I'm about 4.5 years out. I take my vitamins at night. Right now I take only a women's multi-vitamin, calcium citrate, a low dose aspirin and acidophilus.

Should I be taking other supplements? Just as a gastric bypass patient I mean. I have a couple of minor issues that I deal with but let's assume, I'm a healthy WLS patient, any idea what I should be taking or do I have it covered?

Sounds like you are covering the basics. there will be others to come along to give you the extras you can take.

Hey janice fro nj!
If you're living a basic lifestyle with no co-morbid health issues,
I think a good adult strength, chewable multi vitamin in a good start.
I also take Liquid Calcium Magniesium in the mornings, first thing.
I take a mid-afternoon dose of 670-ish mgs of iron with a 500mg losenge of C.
Iron can't be taken with anything containing calcium or Lactose.... so isolate
that from protein shakes or chese intake, etc. Calcium keep the iron from binding.
I also take sublingual B12 each day. And that's about it for me...
Other folks take biotin for hair...
perfomance atheletes take lots of other goodies but I ride the
middle ground with activity and other issues requiring remediation.
Hope this helps!

My WLS vitamins & minerals:
Iron
Zinc 50
B 50
Calcium w Magnesium
Multi-vitamin
I need to get in some Vitamin K because I'm not getting enough
All taken at times throughout the day when they don't interfere w/ something else's absorption.

Hi Janice,

Per standard instructions from my Dr. I take one Adult Centrum Chewable/day, 1500mg. Calcium Citrate chewables, and one B12 sub-lingual once a week. The Calcium is the only one I have to divide the dose on. I
guess the body only absorbs 4-600 mg at a time, so I have to take it three times/day to get the 1500mg.

Anyway, that's the basic he puts all his patients on. He also thinks wls patients should have blood work to check for vitamin deficiency every year the rest of their lives. Hope this helps.

PS: make sure to use the Adult Centrum that has iron even if you are post-menopausal.

Be sure and have your labs done yearly. They will really tell you if you're supplementing correctly. Calcium citrate is important, iron is important. They should NOT be taken together as they cancel the ability of the body to absorb either mineral! I was taking sublingual B12 daily the first two years, but have learned that I had way too much of it. Now I only take it once a month.

So...get your labs done and talk with a bariatric specialist when you get the results back. That's the only way to be sure that what you're doing is really working for you!

Hi Janice! You should not be taking aspirin...does your WLS doc know about this? Aspirin is a no-no!

Thanks everyone. I had never even thought about chew-ables! I confess that my after care has been abysmal. I had a very bad experience with two of my wounds abscessing, the resulting torture and drama and after the first year never went back again. I really really hate the doctor. Finally went this year to get my pap smear and they wound up biopsying me and that was more ensuing drama. The funny part is that I've actually been working in a doctors office for the past four years. (Only two mroe weeks as I'm leaving to pursue other interests.)

So, um. I've never had my labs done either. *cringes*

I did have a slip somewhere that told me what to get but I can't remember where it is. I can write the slip up and have them run. Can anyone tell me what it is I should be doing? I do check my hemoglobin regularly at work. My best friend is a nurse practioner but her specialty is pediatrics. Still I'm sure she'd look at the labs for me if I had them run. She did that for my hubby.



As far as the asprin, I kknow it's a no-no but what they wanted to put me on is worse so it's the lesser of the evils.

I take one serving of One A Day Women's Multivitamin, Liquid B-12, Folic Acid (3x @ 1mg each).

I also take vitamin supplements as well. I particularly like Nature Made Super B-Complex.

Hi Everyone,
I take chewable flintstones complete with iron , Biotin for my hair, pepcid, Ursodiol for my gallstones, that's in the am, about 4 hours later I take 500mg calcium citrate, at night I take another Ursodiol, another pepcid, another 500mg calcium citrate and vitamin A( as I was slightly deficient at last lab draw). On Fridays I take 1000mg B12 sublingual for absorption it has to be sublingual. It sure does look like a lot, the hardest thing is remembering at night.

Hmmm... I can see that I better go get the labs done. Will go through some boxes this weekend and see if I can find my old slip.

In the meantime f anyone is going soon and has a lab slip, perhaps you could posts the tests here? Like I said I have access to a doctor and doctor's office and they'd be happy to help me out.

Irishred,
I was looking at your ticker. You are doing great!