Sheeshe! I cannot spell!!

CELEBRATE is what they are called! .... :)

Becca,

From the research I have done on vitamins so far, anything with Bariatric tacked onto the name also has $$ onto the price and they offer nothing really special over the basic store bought multivitamin available. I have searched for the easy one step blah blah, but when you read the labels close you find out that they are missing something or not enough. One particular bariatric brand advertises a specific level to be 500% daily level, when in fact it is 7.5 mg when you need 100 mg a day.

Don't get fancy unless your doc tells you to find something special. Go for Centrum or Flinstones and save your money for new clothes. :)

I agree with GoldenRivers... Met with my nut yesterday and she said to stop wasting my money... Told me to use One a day with Iron for women as my multi-vitamin.... She did however suggest using Citracal as my calcium supplement.... Other than that, she said store brand is fine for B-12(as long as sublingual), B-1, and my Vitamin D.... People are making lots of money saying that things are bariatric specific... It's the hot market right now.... And GNC is also very expensive....

I purchased Journey Bariatric Chewables to start out with. Anyone use these?

I have to agree with KathiRay, vitamins are vitamins, I take the flinstones chewables. I also take Centrium chewable, or just any multi-vitamin will do. I have tried the multi-vitamins at Bariatric Advantage, they were good, but its the same as an over the counter multivitamin https://www1.bariatricadvantage.com/catalog/us-en/S1/RNY and you still have to take B12, Iron, D, and Calcium in addition so for me its just easier to buy my multivitamins at the grocery store.

B-12 Sublingual, (make sure the B12 liquid sits under your tounge for 30sec to 1 min otherwise it won't be absorbed as well). You can buy liquid B12 at the grocery store. My Primary Doc says that the gels or pills do nothing or very little so it has to be the liquid sublingual. Otherwise you can look forward to shots once a week, needless to say I don't miss taking my B12 daily.

You don't have to take Citracal, but if you take Calcium supplements make sure you are taking your D (preferrably D3, the Doc said something about D3 being better absorbed) with it, and make sure you take it with citris, it helps you absorb the calcium and Vit D. if there is citris. So it might just be easier to take the Citrical as it has Calcium, D, and citris in it already. I have the chewables, but I know they also make it in pill form if its easier. For me I have to take additional D3, so I take the gels at the grocery store in addition to Citracal all at the same time.

If you take additional Iron supplements they should be the Iron Sulfate, I am not sure why on this one just the Doc made a point to say it had to Iron Sulfate or FeSO4 :shrug:

...Best Wishes

I love Celebrate Vitamins. I use their multi, B12, and calcium mostly. Not all vitamins are created equal and you definitely do not want to (according to the ASMBS guidelines) take children's formulations. Bariatric vitamins are developed specifically with bariatric surgery patients altered guts in mind, they understand our unique post-op nutritional needs. In my non Dr opinion, it's important our bodies get the most out of our vitamins it can, so if they don't dissolve within a reasonable amount of time or easily absorb, our rearranged guts don't reap the benefits of them and that's no bueno.

~Michelle "Shelly"

Thanks everyone!!

In my book from surgeon it as a list of "approved" vitamins, etc and seems so simple, then I go looking and end up feeling overwhelmed and clueless! Not a normal feeling for me! LOL! (unless you were to ask my hubby!)

My surgeon says big NO on the Flintstones... says we will not get what we need from them... But I know we are all told varying things... So I can appreciate that.

I did buy some B12 sublingual today at Walgreens... They had a good brand 10.99 each, but if you bought 2, you got the 2nd one for 3.00... Seemed like a good deal to me!

I currently take D3, daily with iron, and fish oil...

Whew! I have a NUT appt Monday, so I am going to go over all this with her to make sure I am on the right track... I also sent her the link to the CELEBRATE site to see what she thinks of those. And I will recheck the list, because I know there were some 'store bought' ones that were approved to use...

I have a few months still... I am sure I'll get it figured out. I am just slowly buying things now so I have a good supply... spread out the cost a bit :) Poor college student here ;) :)

Becca, I too would be interested in what your Nut says, at my previous WLS Doc/Nut they said we couldn't take Flinstones I had bought some from Bariatric Advantage but at this Doc/Nut they said its ok and they want us to take Flinstones. We are military and moved from Colorado to Arizona.

I am curious if you ask why it does or doesn't matter. For me it might just be the difference of having a military Nut vs. a civilian Nut ;P...who knows lol, I am not scheduled to see my Nut until mid June, but I have more vitamin checks soon, anyway like you I want to do this right :)...Best Wishes

I go see her Monday afternoon... I will be sure and let you know the whys behind the no :)

My WLS program only allows Celebrate and Bariatric Advantage vitamins to be used and they don't sell them so they don't get any money off them. They said these two show the best lab results is why they only allow them. We have to sign a contract with the program before we have WLS at our nutrtional classes that is a vitamin contract saying you know you have to take them for life, the two brands they want us to take and that they can cost up to $50-75 a month and insurance won't cover them.
I use Celebrate brand for my multi vitamin capsule 3 times a day, Calcium Citrate chews 2 chews 3 times a day, Iron +C 30mg one a day at night and then once a week a Sublinual B12. I have had all excellent lab work come back at post op at 1, 3, 6 and now almost 12 months.
I do what my WLS program tells me to. I feel they are experts. Yes I am a rule follower!
If you do get vitamins, get them from Bariatric Choice cause if you find out after surgery you can't tolerate you can return or exchage up to 90 days after purchase even you have opened them. I bought chewables for post op and right after sleeve surgery couldn't handle them so I had to get capsules and I did return the chewables to exchange for capsules and others I take now. It saved me close to $100! I am thankful they were able to do that. In fact anything you order from Bariatric Choice has that return policy and they have free shipping on $50 or more!

Also I forgot to mention. The only calcium WLS people should take is Calcium Citrate and not Calcium Carbonate! We can't process the Calcium Carbonate. Most calcium is carbonate and the OTC chews are carbonate too. The only one I have found that is Calcium Citrate is the Citrical Petites as they are the correct ones but you have to take like 8 or 9 of them. You can buy these at Walmart but they are an odd shape and I still can't take them! I tried these after the nut told me to get them when I was struggling with chewables, then the calcium crystals and finally was able to tolerate the calcium citrate chews. I have to take 6 chews a day and it does add to the cal count a day, 90 cals but the nut said not to worry about that.