I went from taking 2 meds & one multi vitamin to taking 9 different things daily. I also take 50,000 IU vitamin D weekly. My kitchen countertop looks like a pharmacy & depending how I’m feeling, it can take an hour to get them all down. Is this pretty standard?

yep as far as numbers go.

It doesn't take me an hour to get them down, though. I take a small handful in the morning - then three in the late afternoon. Iron and vitamin C before I go to bed. I load up my pill container thingie on Saturday night (for the week) and then I'm pretty much on auto-pilot for the rest of the week.

Edited September 13, 20205 yr by catwoman7

Yup. I have a daily pill container that I use and just take it throughout the day. Takes me a few mins to take them no issues with swallowing thank God.

Multivitamin, b50, and my GERD meds in the morning.

Afternoon is my first calcium and fish oil.

Evening is calcium.

Before bed is calcium and an allergy med. Used to take stool softeners every night and fiber every morning, but I was able to stop those finally. So yea, it's totally understandable lol. It's frustrating packing my meds at the beginning of the week.

Right now I'm taking calcium x3 during the day, then multivitamin, iron, and b12 at night. Stool softener if I haven't had a movement within the past couple days.

I also take biotin, but after a discussion with my surgeon he mentioned that there isn't any evidence that it aids in preventing hair loss. Apparently the shock of surgery simply causes a lot of your hair to shed at once, not break... It isn't related to the strength of your hair itself, where biotin/collagen may help. My plan is to finish off the bottle and not continue to take any.

Here's what I'm taking:

2 Flintstones Complete
B-12
D3
B50
Fish oil
Biotin
Vitamin D (1/wk)
Calcium chews
Olly women's multivitamin in the evening (per Dr.)
Ursodiol AM & PM (Rx - prevents gallstones)
Rx meds (2/day - was taking before surgery)
GasX or Colace as needed

Just seems like A LOT!

I take 14 different medications a day, 22 pills in total daily, including one multivitamin and one calcium supplement. Hopefully as time goes on I can get off of some of them, but I am a transplant patient, so I know it won't be a great decrease. The thing that sucks is that I am used to taking multiple pills all at once--just opening my throat and throwing them back. But now I have to take some in liquid form, some crushed up and all of them only one or two at a time, which means I can taste the bitterness of all the medications, and it makes me gag. I hope as things go along, I can go back to throwing everything back in bunches, because this SUCKS.? But I am only 11 days out, so early days yet.

I feel like all I do is drink water and take meds.[emoji23] But, if you split them up between the morning and evening, I think it's much more manageable that way. My tum appreciates the break too!

Bariatric Vitamin
B 12
B complex
D3
Vit D 2 1x a week
Calcium 2x a day
Acid reducer (for 3 months)
Stool softener (for one month) then I move on to Miralax as needed
Asthma and Allergy meds
Blood pressure pill

I take 9-10 pills (meds, but mostly vitamins) daily. I use a pill reminder app, which has been the MOST helpful for me. Because there is a certain time of day I take my thyroid, and certain vitamins have to be taken so many hours apart (and because I'm super forgetful) the app has been a lifesaver. I have a lunchbag that I use as my medicine bag and just take it everywhere with me - literally everywhere. Work, car rides if I'm out shopping and don't know what time I'll be home, wherever. I've allowed myself to become forgetful and eventually fall completely off and stop taking altogether when I don't use a reminder and take my bag with me everywhere, so it works for me.

I take 14 different medications a day, 22 pills in total daily, including one multivitamin and one calcium supplement. Hopefully as time goes on I can get off of some of them, but I am a transplant patient, so I know it won't be a great decrease. The thing that sucks is that I am used to taking multiple pills all at once--just opening my throat and throwing them back. But now I have to take some in liquid form, some crushed up and all of them only one or two at a time, which means I can taste the bitterness of all the medications, and it makes me gag. I hope as things go along, I can go back to throwing everything back in bunches, because this SUCKS.[emoji29] But I am only 11 days out, so early days yet.

I take about 10 pills, and like you I'm used to just taking a handful at once. I'm 7 weeks post-op, and I'm able to do that now in the last week or so without a problem. So you may get to that point also.

19 hours ago, JordanKylie said:

I feel like all I do is drink Water and take meds.[emoji23] But, if you split them up between the morning and evening, I think it's much more manageable that way. My tum appreciates the break too!

Me too lol

For those of you with diabetes (type2), high blood pressure or high cholesterol, how soon did you get to stop taking meds, and how soon did you discontinue CPAP?

A year ago, I was taking nothing -- no prescriptions, no supplements. In fact, this year was the first time I ever filled a prescription. I would occasionally take OTC ibuprofen, and that was about it for pills. Now I am taking 12 pills per day (up to 20 at one point, but fewer now because I'm taking some with higher dosages per pill, and a multivitamin with iron). I have a pill dispenser with 3 compartments per day, and I can barely fit everything in it.

Every day when I take the last one, it feels like an accomplishment. I feel like I'm being dramatic because it's not like it's hard work to swallow a pill, but man, it's a chore to keep up with all of these pills every single day. I wish I could just take them whenever, but I'm supposed to take Synthroid on an empty stomach first thing in the morning and at least 4 hours apart from calcium and iron, and I take iron 2x/day (one combined with a multivitamin and additional iron later) and calcium 3x/day, all at least 2 hours apart from each other. This schedule is further complicated by the "no drinking 30 minutes before or after a meal" rule. I have a reminder app (Medisafe), but I often get off schedule because if I take my Synthroid, calcium, or iron late, it throws off everything else. It still helps because I record what time I take everything so I can keep track of when I can take the next one.

Here's my list:

• Synthroid
• Pantoprazole
• Multivitamin with iron
• Chelated iron
• Calcium soft chews (my favorites -- I actually look forward to taking them because they taste like caramels)
• D3
• B12
• Biotin (these are pretty tasty, like strawberry candy)

On 9/13/2020 at 9:41 AM, drawingdami said:

I take 14 different medications a day, 22 pills in total daily, including one Multivitamin and one Calcium supplement. Hopefully as time goes on I can get off of some of them, but I am a transplant patient, so I know it won't be a great decrease. The thing that sucks is that I am used to taking multiple pills all at once--just opening my throat and throwing them back. But now I have to take some in liquid form, some crushed up and all of them only one or two at a time, which means I can taste the bitterness of all the medications, and it makes me gag. I hope as things go along, I can go back to throwing everything back in bunches, because this SUCKS.? But I am only 11 days out, so early days yet.

Same here...I have multiple health conditions and take MANY pills. For those of you who didn't have any pills to take in the first place, just stop and think about where you are heading and the road ahead of you will had a lot less pills/meds in the future because you are taking care of your health now and won't have all those health problems from being overweight in the future.....

After surgery, I couldn't even take all my prescribed pills PLUS the vitamins added to them. My Surgeons nurse did a great job of getting me on a schedule that worked until I saw them, but I still couldn't get on a eat, drink, pills, repeat pattern. I am two weeks out and I still struggle with all the pills. I am stopping more and more of the prescribed meds, but also went to my RX Pharmacist and they went through my med list and told me which ones could be consumed/ordered in a chewable/liquid form. I believe that I am getting a handle on the pills now, but I am trying to reduce the number of pills. I believe as the weight comes off of me and I get healthier, I will be able to get rid of more of my prescribed meds.

This is what I'm currently taking:

- B complex once a day

- Bariatric multivitamin twice a day

- Vitamin C three times a day

- Calcium + D3 once a day

- Ursodiol (Rx) twice a day

- Prilosec 24 once a day (per surgeon's instructions) to reduce stomach acid

- Lovenox (Rx) once a day to prevent blood clots

- Iron once a day, I was already mildly anemic before surgery

I've taken some advice from this forum and got myself a weekly 3 times a day pill holder that I put everything into, except for the B complex which is liquid and the Lovenox which is an injection, and then I just grab the day's container and go.