Vitamins & Numbers
Hey stranger!
It varies, a lot. Some things like B12 or D3 can change pretty quickly if you take large enough doses. Having lab tests a month apart can show a significant change.
Most of the things in multis change more slowly. You can take nothing at all for a month and lab tests may not show any change. It might take a couple of years to show a definitive decrease from substandard vitamins. But however long it takes for them to drop, it can take even longer for them to go up, thanks to malabsorption.
Make sure your multis add up to 200 percent of the RDA for all the vitamins and minerals. Make sure things like selenium and copper are in there -- they're missing in many brands.
You are getting three separate doses of calcium citrate a day, right? And a DEXA bone scan every other year to monitor bone health?
6'3" tall, male.
Highest weight was 475. RNY on 08/21/12. Current weight: 198.
M1 -24; M2 -21; M3 -19; M4 -21; M5 -13; M6 -21; M7 -10; M8 -16; M9 -10; M10 -8; M11 -6; M12 -5.
Having your full set of labs done every 6 months seems to be sufficient, especially if you're tracking your trends over time. There's a great worksheet that you can copy to track everything:
I'd suggest checking your vitamins against the ASMBS requirements to make sure 2 per day will be sufficient. I put together a list of requirements here:
