Vitamins after bariatric surgery

[Newlifenewme]

I’m due to have my surgery next week and I’m bricking it. I’ve just been looking at the vitamins my dietician recommended and they are quite hard to find in the Uk.

my questions are, if you’ve had the surgery which vitamins do you take? Do you get them prescribed by your GP? If not when do you get them from?

thanks in advance

What did they recommend?

I take Forceval as recommended by my surgeon. They're prescribed by my GP.

I also take calcium, Vit D, iron, and have B12 injections every 3 months.

What vitamins have you been recommended?

They recommended baricol which is a chewable vitamin to start with. There’s only one place I’ve seen this and it’s a subscription from Norway??

I need to take lots of liquids with tablets at the moment so I don’t know what il be like post surgery. I’m worried anything else chewable or liquid won’t be enough?

I have a letter to take to my GP with everything I need but I was unsure if they would prescribe vitamins?

My sister took the inital dose from her surgeon as it was at a discounted rate but has since looked at the ingredients of the supplements and buys them usually from boots etc as the prescription from the surgeon was v.v.expensive and she could sieve them herself, her nutritionist is happy with this and agrees also

She also spaced her tablets out through the day go help with the amounts of liquid

I recall Baricol being on a list of possible meds when I had surgery, and like you, I found the only place to order was from Norway. My provider, Healthier Weight, also listed alternatives with Forceval being the most comprehensive supplement so perhaps you could ask your provider about Forceval?

It comes in a capsule and soluble form. I took Forceval soluble post op and went onto Forceval capsules when I was on solid food.

Are you having surgery outside of the UK?

Well do bear in mind that if your medication is currently for things that are caused by your weight then by the time you've lost a lot you may come off them. Im on a couple of different blood pressure medications nd Im hoping that if I go for weight loss surgery I wont need it after while

www.weldricks.co.uk/products/forceval-capsules-pack-of-90

@LynneBenfield no I’m having surgery in the uk

Everyone else, thank you for the advice. I’m going to talk to my GP and see if I can get the soluble or liquid on prescription until I can take tablets. Looks like forceval is a good alternative. They have already agreed I can have the b12 injections. I pay for prescriptions but will still be cheaper than almost £90 a time!

I don’t have any major health concerns so a normal multivitamin might be an option when I’m back to eating solid foods.

Sorry, I wasn’t being snarky @Newlifenewme. I was asking because it seems odd that you’d be prescribed medications by a UK registered dietician that weren’t readily available in the UK. I hope all goes well with your surgery and recovery.

I buy mine from Tonic, where I had my surgery done. You should just be able to buy them online. Pricy but tailored for bariatric patients, and really small too!

I take Vit D on top of that and iron as I was deficient in those even before my surgery.

I didn’t think you were being sarky maybe my reply was a bit off lol

Yer I thought the same about the vitamins but maybe they are available on prescription, I don’t know.

thank you

It depends on your procedure. Sleeve you will be fine with generic multi vitamins all my levels have been fine and I have a b12 injection. I buy cheap 100 percent RDI ones. Bypass you need to be more careful as you aren't absorbing everything you eat anymore.

I'm 3 years out and forceval didn't agree with me so I switched to centrum chewable. Now I just take a normal multivitamin. I also take vitamin D, biotin (for hair loss) and glucosamin for joints. I get mine all from Amazon.

Good luck.

Also have my B12 every 3 months.

I had a sleeve.

Ive never heard of a brand that is 100% recommended dose?

Does the GP do the injections?

I pay for my own it's only £15 where I go. Look for a-z with iron boots , superdrug Tesco's , Amazon everywhere does them and read the label . My GP didn't want to prescribe multivitamins and I understand why my blood work is good and I didn't want to cost the NHS money when supermarket ones are fine I'm 14 months out , you do have to be more careful with bypass though. I've never lost my hair either so supermarket ones have been fine.

Its the sleeve Im looking at so Im hoping the nutrition issue wont be as marked

What brand do you buy then, can you put a link there?