Poll for those that don't take vitamins regularly

I forget to take my vitamins at least once a week. I never take calcium but that's going to change, because I ordered a different kind that will hopefully not taste so gross. I don't really like the taste of my vitamins, I know I need them so I try to take them daily but I don't enjoy them at all.

Calcium is the most difficult. Everything else is pretty easy to take. I have to take calcium 4x a day and away from the gobs of iron I take and away from my 3x a day multi but WITH the magnesium and D3. Some days I feel like I live to take pills. But while I have times when I miss some dosages, I don't know I'd say I don't take them regularly. The easiest to take is the sublingual B12. I never miss that.

I am barely over 1 year out and my vitamins consist of these.. (with labs every 3 months and now once a year)  I use Opti Source chewables for Bariatric patients from Walgreens...2 in the a.m. and 2 in the p.m.... (they taste like orange sweettarts) I also take a Super B complex once a day....that is all the labs show I need right now....I love my vitamins...and I am pretty good about taking them...I have a reminder go off on my phone every morning at 10 a.m. or I have to admit I would forget the a.m. ones!!! 

Oooohhhhh! You need calcium citrate! By the time your labs show you need it the damage is done. Your body will pull what calcium it needs from your bones.

 i'm on and off with them. i'll get them all in for a few weeks and then i go away, or don't fill up my pill container, or just miss a day and it completely throws me off and i miss a week or two

I do very well with my first dose of a.m. vitamins, the rest of the day i**** and miss.  My biggest concern is calcium.  I never had problems taking them before but in the last 6 months or so within minutes of taking calcium my pouch hurts (even with food).  I changed from Citrical to Vitalady's Calcium and it worked well for severals weeks then bam they hurt my pouch too.  Can't figure out why all of a sudden I'm having problems with it.

I am good 98-99% of the time.

The key for me is to always have them handy.

I use a large pill container system for the most part and also keep some extra multi's and calcium in my purse "just in case".

It was super hard at first, but has become a habit now.

Also, I switched to heme iron (Proferrin ES from Colorado Biolabs) in order to not have to deal with spacing out my calcium citrate correctly.

It is more expensive to do it this way... but I was really messing up befor going this route.

KELLY- Am I correct to believe that heme iron does not interfere with the calcium citrate absorbtion??

 

I'm 4 years out and am still pretty good about my vitamins....I have to set a timer on my phone or I would forget. For some reason I'm much worse about it on my day's off of work.....I guess that I'm just being rebellious and don't want to HAVE to do anything on those days....

I'm pre-op, but already having a little bit of a hard time because I take synthroid and protonix twice daily, another 2 meds that shouldn't overlap. It's perfectly doable, I just have to pay attention.. I'm hoping that post-surgery I won't need protonix anymore though I'll probably take it or prilosec at least at first, that seems to be common from what I've read on here. My nutritionist had me add calcium and I'm taking it at night right now so it won't overlap with other stuff. I usually take my multi with dinner, post surgery I'll take it with both lunch and dinner. I have to take it with food to avoid nausea (with food it's absolutely fine). I'm going to have to stay on top of it to get everything in. I may end up using one of those big medication planners as well as a pill case for my purse.

Adding iron and the additional calcium doses will be annoying. Even though they are expensive I think I'm going to buy some of the Celebrate ENS packs for right after surgery. If I still really like them (given taste buds changing etc) I may buy a tub. I bought their sample pack and just ran out of chewables, I think I'm going to order some of their iron and calcium for now. Btw for anyone looking to try their products, they give you a slew of stuff for that $3!

I also take glucosamine with my dinner, but I'll prolly have to skip or cru**** for awhile post-surgery because it is HUGE. I picked up sublingual b12 at costco last month and after talking to my nutritionist just take that every few days because it's a high dose.

Glad to know that Costco has it now!