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Hello, I'm new to this forum, or any forum that is! I had gastric sleeve surgery on Apr 24, 2014. I haven't been taking any Vitamins so far. I had my surgery in Mexico & didn't do a lot of research prior & haven't even told my local doctor what I did. I've had great results so far, down 25 lbs in 3 weeks! Can anyone tell me what vitamins I should be taking? Or direct me to a thread that already answers this? Also, do I have to take liquid or chewable? I take some other medications & haven't been crushing them & haven't had any problems. I'd love to get my vitamins on Amazon or costco if possible. If anyone has already done the research, I'd love to get a list of what to buy :) Thank you for any info!

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I bought chewables the first few months after surgery but have since gone to regular pill Vitamins. You should talk with your MD to see what you need as it will vary based on your bloodwork and your age/gender.

I'm 33 female, no other health conditions. I take:

A Multivitamin (just a regular one, Centrum or One-A-Day, whatever is on sale when I need more)

Vitamin D softgels

sublingual B12

Biotin softgels

Vitamin E

The vitamin E and Biotin are to keep my skin and nails healthy. My hair was thin before surgery and I think it's thinned out a little bit more, but not noticeably so. My nails are more brittle now as well, the Vitamin E is something I added to my Vitamins about 3 months ago and I'm noticing a slight difference.

Some people also take Calcium supplements or Iron supplements. These shouldn't be taken at the same time, though, the Calcium interferes with your body being able to absorb the Iron. My iron and calcium levels are both normal so I don't take either of them.

Hope this helps!

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MakeMyOwnLuck has a great list. I also took a probiotic early out to help with digestion. Also, Vitamin D needs to bond with Calcium to be absorbed, so those will be needed to be taken together.

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Hi !

During the first two months after surgery ( Gastric Sleeve ) I was prescribed liquid multi Vitamin drops ( Dalivit ) . I used to put 14 drops a day into my squash drinks. Now that Im 5 months post Op, I use Centrium Multi Vit and a nail and hair supplement too. My NUT advised me to take two multi vits a day as the body is unable to absorb nutrients in the same way, after surgery. Three months after surgery, I started to have quite significant Hair loss but as predicted, the loss has now abated somewhat since I increased my Protein levels and added the extra Vitamin per day. I would suggest that you ask your physician regarding YOUR particular requirements as age and medical conditions may have a bearing on your nutritional needs. Im 51 , so my needs vary to say those of a young woman in her thirties, etc. I wish you every success with your journey! x

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I took liquid Multivitamin, Iron, and Calcium (all Wellesse brand) for the first four weeks after surgery. I also did a chewable probiotic and sublingual B12. Since then, I've been doing a double dose of Trader Joe's High Potency chewable multi's, 2 Citracal Petite tablets, generic Vitamin D, liquid iron, chewable probiotic, and sublingual B12 (the B12 is only 2x/week now).

My lab work has been great all along. The Wellesse liquid vitamins & minerals are all available via Amazon. The Trader Joe's chewables are as well but they are way more expensive online than they are in the physical store.

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oh! check out puritan.com for Vitamins too - they have excellent deals AND offer a lot of vitamins in liquid form. I have liquid Biotin that I also add to my crystal light drinks. :)

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Take a look at the Bariatric Advantage product line. You need the full spectrum of Vitamins and Calcium. These you will take for the rest of your life. They are not that expensive in my opinion.

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I take a chewable bariatric multivitamin by Twinlab, 3 chewable Citracal Plus a day and one sublingual B12 a day. I got them all at drugstore.com.

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The first supplement you will likely take after bariatric sleeve surgery is a multivitamin. Bariatric Multivitamins are available and typically contain Vitamins A, D, and E. In the first six months after your bariatric surgery.

You may need to take a Calcium supplement that contains 1,000 to 1,500 mg of calcium. Look for calcium malate chelate, which is better absorbed after gastric sleeve surgery. Vitamin D is required to help you absorb calcium in your body. This vitamin is difficult to get in your daily diet and even more difficult following bariatric sleeve surgery. Take at least a 1,000 IU vitamin D supplement each day to ensure you get enough of this vitamin.

During laparoscopic gastric bypass, the portion of the stomach responsible for making intrinsic factor is bypassed. The lack of intrinsic factor decreases the amount the body is able to absorb vitamin B-12 after gastric bypass and to a lesser extent after gastric sleeve surgery. As such, you should take a vitamin B-12 supplement that is either liquid or dissolves on the tongue. Take at least 500 micrograms of vitamin B-12 per day to ensure you get enough vitamin B-12 in your diet.

Earlier I used to take chewables from Centrum. It made me nauseous every time I took them. So I switched to Fintstones, but the gummy vitamins seemed to make no difference. I continued these bariatric multivitamins for a year and my labs returned no noticeable result. I decided to consult another nut, who advised me to change to Vita4Life. I did my bit of research before taking them just to be cautious. Having found nothing bad with them I decided to start with them and have been taking them for two years now. My labs have been perfect.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
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    • KimBaxleyWilson

      Three months and four days ago... I was in Costa Rica having a life changing surgery! Yesterday we had a followup visit with Dr. Esmeral via video chat and this morning my middle number changed.  I'm down 47lbs and two pants sizes. I can wear a Large tshirt for the first time in like... 14 years! Woot!! Everything is going great. I have zero regrets. I went down to the riverwalk with a friend and walked 2 miles on Monday without even getting fatigued. And no more snoring or chugging pickle juice for crazy leg cramps! I need to go to the gym more... I'm making new shirts next week so that will motivate me. LOL But I'm also just not as TIRED all the time! I have a LONG way to go...but seeing the progress on the scales and in the mirror is a huge motivator!! Thank you all for cheering me on and supporting me!!
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    • bellaamey

      https://alluniqueguide.com/java-burn-coffee-reviews/
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