Vitamins

[Katie T.]

Ok...So I have a question. When buying Vitamin E it seems that everything is in a 400 IU. Can someone tell me what I should start out at. My doctors office is telling me to start with these vitamins.

Vit. A 10,000 IU
Vit. D 2,000 IU
Vit. E 22.5 IU
Vit. K 300 Micrograms.

I find the vitamin part of the DS a little confusing. I'm starting to understand the more I read but it's still so much to take in. My surgery is Oct. 18th and I'm just buying everything now so I'm ready to start but I'm getting confused. Thank you so much for the help

 

[southernlady]

Start by reading this post: http://bariatricfacts.org/threads/vitalady-links.11/
Your starting point is there. Once you start getting post op labs then adjust accordingly.

Oh and your doctors office won't be of any help.

 

[Clematis]

Please read the Vitalady protocol. I know it sounds crazy when we tell you not to listen to your doctor/nutritionist, but, uh, don't listen to them. Get what she says. Two-three weeks post-op gradually add them. Get COMPREHENSIVE labs after the first 3 months and adjust your vitamin intake up or down. Do labs again at 6 months and every 6 months for the rest of your life. At first it seems complicated but by 6 months out, you won't event think much about it.

If you can do Excel at all, keep a list of your vitamins with the ingredients in the multi broken out and with weekly totals. I then use this to fill my monthly pill cases and to show doctors. Keep a list of all your labs so you can scan along and see trends -- still in "normal" range, for example, but plummeting downward, so you can stop the descent before it becomes a problem.

First you have to have DRY versions of ADEK as we do not absorb fat so ergo do not absorb those vites in oil capsules. (The prescription uni-pill ADEK is packed in oil.)

Next you need individual vites. Just as you have to chuck out the uni-pack ink for your ink jet printer when it's only run out of black and red before cyan and yellow, the only supplement you should take with multiple ingredients is your multi-vitamin. (You WILL need more A and D than what is in a combo ADEK so don't bother with a combo pill.)

Don't buy a lot of iron as you may have trouble with one type of iron over another. By trouble I mean diarrhea, or constipation or just not absorbing (according to your labs). I get diarrhea from most iron except heme iron -- but it's expensive. Some people can't absorb ANY iron and need infusions.

EVERY ONE IS DIFFERENT AND MUST SUPPLEMENT ACCORDING TO THEIR PERSONAL LABS. So only as an example: In addition to 2 Centrum a day, I take Vitamin A 25,000 daily PLUS a second dose 3x a week; Vitamin D 50,000 3x a week; Vitamin E 400 daily; K1 1000 daily; K2 (MK7) 100 daily; Heme iron 32mg a day; Copper 2mg a day; Zinc 50mg daily PLUS a second dose 3x a week; magnesium citrate 200mg daily. I no longer supplement calcium citrate b/c of kidney stones but you will probably need that, too. I also take 3 Colace a day and a proton pump inhibitor.

Start at Vitalady list and work from there.

I'd wish you luck but it will all be fine!

 

[Clematis]

PS: You do not need to buy FROM her, just get what she says from other sources like Amazon.

 

[Katie T.]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate the responses. It's all so confusing but I think I'm getting the hang of it

 

[Spiky Bugger]

And, you will end up...I hope...using your own labs post-op.

So...for comparison purposes, I take 75 (seventy-five) times as much Vit D (150,000 iu) and I still need injections.

 

[Munchkin]

Welcome! Most of us don't have E problems. I still take 400 a day but I think it's habit more than anything else. Almost all of us have D problems and you need a LOT more than 2000 units. And whatever is in your calcium and multi is not enough to make up the difference. And you need iron!!!!

 

[Spiky Bugger]

Katie,

Also, shop carefully. I came here in the middle of an Amazon (I hate Amazon, for what it will eventually prove to be) supplements order. I need, among other things, Vitamin D3, 50,000 IUs. The range of prices is amazing, and several have ingredients I don't need. I prefer capsules to tablets.

Examples?
Zahler (they make kosher products)...15¢/capsule
Nivagen...18¢/capsule
BioTech...19¢/capsule
A brand called BioPhix...17¢-29¢/tablet (this doesn't, but some tablets have sugar alcohols...not good)
All the way up to Replesta...$4.05/capsule
And prices in between.

So, I can spend 45¢ per day ($164.25/year), or $12.15 per day ($4434.75/year), on that one supplement.

Sue