I'm now almost 5 weeks out of surgery and I've been taking the liquid centrum multivitamin twice a day. I didn't get a chance to order the liquid gain and ran out so I went to the store and got the Flinstones complete chewable (not gummy) multivitamin because I've heard that some people use it. I can't call my NUT because it's a weekend and I haven't taken my multivitamin for the day because I'm nervous about taking it. Is anyone using these? Any opinions or suggestions on what to use??

I recommend bariatric advantage (chewy candy like vitamins, chewable tablets, or capsules) , fusion (chewy vitamins & tablets), celebrate (chewy and tablets), or barimelts (tablets). There’s even barilife which sells swallowable pills, vanilla flavored, which makes getting them down easier.

Theres also a “keurig” style machine called Tespo. They have a bariatric complete vitamin in liquid shot form as well.

There are many vitamins out there to meet a bariatric patients needs!

As long as it is a bariatric focused company, they will more than likely meet your specific needs. However, Childrens MVI are meant for children who require far less vitamins and minerals than an already grown adult....bariatric pts need MVIs which should have 200% of the daily value. Hope this helps!

So I looked up the Bariatric Advantage chewy supplement and compared it to the Flintstones Complete. The Bariatric Advantage says to take two chews and listed almost exactly twice the DV of each vitamin as the Flintstones Complete which states take one. The exception was that B-vitamins, especially B12 were much higher in the Bariatric Advantage chews, and the BA chew did not have any iron. The chews were also $30 for 60 chews...pretty sure 60 Flintstones Completes are less than that. In both cases an additional calcium supplement would be necessary; the BA chews would need an iron supplement and the Flintstones would need the B- vitamins supplemented.

Additionally, the vitamin/mineral Daily Values (DV) set by the FDA are the SAME for adults and children 4 and over- so the comparisons of the labels is really apples to apples. All OTC vitamins are produced by the poorly regulated dietary supplement industry, slapping a "bariatric" label on a bottle doesn't magically make it better.

You may want to check out the ASMBS (American bariatric society) guidelines... do some research before you provide inaccurate information. There are many patients that are years out from surgery and very deficient in many vitamins and minerals bc they take this advice. This can be serious.

It’s recommended pts take up to 3000-5000 IUs of vit D3, 500-1000mcgs B12 daily, calcium CITRATE 1200-1500mg daily, and some pts may also need additional iron, not all. Not to mention flinstone vitamins DO NOT CONTAIN: various minerals required for healing the body needs: manganese, selenium, etc.

A MVI should be 200% of the DV for pts as their needs double compared to the what typical person needs. This is why I don’t recommend them. A majority of ppl DO NOT read supplement facts labels, they simply take the recommended dosage without knowing what they SHOULD be taking.

It may be smarter to base your Recs off of professionals rather than your own googling efforts.

I'm 8 mos post-op. In general, I have a history of intolerance to most multi-vitamins- my doctor thought it could be the binders used. I've been taking flintstones (2 a day) with an extra 100mg b1. This was recommended by my doctor. Recent bloodwork was perfect. It's possible that the bariatric vitamins are better or have more- but if you can't tolerate them or if you're not going to take them, then they are useless to you. Also, 2 days of no vitamins isn't the end of the world if you waited on a re-order of your usual. (And of course- something is better than nothing!)

3 hours ago, michelleze said:

You may want to check out the ASMBS (American bariatric society) guidelines...

Here are the ASMBS vitamin recommendations. I would suggest everyone check their vitamins against this chart.

Flint stones chewables twice daily. Four days post op here

Isn't the song 10 million strong and growing, shouldn't in our case And size-shrinking!

I used the vitamin patches for Bariatric patients but felt tired all the time so I switched to Flintstones Complete chewables and feel great and my blood work is on point! I also take a B12, vitamin D, Calcium and probiotics.

I took them before and after my doc had them on my list I do 4 per day 2 in the am and 2 in the pm

As long as you are having your numbers checked periodically and they are in range, then you're good, HOWEVER, typically low-priced vitamins are going to also be low quality vitamins. I would strongly recommend that you use a vitamin specifically made for WLS patients, but if you can't find one that's affordable and that you can take without issues, then by all means go with what works. A great site that actually independently tests vitamins and supplements so you can actually see if you're getting what it says you're getting on the label is Labdoor. Here's a link to the multivitamin testing. While you're there I would suggest checking out their protein tests and any other vitamin/supplement you regularly take:

https://labdoor.com/rankings/multivitamins

Best of luck!

so how many out there are still,FLINTSTONE KIDS?

On 8/23/2018 at 8:39 AM, AshAsh1 said:

Here are the ASMBS Vitamin recommendations. I would suggest everyone check their Vitamins against this chart.

Surprisingly, 2 Flintstones Complete/day meets almost all of the values above and exceeds several. Since I eat a pretty balanced diet, I assume that vitamins are just insurance, anyway.

And my humble prenatal vitamin,yeah the one ever body laughs when,at 72 I take a,?prenatal,vitamin. EXCEPT for 2 needful things, one at 67% the other at 71% it met requirements. As long as I continue with my liquid calcium citrate, I am setting pretty. Who woulda thunk? ?

I’m in the pre-op stages. I’ve had 3 weigh-ins 1st was back in June. I’ve had chest X-rays, endoscopy, slept study and blood panel drawn this far. Have not been given date for sugary yet nor have I’ve lost enough weight to get under the 300lb mark my surgeon/dr wants me at. I’ve Feel like I’m getting nowhere with support from those immediate to me who said they help support me thru this.
Anyone have advice on how to get spouse into same mindset of reducing the amount of junk food (chips, candies, little Debbie snacks, chocolates) that are being purchased and brought into the house biweekly? I’ve been trying to explain having $50+ of it all is something that makes it so hard to stay away from and causing me to feel like I’m being set up for failure. Plus it’s just my spouse and I in our home. We have no kids being a lesbian couple and it’s rare we have family and friends over to help eat the junk food spouse loves so much.