FujiyamaMama

I had difficulty swallowing horse pills even pre-surgery and post-surgery I'm finding I can't tolerate liquid Vitamins (Feels like drinking lighter fluid!) or chewables. Today I threw up the first of 2 Bariatric Advantage chewables I intended to take - didn't even try to get the 2nd one down after the 1st came right back. I take 3 meds in the a.m. that are capsules and I can keep those down so I looked for a capsule Vitamin tonight in the grocery store but didn't see any. Does such a thing exist?

I am at the point that people who have seen me walking around town for years are stopping me on the street to ask me for my dieting "secrets". I am very open that I had surgery, and the diet I follow would not be right for someone who has not. If they press, I pull out my pill case full of Vitamins and other supplements and tell them that despite taking all these daily, and working with a doctor and a nutritionist, I still have deficiencies. I tell them I get six vials of blood drawn every three months, so my recommended vitamins can be adjusted. I tell them about my hair loss. Even if my nutrition improves, and I lose all the weight I want, my body has been permanently altered. I am going to be medically supervised for life. They shouldn't follow my diet any more than they should go on the low-Fluid low-potassium diet of a dialysis patient or any other medically specialized diet. I don't know if they could grit their teeth, bear the hunger and deprivation a normal sized stomach would surely feel, and accomplish lasting weight loss. That sounds like anorexia to me. (I am no expert on eating disorders. I am speaking only from instinct.) What I do know is that they risk making themselves very ill.

Try slowly sucking popsicles or ice chips if you haven't already. Did they give you a prescription for ondanseteron or anything to help offset the nausea? If not, call the doc and ask for something. Dehydration creates a vicious cycle where the more dehydrated you are, the more you throw up - which makes you more dehydrated. If you can't keep anything down at all, you'll eventually need to go to the hospital for IV fluids.

I think you are on to something! I've always taken a multi-vitamin with iron and it's the Multivitamin that has been a BEAR; liquids, chewables, ground up in applesauce, it makes no difference. But I have no problem with B-12 or D3 or calcium citrate. An empty stomach does seem to make it worse which is why I stopped taking it first thing in the morning - I figured taking it after Omeprazole and Ursodiol and some Protein would help. Nope! I had thought it might be too acidic since many vitamins are acids, but if that was it, I should've had issues with the gummies, too, and they went down easily. It must be the iron.

I wanted to follow up on how this went in case anyone having the same issues I am finds this thread. I purchased NOW Sports Dairy Digest Complete V-Caps. They are: BioCore Dairy UltraT 108 mg* Protease 630 BLGU* / 25,000 HUT* (from Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus oryzae) Lactase (from Aspergillus oryzae) 1,000 ALU* Lipase (from Candida rugosa) 600 FIP* I decided to take them for a full week before even attempting dairy. I'm still on soy shakes, but I'm so happy to have lower lactose things like my Dannon Light'n'Fit 2X Protein Greek Yogurt back! Today I went "crazy" and had .75 oz of light cheddar. I haven't tried to push it too far, though. One serving of low-lactose dairy a day. That's a major improvement when you consider that I experienced cramps and diarrhea from a vegan cream cheese with a scant 1 mg of non-dairy lactose!

Hi, all. I am almost 6 weeks out from surgery. My surgeon said I was doing fine at my last appt but I do not feel fine. As soon as I started full liquids, I started having problems. I would take a sip of my Protein shake and usually throw it up. If I managed to keep it down, I was in for about an hour of nauseau, pain, & cramps followed by diarrhea. Popsicles did not give me any trouble and I finally realized all the Protein shakes had milk or whey in them and my new sleeve had decided I wouldn't be having any more dairy - a big disappointment for me as I have CASES of whey based protein shakes I can't drink and had been eating greek yogurt daily pre-surgery. I lost about 30 lbs in the first 3 weeks and was miserable. I had to stop focusing on getting in protein and just focus on staying hydrated. I bought soy based shake powder but I have trouble with it as it goes down gritty and heavy and my stomach objects to it. Most shake recipes I've found online are sickly sweet to me as I am also having trouble with artificial scents, flavors and sweeteners. They all smell and taste like cleaning chemicals to me now. I about collapsed walking by a scented candle shop in the mall. I was on a really good chewable Vitamin from Bariatric Advantage and post-surgery I haven't been able to keep it down. I am trying to use liquid Centrum but that won't always GO down. My throat just closes off and a I gag on it. No more crystal light or propel Water for the same reason. Once I was on soft foods, I found a recipe for a banana-soy protein pancake and tried that but if felt like I'd eaten ground glass. I am finding that I dare not eat anything other than unsweetened applesauce and saltines most work days as I am so troubled by diarrhea and upset stomach after eating, I am afraid I will soil myself in public. I do try to get some protein in at night and on weekends, but it is not going well. I was tolerating eggbeaters & egg whiltes ok but then they started causing diarrhea, too. Most protein foods cause pain and want to come back up if I can't lie down on my side or stomach after eating. Since the first 3 weeks, I have only lost 3 more lbs despite the fact that I walk 6 days a week. It looked like 9 last week, but 6 lbs came back. I guess I was very dehydrated. I feel very discouraged and regret having this surgery. I also feel like a big whiner since I know others have it worse with leaking and strictures and clots. But pre-surgery I had given up caffeine and junk food and I never did have much of a sweet tooth so I was losing with the RDs help. I thought this surgery would help make me HEALTHIER. Instead, I feel like I have medically-induced anorexia/bulemia.

Rebecca, I agree Bariatric Advantage is a VERY complete multi-Vitamin. I started taking that brand pre-surgery. In the start of the thread, I stated that I am puking up my Bariatric Advantage Vitamins. If you vomit your vitamins, they aren't doing you any good - no matter how super complete and highly recommended they are. I'm aware the gummies don't have iron. That's why I said I need to find an iron. (An iron that is not a big dry capsule. That's what I meant by "horse pill".) I realize the gummies don't have the same amount of many things as the B.A. brand, so I also got gummy B complex and gummy D3s. (I was already taking sublingual B-12 & Calcium citrate chews and they were staying down fine.)

That's a great idea! My local grocery didn't have gummies so I didn't think of them. I found some Spring Valley gummies and they stayed down fine. I'll just have to find a good Iron supplement now.

Spiderlily - I have since followed up w/surgeon & NUT. Good news: Sometimes these problems are due to "overhealing" of the sleeve but we aren't far enough along for that to be the case. I was told to be patient and keep trying but not to push it and make myself sick. As a result of these issues, they decided to put me on my B12 and B-Complex but hold off on the D and Calcium for a bit. Per my doc's advice: Stay focused on staying hydrated even if that means you are low on Protein. Being dehydrated will only make the nausea worse which makes you more dehydrated, which makes you feel even worse... etc. In the morning, I don't attempt to eat anything until I've got at least 20 oz of Fluid in me. That means I only eat "breakfast" (more like brunch) on the weekends. I can't tolerate the city tap Water, but ice cold bottled water is okay. Now that a little time has passed, I have found that I can tolerate PureVia (stevia) and some artificially sweetened products but most still bother me. I have had trouble with various teas, but Diet Snapple stays down. So does VitaminWater or LifeWater. YMMV. The point is, if your stomach says "NO" listen right away and switch to something different (All this expirimentation is expensive, I know!). I found the CalNaturale Svelte pre-mixed protein shakes stay down without making my stomach hurt. They are smooth and nowhere near as thick and heavy as the soy protein powders. I also found the Kay's Naturals brand of protein Snacks and "Primal Strips" -soy and seitan "jerky" strips. They are small and contain 10 g of protein. I tested the products out at home first and then stocked my desk at the office once I knew they were safe. I still cannot tolerate chicken although I had some deli turkey luncheon meat and that was ok and even some organic turkey Jerky (chewed very VERY well). Maybe the fillers make it less dense for my tummy? Of all fish, I seem to tolerate sardines and salmon best. I also seem to be doing better with egg whites now. The Lactaid experiment was a bust - NUT theorizes that while it is reduced there must still be enough lactose left to make my gut angry. I am going to try a supplement that is supposed to help digest lactose and dairy - because unfortunately even vegan products may have a little non-dairy lactose lurking within and frankly my old eyes aren't always good enough to read those tiny labels accurately!

Thanks for the hope that it doesn't go on like this forever! I will check out the Syntrax and the ovaltine, but I am worried they will not work as I know syntrax is whey based and I can't handle Isopure or special k Protein Water because they are whey based and my reaction to dairy is so nasty. I use soy or almond milk these days. I am trying to learn to tolerate Lactaid but I can only take it in very tiny amounts. I can soak some into Kashi GoLean to soften it, but I haven't had luck drinking it.