vitamin confusion

[Happy DSr]

Hello friends. Am I the only one who gets overwhelmed trying to figure out what vitamins are needed? Does anyone have a trick or suggestion? I found vitalady website and the list she has, but I would like to find some I can purchase in Canada instead of online.

Welcome to the board, @Dawn. I am an Ontario-based DSer from the old days when OHIP paid to send us to the US due to unreasonable waiting times for WLS. While it was unfortunate we had to travel to receive this necessary medical service, it made the DS available to us, whereas most Ontario surgeries default to the RNY, with an occasional sleeve and a very very occasional DS.

My experience with supplements is:

There are some seemingly sill restrictions on certain supplements being available in or coming into Canada. We cannot obtain the "dry" vitamins (A, D, E or K). These dry vitamins, and high dosage vitamins and other specialty items useful to manage our potential deficiencies are available from Vitalady. Michelle and her staff know their stuff. I do have to plan ahead and place periodic larger orders to make the shopping and handling more efficient. And given possible backorders/out of stock situations, I always place my order with lots of lead time. I have tried shopping for price through other internet sources, but many of them do not ship to Canada, or only have some of what I need. It is more economical for me to place one order from Vitalady every 6 to 9 months and pay shipping costs just once, rather than several smaller shipments from multiple locations.

Shipments into Canada have no duty charges, but Canada Post will require payment of the HST, plus a small handling fee for taking care pf the taxes. Canada Customs has started to become stickier about larger orders (they want to limit to three months volume) and they, for some reason, don't want vitamin K coming into the country - I can't figure this one out?

Wherever possible, I get my vitamins at Costco - Kirkland brand Calcium Citrate (the formula is different than the US calcium pills and they do not include the B vitamins that cause toxicity problems in the US for DSers), Kirkland multi-vitamin (these are on sale every couple of months), iron supplements (Proferrin, FerMax 150), Selenium,, Zinc, Folic Acid, probiotics

There is a Facebook group for Canadian DSers that just started where there is some sharing about where to buy supplements. I would have to look it up - are you already connected?

and Welcome!

Ann

 

[Dawn]

Welcome to the board, @Dawn. I am an Ontario-based DSer from the old days when OHIP paid to send us to the US due to unreasonable waiting times for WLS. While it was unfortunate we had to travel to receive this necessary medical service, it made the DS available to us, whereas most Ontario surgeries default to the RNY, with an occasional sleeve and a very very occasional DS.

My experience with supplements is:

There are some seemingly sill restrictions on certain supplements being available in or coming into Canada. We cannot obtain the "dry" vitamins (A, D, E or K). These dry vitamins, and high dosage vitamins and other specialty items useful to manage our potential deficiencies are available from Vitalady. Michelle and her staff know their stuff. I do have to plan ahead and place periodic larger orders to make the shopping and handling more efficient. And given possible backorders/out of stock situations, I always place my order with lots of lead time. I have tried shopping for price through other internet sources, but many of them do not ship to Canada, or only have some of what I need. It is more economical for me to place one order from Vitalady every 6 to 9 months and pay shipping costs just once, rather than several smaller shipments from multiple locations.

Shipments into Canada have no duty charges, but Canada Post will require payment of the HST, plus a small handling fee for taking care pf the taxes. Canada Customs has started to become stickier about larger orders (they want to limit to three months volume) and they, for some reason, don't want vitamin K coming into the country - I can't figure this one out?

Wherever possible, I get my vitamins at Costco - Kirkland brand Calcium Citrate (the formula is different than the US calcium pills and they do not include the B vitamins that cause toxicity problems in the US for DSers), Kirkland multi-vitamin (these are on sale every couple of months), iron supplements (Proferrin, FerMax 150), Selenium,, Zinc, Folic Acid, probiotics

There is a Facebook group for Canadian DSers that just started where there is some sharing about where to buy supplements. I would have to look it up - are you already connected?

and Welcome!

Ann

Thanks Ann I will have to find the Canadian dsers group. I was told that St Josephs in Hamilton sells the bariatric advantage adek vitamins. How does one know if they are the dry ones needed?

 

[Elizabeth N.]

Bariatric Advantage ADEK is overpriced and doesn't have enough of ANYTHING we need.

 

[Sheanie]

@Dawn , don't waste your money on Bariatric Advantage or any other all-in-one ADEK. We all take separate fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K). Some of us only need D and A, some take more. You base what you take on your own lab results. When you do this, you realize what a marketing ploy the bariatric ADEKs really are. Worthless.

 

[Dawn]

@Sheanie thanK you that is great advice .

 

[Sheanie]

Well, @Dawn , I learned about bariatric ADEKs the hard way. I bought them from my surgeon's office, (they sold Celebrate DS Essentials) and was told "this is all you need after surgery". Well, my A totally tanked on them. So I did some reading and discovered the Celebrate DS Essentials contained absolutely no vitamin A. None, nada, zilch, nil. I had been accused of being noncompliant in taking my vitamins, and that was why my A level tanked.

So please read everything you can get your hands on about what the right forms of vitamins are for a DSer to take. We are rare birds, nobody really knows what to do with us. Don't believe anything the doctors tell you, verify everything through this forum. We've seen and heard just about everything.

 

[brooklyngirl]

Ya know, I've seen this about the ADEKs so many times in the last year. WHY, in god's name, do surgeons recommend their patients take it? And for that matter, why are they even legally allowed to label them as ADEKs if they contain no vitamin A? I understand that we have to be on top of things and read labels and such, but this goes beyond that, IMO, it seems fraudulent.

 

[Sheanie]

Ya know, I've seen this about the ADEKs so many times in the last year. WHY, in god's name, do surgeons recommend their patients take it? And for that matter, why are they even legally allowed to label them as ADEKs if they contain no vitamin A? I understand that we have to be on top of things and read labels and such, but this goes beyond that, IMO, it seems fraudulent.

Well, Lauren, @brooklyngirl , I believe it comes from "normie" thinking and what the surgeons are taught about vitamins in medical school. That ADEKs are easily toxic for NORMIES, and they apply that to us. Which does not compute. You'd think that the doctor GIVING us the malabsorption would understand the mechanics of vitamin dosages, but you'd be wrong. At least that's MY take on it.

 

[brooklyngirl]

Well, Lauren, @brooklyngirl , I believe it comes from "normie" thinking and what the surgeons are taught about vitamins in medical school. That ADEKs are easily toxic for NORMIES, and they apply that to us. Which does not compute. You'd think that the doctor GIVING us the malabsorption would understand the mechanics of vitamin dosages, but you'd be wrong. At least that's MY take on it.

It really bugs me because for each person that finds themselves on a forum or Facebook group reading or asking questions about vitamins, how many aren't? Lots and LOTS of ppl keep WLS a secret or just don't do online support groups and just trust what their doctor, who is "supposed to be the expert" tells them.

 

[southernlady]

It really bugs me because for each person that finds themselves on a forum or Facebook group reading or asking questions about vitamins, how many aren't? Lots and LOTS of ppl keep WLS a secret or just don't do online support groups and just trust what their doctor, who is "supposed to be the expert" tells them.

And the surgeons wonder WHY so many WLS patients who blindly follow their instructions are so "non complient" and malnourished!

 

[brooklyngirl]

And the surgeons wonder WHY so many WLS patients who blindly follow their instructions are so "non complient" and malnourished!

SMDH (n)

 

[Sheanie]

@southernlady and @brooklyngirl , **I** was accused of being non-compliant by Vic at Celebrate vitamins, who called me (suspiciously) after I posted about my DS Essentials experience on OH years ago. Out of the blue, I got a phone call from him. When he accused me of not taking my vitamins, I got real quiet, then I said to him "even if I took one hundred of YOUR DS essentials a day, my A would have tanked. Because they contain NO fucking A." He got quiet. I told him to read his own fucking label. What an ass. IDK if they changed their label or the content, and I do not care. I also quit going to my surgeon's office after they didn't think I needed iron infusions when my ferritin was 9 and I was getting tunnel vision at work and blacking out upon standing. About 2 weeks after I started infusions, they called me back, the nurse saying that I needed to "start" taking oral iron. FMR I had been taking Proferrrin 3 times daily, and they had THAT in their records. I told her she didn't have to worry about me any more, because I fired them.

Our on-line posts are read by people. I know this firsthand from my experiences with Vic and also with my (former) surgeons office. In fact, my surgeons office recently refused to give follow-up care to someone who posted about her frustrating experience in their office. She posted a screen shot of the letter they sent, dismissing her as a patient. IMO, it wasn't a great loss for her. She was years post-op, and their advice is shit anyway. She will do better on her own, seeking out a new PCP through her hematologists office. BTW, that's the way I found my current doctor, who already knew the DS at my first visit.