DS Vitamin Regimen - Please Advise

[Stefanie S.]

Surgery in February and I'm getting all of my vitamins lined out. May I ask what your regimen is? My plan so far:

8:00 am: Optisource Vitamin & Mineral Supplement, Citrus, Chewable Tablets (4 tablets): Total Tablets Contain:

Vit A, 7500 IU
Vit D, 800 IU
Vit E, 60 IU
Vit K, 160 mcg
Folic Acid, 800 mcg
Zinc, 30mg
Iron, 36 mg​

8:00 am: B12, Sublingual, 1000 mcg
10:00 am: Celebrate 500 mg Calcium Citrate, Chewable, also contains 333 IU Vit D
2:00 pm: Celebrate 500 mg Calcium Citrate, Chewable, also contains 333 IU Vit D
6:00 pm: Celebrate 500 mg Calcium Citrate, Chewable, also contains 333 IU Vit D
10:00 pm: Celebrate 500 mg Calcium Citrate, Chewable, also contains 333 IU Vit D

I also bought a chewable Vitamin D pill with Vitamin K.... but each pill is 5000 IU.... I just read on another post that 50,000 to 100,000 is recommended! So I need to find something different. I also haven't come across (yet) any recommended dosage for A, E, or K. I am open to all suggestions that you have... brands, spacing of vitamins, ways to not have to take pills 5 times a day... anything that you've learned regarding vitamin intake.

Thank you for your time!
Stefanie

 

[southernlady]

Stefanie, most of the common brands we use are found here: http://bariatricfacts.org/pages/store/
I have two sizes of D listed as not all members are DSers. VSG doesn't malabsorb like the DS, RNY, or SADI et al

 

[Munchkin]

Go vitalady.com and LOOK at her DS list. Gives you a starting point. I am not saying you have to buy from her but her list is good. Celebrate Bariatric supplements are expensive and a waste of money for us. I buy most of mine through Amazon on this site and Puritan.

You can drive yourself crazy with all the what goes with what issues but the most important thing is just take the pills. Consistently. I take mine twice a day, morning and evening. As long as I take them, I don't worry about it. There are a few people who need to be more diligent but most of us can get by just fine with a similar regimen.

 

[Stefanie S.]

Go vitalady.com and LOOK at her DS list. Gives you a starting point. I am not saying you have to buy from her but her list is good. Celebrate Bariatric supplements are expensive and a waste of money for us. I buy most of mine through Amazon on this site and Puritan.

You can drive yourself crazy with all the what goes with what issues but the most important thing is just take the pills. Consistently. I take mine twice a day, morning and evening. As long as I take them, I don't worry about it. There are a few people who need to be more diligent but most of us can get by just fine with a similar regimen.

Thank you! One question though... my info from nutritionist says to space out calcium 4 hours apart (500-600mg at a time.) How do you get around that? Ohhhh... and to NOT take them at the same time as iron.

 

[Munchkin]

Thank you! One question though... my info from nutritionist says to space out calcium 4 hours apart (500-600mg at a time.) How do you get around that? Ohhhh... and to NOT take them at the same time as iron.

I don't. I just take the pills. And for 14 years, just taking the pills has worked great for me. I KNOW me very well and if I started making the supplement thing difficult, that would be my excuse to NOT take the pills! If I had issues, I would have to make changes. Find alternatives I can live with. But so far, so good. And I have never had problems at all!

Just for example, look at it from a normie's point of view. They don't stop to think they can't drink milk and eat spinach at the same time. They just do what they do. Over time it all evens out. I think we(most of us) are the same. We take a lot more of everything because of our malabsorbtion but over time, it all evens out.

 

[Clematis]

I take NOTHING with multi ingredients for the same reason I got rid of ink jet printers with one multi-color ink cartridge and then had to toss out a perfectly good cartridge when I ran out of red. The first time you get your labs drawn at 3 months, you will have to adjust your vites. (It's not what you consume but what you ABSORB.) So what happens if you need less A and more D? Just get DRY (not in oil) individual vitamins. Skip all this multi-ingredient stuff. And forget about bariatric vites. You do not need chewables. Don't bother with the transdermal patches -- they don;t work. (I found it impossible in the beginning to swallow giant calcium pills as my baby sleeve was very tender and used a pill crusher and mixed in yogurt. Now I swallow 3 at a time along with a couple of smaller pills.)

And in addition to sugar, your Optisource Vitamin & Mineral Supplement has soybean oil in it -- we don't absorb 60% of oil soooo you're losing some vitamins right there.

Start with Vitalady's protocol. I've attached it for you. After that, let your lab results guide your regimen.

Oh, I take vites twice a day like Munchkin. (Three times if you count Nexium. I take my PPI when I first wake and then eat nothing and take no vites for an hour.) I did switch to Proferrin iron (expensive at $50 a month) because it says you can take it with calcium and I just couldn't tolerate having to think about if I was taking iron an hour before or three hours after yada yada. So a fistful of vites an hour after the PPI and another fistful sometime after dinner but before 9 so everything moves along before I lay down for bed. (Damn reflux. Had it before DS.)

1. Vitalady's protocol
2. Buy individual vites in DRY form
3. Take them twice a day
4. Adjust dosages based on twice a year lab work

Don;t overthink all this. It will drive you crazy.

(EDITED AS I UPLOADED THE WRONG FILE. "PROGRAMDRNY_ERNY_BPDDS" IS CORRECT)

 

[harrietvane]

I'm also in the 'take stuff twice a day' camp, because that's achievable. Micro managing the timings isn't, and doing something kinda right is better than doing nothing.

 

[southernlady]

My vitamins are twice a day but I take thyroid meds during the middle of the night and take a sleep aid and ibuprofen after bedtime snack.

 

[DSRIGGS]

Yes you should take calcium separate from other vitamins, buy at least an hour. In interferes with the absorption of most other things.

In the morning when I get up I take:
Protonix
Biotech A
Biotech or Nivagen D
Biotech K1
Now Foods E
Mk7 (K2)
Zinc
Multi
Probiotic
Magnesium Bisglycinate

An hour or two later I take Copper
An hour later I take my first dose of Calcium (Jarrow bone up)
2-3 hours later I take second Calcium Dose

Evening I repeat morning round but no K2, or probiotic

Couple hours later I take last does of Calcium

Middle of the night when I get up to piss (Thanks to Liz for the recommendation) I take my Levothyroxine.

I know that sounds daunting but it really isn't

 

[DianaCox]

Twice-a-day'er here too, except for thyroid, which I set out with my nighttime dose, but when I dump out my pills at night, I set the Levoxyl on the nightstand to take in the middle of the night when I pee.

I "only" take a 630 mg calcium (two Citrical horsepills) twice a day, plus I eat a fair amount of dairy. If I made it more complicated without a good reason, I probably wouldn't stick to it - this I can stick to. I take my "morning" meds after breakfast (around 10:30) and my nighttime ones after midnight.

 

[Larra]

I take most stuff twice/day, but have had issues with calcium (we are all different) so I take 2 extra doses of calcium/day, spaced out because we only absorb so much at a time. When I was still working I kept extra calcium in my purse, glove compartment, desk drawer, pockets, any place else I could think of. No excuses allowed! I have trouble swallowing those big pills so I use the lozenges from Bariatric Advantage, which can be chewed or sucked on til dissolved. I've also used some of their chewables at times. Very handy! But those are the only chewable or dissolving pills I use.

You will find a regimen that works for you and maintains the desired lab results. Whatever that regimen is, that's what you need to do. and honestly, it's not difficult once you get into the swing of it, and sure beats taking a bunch of prescription pills that MUST be timed correctly.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

Imho, we really have no reliable clue re what we need until after labs that are a good 3-6 months post-op. Until then, it's mostly just a shot in the dark.

With those lab results in hand, we pretty much know exactly what we need...and it's a YMMV deal.

Pick a generic plan, do your best and get complete post-op tests when the time comes.

Sue

 

[Susan in Tennessee]

I do the vita lady, morning, midday, evening and bedtime routine and it works for me! I do take the morning dose when I wake up for my early morning bathroom call (then I go back to bed). I set them beside the sink when I go to bed each night.

Also, be careful with B 6 supplementation or leave out entirely until you get your first labs! I was taking the B complex recommended that contained a b6 hefty dose and it came back much too high and can cause bad things!
Good luck, it's not bad at all, oh you might not start all at once, work into the full routine as it can constipate you and make you have an agile time. I take stool softeners every night faithfully to keep from reliving THAT nightmare again!

 

[Susan in Tennessee]

Lol, agile time was supposed to be awful! I wished I was more agile for the positions I was contorting into to achieve the "go"!

 

[aaa]

I envy you 2x/dayers. I'm 5x/day (for everything) and then 2x/day for iron. It's second nature to me.