hello,

im getting the band on may 22nd, and i started liquids today! i have to be on liquids 8 days prior, but they never said why? other people ive talked to only had to do it for 3 days.

anyway...reason for the post... i have a vitiamin question for everyone...how many flintstones Vitamins do we have to take, how many miligrams of Iron, and Calcium supplements do we need, and what kind of alternatives are out there for us banders?. my book is confusing as it almost always refers to the gastric bypass patient instructions. ive emailed/called my dietician, but havent her back from her, so i thought this was the next best thing to her! but i need to go shopping for this stuff asap...im teriified my hair will fall out!

thanks in advance!

Edited May 14, 200818 yr by CorvetteFerrari
forgot something

Hi there!

This is what my nutritionist told me... 1 chewable vitamin...and 2 viactivs a day.

I got the walgreens adult chewable comparable to the centrum vitamin and I got the caramel viactiv chews....

As far as liquids go every surgeon is different.... Mine asks that you dont gain weight before the surgery.. and that you do the liquids 4 days prior to surgery... to shrink the liver as she will have to pass an instrument behind the stomach and it is best to be able to do that with the most ease...

GOOD LUCK!!

thanks for your help. are the viactivs for calcium then? and what about iron...anything for that?

Yes they are for calcium. The adult chewable that I got actually has more iron then the flintstone childrens vitamin.

I just started the Viactiv flavor glides for multivitamin. I tried the multivitamin chews but they were nasty but the calcium ones aren't bad. Right after surgery, I was taking childrens Flintstones but I just cannot tolerate them anymore.

I didn't worry too much about Vitamins during the pre & post op liquid stage because the shakes I was drinking were "meal replacement" type shakes and they had all that in them. So if you are doing Meal Replacement shakes like Optifast or Medifast, check the nutrition label.

For a multi, I like the Emergen-C Multivitamin powder that you mix with a small glass of Water. Yummy, liquid, and strawberry flavored. We recently bought a bottle of Flintstones Complete for my son and they taste awful, imho. Compared to how yummy the kids' gummy vites are.

Post surgery once you are eating solids, if you don't get enough Iron in your diet you can take Slow-FE which is a small pill and easy on your stomach. That way you don't have nasty tasting Multivitamins, you can have yummy ones. You're more likely to take your daily multi if it doesn't taste bad, imho.

I also try to get in a bowl of Total Cereal a couple times a week for Breakfast. That has 100% of your daily iron. I thought I was low on iron intake but my recent blood draw shows my iron levels as normal. You might want to skip supplementing iron unless you know you need it. It's constipating, for one.

I also use Viactiv chews for extra calcium. Yum. I only take a chew a couple times a week, since I get calcium from the dairy & veggies in my diet.

Good luck on your pre-op liquids and on your surgery!!