Vitamins? What kind??? - Page 2 - ThinnerTimes - Gastric Bypass Forum, Lap Band Forum, and Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy Forum

poet_kelly · 09-18-2009, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justroni

I take Optisourse vitamins. I can buy them at the nutrition store that sells bariatric products, and they also sell them at Walgreen's drug store. I like them because they are chewable, and they have a great orange taste. I also use sub lingual B-12.

You're taking calcium as well, aren't you?

Kelly

justroni · 09-18-2009, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poet_kelly

You're taking calcium as well, aren't you?

Kelly

Yeah, I have to because my vit only has 1000 mg of calcium and it is not quite enough.
I was wondering if I should also be taking extra Vit D? A lady that I work with that has had gastric bypass keeps telling me I should also be taking Vit. D.

poet_kelly · 09-18-2009, 08:54 AM

Most doctors don't recommend extra vitamin D unless your lab work shows you're low. However, a lot of people do seem to end up low, so maybe it would be good to start taking it in the first place. I don't know. Mine was low when I had labs done at six months, so I started taking some, but it was still low when I had labs done again at nine months. But apparently the PA in my surgeon's office only told me to take a very low amount. When I told someone how much I was taking, they said no wonder there hadn't been any improvement. So now I'm taking more and hopefully it will do the trick.

If you do take vitamin D, make sure it's D3. We don't absorb D2 well at all. But does your calcium have vitamin D in it? Many calcium supplements do.

Kelly

poet_kelly · 09-18-2009, 08:58 AM

By the way, I just googled Optisource, and did you realize it has calcium carbonate, not calcium citrate? We don't absorb calcium carbonate well at all. So you need to be getting 1500 - 2000 mg of calcium citrate in addition to the calcium carbonate that's in your Optisource. I don't know why they would be calcium carbonate in a bariatric vitamin, but apparently they do for some reason.

Kelly

justroni · 09-18-2009, 09:36 AM

That is weird...Guess I need to up my calcium more. I will bring that up at my next support group. Thanks for letting me know.

sgtsbabygirl · 09-18-2009, 10:40 AM

My surgeon likes to prescribe them, so I dont have a brand yet. As long as they meet the criteria, I'll take them. I know that one of the girls ive met here who had the same surgeon uses the prescription multi he prescribes with the bariatric advantage calcium and gets the b-12 shots. im going to try to find out more monday night, when I go to the support group.

MiladyB · 09-18-2009, 11:01 AM

The other thing about Optisource is that it doesn't have the recommended amounts of many of the vitamins, besides the incorrect forms. The recommendation is 200% of the RDA so in order to get in the recommended amount you should be taking 4 Optisource a day. The other concern is that it is calcium carbonate where calcium citrate is the recommended form plus it has iron in it. The calcium in the vitamin will off set the absorption of the iron so you really can't count either one of those and will have to take additional calcium citrate and iron (Ferrous Fumerate or Carbonyl).

When you are looking at vitamins you have to make sure that you are not only getting the correct amounts but also the correct forms. I've compared a lot of different vitamins and have found that Celebrate, Bariatric Advantage and Building Blocks are far superior. Cost wise and taste? I prefer the Celebrate.

The forms you need to look for are the following:

Calcium: Calcium Citrate
Iron: Ferrous Fumerate or Carbonyl
Vitamin E: "d" not "dl"
Vitamin D: dry D3 not D2
Magnesium, Zinc: Citrate form
Vitamin A: Carotene

So when picking a multivitamin make sure you read the labels. Most of us decided on this surgery to be healthy, don't you owe it to yourself to do all you can to be healthy?

poet_kelly · 09-18-2009, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgtsbabygirl

My surgeon likes to prescribe them, so I dont have a brand yet. As long as they meet the criteria, I'll take them. I know that one of the girls ive met here who had the same surgeon uses the prescription multi he prescribes with the bariatric advantage calcium and gets the b-12 shots. im going to try to find out more monday night, when I go to the support group.

Find out the brand and see if you can get the nutrition info for the product. As long as you get the brand, I guess you can look up the info online. They may be fine, but you do need to be careful. You would think that if your surgeon were prescribing them, then they should be fine, but some surgeons make really bad vitamin recommendations.

I know there was someone on TT that was taking a prescription bariatric vitamin called ProBarium or something like that, but if I remember correctly, he (I think it was a he, but I swear I can't remember who it was) decided to switch to either Bariatric Advantage or Celebrate. If I remember correctly, and I could be confused, the ProBarium or whatever it was looked pretty good nutritionally, but maybe he switched because Celebrate or BA was cheaper? Oh, I don't know, I can't remember exactly.

Kelly

MiladyB · 09-18-2009, 11:57 AM

Here is an article I found awhile back that you all may find helpful. It talks about the recommended forms and amounts post bariatric surgery. The only issue I have with the article is that it recommends Ferrous Gluconate for the iron. I have found a lot of info stating that isn't the most absorbable form (though it is better than Ferrous Sulfate). From personal experience I find that the Ferrous Fumerate or the Carbonyl is far easier on my digestive track. I had a lot of constipation problems with the Gluconate but none with the Carbonyl.

I also have some additional charts that I can't upload that shows the recommended amount and forms of vitamins post wls. If anyone is interested I can email them to you. Just leave me a pm with your email address.

LaChica707 · 09-18-2009, 12:01 PM

wow Thanks Ladies! I haven't decided which one i'm gonna go with.. I'll probably try some of the free sample ones but I'm on a tight budget so we'll see.. whats the average cost per month do you spend on the vitamins.. if you don't mind I ask?