Vitamins - Optisource

I am still Pre-Op, but I am doing my check list to make sure I have everything for after surgery. The vitamins that were recommended to me were the Optisource brand. I was also told that with the Optisource vitamins I would have to take Calcium Citrate, but I just seen on that Optisource has added Calcium Citrate to their formula. So my question is do I still need to take Calcium Citrate? Or will the Optisource be enough? I'm pretty clueless about this and just trying to get everything right. Thanks.

Well, with Optisource, you'd need to take eight a day.  I know the bottle says four a day but that only has about 1/2 of the nutrients the ASMBS says we need.  If you take four a day, that only gives you 1000 mg of calcium citrate, I think.  We need 1500 to 2000 mg.  But if you take eight a day like you'd need to anyway, you'd get enough calcium citrate.

You would also need to take B12 in a subingual, nasal spray or shots.

Also, you'd have to take those eight Optisource one at a time, at least two hours apart, in order to absorb the iron in them.  If you take two of them together, that amount of calcium would block the absorption of the iron. 

Darnit, Poet Kelly was faster and her answer was more complete! I was right about the calcium though, yay for dumb newbies *****ad!  

You're absolutely right.  Four of them a day would leave you short on calcium.  It would leave you short on some other things, too.

Is there a vitamin regimen you would recommend? Something better than Optisource?

I would recommend what the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery recommends.

A multi with 100% of the RDA of most nutrients.  Take two a day.  Stay away from kids' vitamins and gummy vitamins, because those will not have what you need.  Even though Flintstones says “complete” on the bottle, they really are not complete but are missing a number of important things.  The ASMBS  recommends a multi with iron.  If you take a multi with no iron, you’ll need additional iron at a separate time.  They say to start your multi as soon as you get home from the hospital.

1500-2000 mg calcium citrate.  Make sure it's citrate, not carbonate.  That means no Caltrate and no Viactiv.  They say you can wait up to one month to start your calcium – not that you should wait, just that you can.

54-63 mg iron for menstruating women (18-27 mg PLUS 18 mg twice a day in your multi, if you use a multi with iron).  36 mg a day for people that do not menstruate.  We absorb carbonyl iron better than ferrous sulfate.  Ferrous sulfate will also make you constipated.  They say to start your iron as soon as you get home from the hospital.

B12.  You can use a sublingual, 350-500 mcg per day, nasal spray once a week, or shots once a month.  Unless your labs show you need more.  They say you can wait up to three months to start your B12 – not that you should wait, just that you can.

They say a B complex is optional.

Many people also need D3 so you should get your vitamin D level to find out if you do.  Don’t bother with the prescription vitamin D, because it’s D2 and in oil so we will absorb very little of it.  Everyone needs D3 and post ops need “dry” D3, not in oil.

You are a font of vitamin knowledge - are the recommendations the same for VSG?  Or are these RNY specific?  

Those are the recommendations for RNY.  For VSG, they recommend one multi a day and 1500 mg calcium citrate.  They only recommend other stuff like iron, B12 and D3 if your labs show you need them.  The reason VSG folks need less vitamins than RNY folks is because with RNY, they bypass part of the small intestine where a lot of vitamins are absorbed.  With VSG, they recommend a multi and calcium because you can only eat a limited amount of food so you may not get all the vitamins you need from food, but you will absorb all the vitamins you consume.

If someone with VSG wanted to use Optisource, they would just need four a day like the bottle says but they'd need to take an additional 500 mg calcium citrate.

Thank you very much.  I really appreciate the time you take to educate people and the time you've spent on your own research.  

You're very welcome.