us, there are a whole bunch of brands that meet the ASMBS guidelines and are just fine.  And of course it bugs me even more when doctors sell a brand that does not meet the ASMBS guidelines because then I feel like they are misleading patients just to make a little extra money.

I understand your frustration, So many products and trying to figure them all out. I ended up with several kinds of calcium before I learned I had the wrong kind.

I think I am finally set on all my vitamin needs. A big thanks To Kelly for her input as without her help in that area I would have been pulling my hair out.