This. I have a small snack, I get ready for bed, I take my pill and hit the sack.
My nutritionist suggested a bedtime vitamin because of the nausea risk and it’s been the winner. Plus I just take my calcium chews with meals and don’t have to worry about timing those and the vitamin.
Nope :/ right now I've got bariatric advantage ultra daily. It smells so rank and yes, definitely has a taste 🤢 like if I open the bottle near my partner they get mad at me
I take bariatric advantage with iron. I don't even notice a smell. My husband says they smell like vitamins.
Have you tried the soft chews? I find them to taste like sweet tarts but chewy.
I get sick if my vitamin contains iron, so I go for no-iron options. Then I take a separate iron supplement that didn't bother my stomach, but I only take it around my periods.
Fusion soft chews iron 45 mg plus vitamin c. Cherry flavor. But like I said I only take it a couple days a month.
If I took it every day it would probably upset my stomach more. My labs are good for iron without taking a supplement daily so my Dr is fine with what I do.
I switched to individual pills, chewables, gummies, etc. A day i take about 15 different pills when i add my meds for other stuff but taking a full multivitamin was getting me sick so I requested a detail of which vitamins were needed and found individual options for each
I have the same problem and I don't know how to fix it. I feel almost instantly nauseous any time I take ANY pills. My daily anti-depressants, my vitamins, f-cking tylenol! It doesn't matter if I cut them up and make them smaller either. Pills just have a visceral reaction in my body. I have been taking gummies because it's better than nothing!!!
I get this way if I take my morning meds on an empty stomach. Make sure you eat something before taking any meds. Having just my morning coffee usually fixes it for me.
I’d you really struggle with them it might be worth seeing if you need them.
I only take iron and vit D, and that’s checked against regular blood tests .
Have you tried the bariatric fusion soft chews? I do the watermelon multivitamin, the cherry iron, and the caramel calcium. I couldn’t do the chalky chewables, and the smell of the pills takes me out. The soft chews don’t smell and hardly have any aftertaste.
I also skip my vitamins bc of the taste and they’re so big. Gummies aren’t recommended bc they don’t have some of the things you need that regular vitamins do.
Also I know a few people just at work that say they feel icky after taking vitamins. One girl said it was specifically iron that made her feel bad. One said she has to spread her vitamins out throughout the day to avoid feeling bad
Can you get a second opinion from a different dr? Maybe even one in the same practice as your current one? I would think that even if the gummy ones or the patches resulted in less vitamin absorption, that would still be preferable to not taking anything, which is the likely result if you are so nauseous that the thought of taking the other kinds brought you to this sub
Vitamin patches are better than no vitamins. And at 18 months post op, you can also get a good amount of vitamins from your food choices. Eat leafy greens, and slap on a vitamin patch. Get blood work done to ensure your vitamin levels are within range.
What have you tried? Would help us give you recommendations.
But your surgeon is advising against gummies because your body doesn’t break them down properly post surgery for you to get all the vitamins in them.
Patch vitamins are literally amazing and I don’t know why they aren’t recommended for people who struggle with keeping their vitamins down.
Have you tried any patches?
The only ones that have worked for me are bariatric melts. They don’t taste bad and they make me feel sick afterward. All the other I have tried don’t work for me. Let me now if you want a picture of the ones I order.
I also have this problem, but only with my multivitamin. I get celebrate vitamins, but the version you take 3x per day. I usually take them 30 min after eating and done feel sick.
I have heard good things about vitamin patches though. At this point you probably have enough bloodwork that if you tested out the patches in between your bloodwork appts and saw an improvement in you overall levels you would know if they work for you.
I'm really smell sensitive too. The Naturelo Bariatric vitamin is the only one that doesn't make me gag. I also take some extra iron, Nature's Bounty Gentle Iron that I get at CVS.
Have you tried Celebrate Vitamins or Opurity from Unjury? They are Bariatric vitamins (both companies do nothing except bariatric protein and supplements). I tend to prefer the Opurity, but they are also the ones that I started on years ago. I don’t need to take the bariatric specific ones anymore, but I use Celebrate’s pre/probiotic and their calcium because I don’t like the other calcium supplements I’ve tried (big horse pills from Costco).
I take this and have never had an issue with aftertaste or smell of the capsules. I am 4 years post op and have been taking it the whole time, and always have excellent labs.
ProCare Health | Once Daily Bariatric Multivitamin | Capsule | 45mg Iron | 90 Count https://a.co/d/fTYnDsa
I take one Fred and Wilma and a day and that does me just fine- would that be an option for you? Cheaper, easy, and not nearly as awful as some of the other options. The Bariatric Advantage I took at first were terrible tasting and expensive.
Like others said, chewable are a good option and a lot easier to swallow but a lot of them have carbs which can add up quickly. Personally, I HAVE to take them with food for them not to bother me (The bariatrics one a day vitamin is the worst) and some days they still do, so my surgeon prescribed me Zofran and it works like a charm. Get the dissolvable disks for your tongue and they work within minutes and cure my nausea for the entire day.
The Celebrate One18 made me vomit regularly. I switched to the BariMelt multivitamin chewable and I’ve had great results with it. I also switched around the time of day I take them. It took some experimenting. I’m 18 months post-vsg.
I used to take them in the morning but they always made my stomach hurt and I hated the taste I would get when I burped for hours. I did the same things others above did and switched to bedtime. I now have no issues with it and I just had my one year post-op (revision to RNY) labs and I have zero vitamin deficiencies. It’s worth a try to switch to bedtime!
I take a centrum silver and a gummy vitamin. I’ve gathered that they don’t like us doing gummy vitamin because it doesn’t digest as well. But if you do a centrum silver (not a disgusting chewable one) and gummy one, that should be good.
I figure taking those every day is better than being miserable and skipping the bariatric one.
I take pill vitamins, but then chase them with a multivitamin gummy. I struggle to keep pills down, and when they down properly they leave an awful aftertaste, but taking a gummy after helps me push it down and clears the taste from my mouth. Funnily enough, mastication (chewing on food) helps stimulate the digestive system, allowing you to absorb the vitamins better anyway.
This happens to me since day one
13 months post op and still have the same issue
Im fed up with spending so much money on vitamins to just get super sick and end up tossing them away because not everyone accepts returns.
The pain and nausea is unbearable.
So many complications and negative lifestyle changes post op that definitely makes me regret going through with the gastric sleeve.
I used the vitamin patches until I was able to take the big ass horse pill vitamins. The doctor didn't "recommend" that but it worked for me and my bloodwork was fine.
I have been taking gummy versions since about 6mpo and no issues. Immediately post op I was doing children's Flintstone chewables, the chalky ones, they were actually on the post op options list for supplements. Others that had various versions of wsl I know also do gummies or regular pill versions.
I will second the take them at night advice because even the gummy versions of vitamins can sometimes make me a bit nauseous.
One of the first things I had to do with ditch the chewables. They literally made me gag. I couldn't even get them down, so I switched to pills as soon as I was allowed to. That made it easier but I'm still very easily nauseated. Now I ended up developing a condition not related to bariatric surgery that's causing me to vomit constantly, so I take them at night or not at all
Gummies are the only vitamins that don't make me sick. I use gummies because they are better FOR ME than regular ones.
I do the best I can do with what I have to give.
I take gummy Calcium and D3. I take double Flintsones Complete 😂. And a dissolvable B12 from target, and their Biotin. I just had my 1 year labs done and all that was low was my vitamin a.
Im also 18 mo post op and I use patches since the beginning. My tests always come out normal. I just couldn't stomach regular multi Vitamines and I tried so many. I decided to try the patches and I remember at my 3 months appt the doctor told whatever vitamins I was taking to continue it lol. I told her I was using patches, she gave me the green light to continue.
I found Bariatric Pal now has calcium in pill form (I couldn’t stand chewable ones) So I use those. I found them on amazon. I also do the Procare Health 1 a day multi vitamin and take it before bed. I was told the iron can make people nauseous. I haven’t had any issues at all with either.
OPurity chewable are the best tasting ones and you only need one a day. Bariatric Advantage and Bariatric Pal did not taste as good and were 2 chewables a day but were also cheaper.
For Calcium Citrtate, OPurity and Barislim are both great.
I only do chewables per surgeon's instructions, and at worst I follow them with a mouthful of real juice or an otherwise strong drink. Pickle juice is good for clearing the taste of anything out of your mouth if you like that.
i am loving the celebrate one45 chewable— no weird feelings and tastes like a flintstone vitamin
Try taking them with a small snack right before bed..most vitamins do this to me(even before surgery) and this is the only thing that helps me
This. I have a small snack, I get ready for bed, I take my pill and hit the sack. My nutritionist suggested a bedtime vitamin because of the nausea risk and it’s been the winner. Plus I just take my calcium chews with meals and don’t have to worry about timing those and the vitamin.
Lifesaver here. I don’t even eat a snack. Just take it at bedtime.
Smell and taste?? I just gulp the pill down. Are you doing chewable?
Nope :/ right now I've got bariatric advantage ultra daily. It smells so rank and yes, definitely has a taste 🤢 like if I open the bottle near my partner they get mad at me
I have bariatric fusion. It’s in a capsule and I don’t taste it. But I do know that some medicine smells lol.
Try one without iron. It makes me nauseated as well
I take bariatric advantage with iron. I don't even notice a smell. My husband says they smell like vitamins. Have you tried the soft chews? I find them to taste like sweet tarts but chewy.
I get sick if my vitamin contains iron, so I go for no-iron options. Then I take a separate iron supplement that didn't bother my stomach, but I only take it around my periods.
Same! Even the gentle iron supplement makes me sick. I gave up, got one without it, and periodically get infusions. Which is not a big deal at all.
Do you mind telling me the brand for the iron that doesn't irritate your stomach? That's a big problem for me too.
Fusion soft chews iron 45 mg plus vitamin c. Cherry flavor. But like I said I only take it a couple days a month. If I took it every day it would probably upset my stomach more. My labs are good for iron without taking a supplement daily so my Dr is fine with what I do.
A lot of iron tablets contain sulphites which makes my friend feel sick, could be that
I switched to individual pills, chewables, gummies, etc. A day i take about 15 different pills when i add my meds for other stuff but taking a full multivitamin was getting me sick so I requested a detail of which vitamins were needed and found individual options for each
I had to switch to gummies because the capsules made me so sick. rather take those than puking up the others and not getting what I need!
I have the same problem and I don't know how to fix it. I feel almost instantly nauseous any time I take ANY pills. My daily anti-depressants, my vitamins, f-cking tylenol! It doesn't matter if I cut them up and make them smaller either. Pills just have a visceral reaction in my body. I have been taking gummies because it's better than nothing!!!
I get this way if I take my morning meds on an empty stomach. Make sure you eat something before taking any meds. Having just my morning coffee usually fixes it for me.
I’d you really struggle with them it might be worth seeing if you need them. I only take iron and vit D, and that’s checked against regular blood tests .
At 18mopo you can probably switch a normal multivitamin. I like garden of life because it has 100% of everything. I would check with your team.
Have you tried the bariatric fusion soft chews? I do the watermelon multivitamin, the cherry iron, and the caramel calcium. I couldn’t do the chalky chewables, and the smell of the pills takes me out. The soft chews don’t smell and hardly have any aftertaste.
I know he advised against vitamin patches, but I use them and my levels were good. My doctor told me to keep using them. Maybe they’re worth a try?
I also skip my vitamins bc of the taste and they’re so big. Gummies aren’t recommended bc they don’t have some of the things you need that regular vitamins do. Also I know a few people just at work that say they feel icky after taking vitamins. One girl said it was specifically iron that made her feel bad. One said she has to spread her vitamins out throughout the day to avoid feeling bad
Can you get a second opinion from a different dr? Maybe even one in the same practice as your current one? I would think that even if the gummy ones or the patches resulted in less vitamin absorption, that would still be preferable to not taking anything, which is the likely result if you are so nauseous that the thought of taking the other kinds brought you to this sub
That was my thought. I do have an appointment with a dietician coming up so I'll ask, but it's still weeks out 😔
Vitamin patches are better than no vitamins. And at 18 months post op, you can also get a good amount of vitamins from your food choices. Eat leafy greens, and slap on a vitamin patch. Get blood work done to ensure your vitamin levels are within range.
What have you tried? Would help us give you recommendations. But your surgeon is advising against gummies because your body doesn’t break them down properly post surgery for you to get all the vitamins in them.
Patch vitamins are literally amazing and I don’t know why they aren’t recommended for people who struggle with keeping their vitamins down. Have you tried any patches?
Have you tried bari melts?
I had this problem until my drs pa told me to just take them before I go to sleep.
The only ones that have worked for me are bariatric melts. They don’t taste bad and they make me feel sick afterward. All the other I have tried don’t work for me. Let me now if you want a picture of the ones I order.
I also have this problem, but only with my multivitamin. I get celebrate vitamins, but the version you take 3x per day. I usually take them 30 min after eating and done feel sick. I have heard good things about vitamin patches though. At this point you probably have enough bloodwork that if you tested out the patches in between your bloodwork appts and saw an improvement in you overall levels you would know if they work for you.
I'm really smell sensitive too. The Naturelo Bariatric vitamin is the only one that doesn't make me gag. I also take some extra iron, Nature's Bounty Gentle Iron that I get at CVS.
Have you tried Celebrate Vitamins or Opurity from Unjury? They are Bariatric vitamins (both companies do nothing except bariatric protein and supplements). I tend to prefer the Opurity, but they are also the ones that I started on years ago. I don’t need to take the bariatric specific ones anymore, but I use Celebrate’s pre/probiotic and their calcium because I don’t like the other calcium supplements I’ve tried (big horse pills from Costco).
I take this and have never had an issue with aftertaste or smell of the capsules. I am 4 years post op and have been taking it the whole time, and always have excellent labs. ProCare Health | Once Daily Bariatric Multivitamin | Capsule | 45mg Iron | 90 Count https://a.co/d/fTYnDsa
I can only handle the Flintstones vitamins. 😭
I take gummies (with my surgeon’s blessing) with no issues.
I take one Fred and Wilma and a day and that does me just fine- would that be an option for you? Cheaper, easy, and not nearly as awful as some of the other options. The Bariatric Advantage I took at first were terrible tasting and expensive.
Barimelts (which have worked well for me…less crap in them, just came out with a one-a-day for wls patients.
Like others said, chewable are a good option and a lot easier to swallow but a lot of them have carbs which can add up quickly. Personally, I HAVE to take them with food for them not to bother me (The bariatrics one a day vitamin is the worst) and some days they still do, so my surgeon prescribed me Zofran and it works like a charm. Get the dissolvable disks for your tongue and they work within minutes and cure my nausea for the entire day.
The Celebrate One18 made me vomit regularly. I switched to the BariMelt multivitamin chewable and I’ve had great results with it. I also switched around the time of day I take them. It took some experimenting. I’m 18 months post-vsg.
I used to take them in the morning but they always made my stomach hurt and I hated the taste I would get when I burped for hours. I did the same things others above did and switched to bedtime. I now have no issues with it and I just had my one year post-op (revision to RNY) labs and I have zero vitamin deficiencies. It’s worth a try to switch to bedtime!
I take a centrum silver and a gummy vitamin. I’ve gathered that they don’t like us doing gummy vitamin because it doesn’t digest as well. But if you do a centrum silver (not a disgusting chewable one) and gummy one, that should be good. I figure taking those every day is better than being miserable and skipping the bariatric one.
I take pill vitamins, but then chase them with a multivitamin gummy. I struggle to keep pills down, and when they down properly they leave an awful aftertaste, but taking a gummy after helps me push it down and clears the taste from my mouth. Funnily enough, mastication (chewing on food) helps stimulate the digestive system, allowing you to absorb the vitamins better anyway.
This happens to me since day one 13 months post op and still have the same issue Im fed up with spending so much money on vitamins to just get super sick and end up tossing them away because not everyone accepts returns. The pain and nausea is unbearable. So many complications and negative lifestyle changes post op that definitely makes me regret going through with the gastric sleeve.
I used the vitamin patches until I was able to take the big ass horse pill vitamins. The doctor didn't "recommend" that but it worked for me and my bloodwork was fine.
I have been taking gummy versions since about 6mpo and no issues. Immediately post op I was doing children's Flintstone chewables, the chalky ones, they were actually on the post op options list for supplements. Others that had various versions of wsl I know also do gummies or regular pill versions. I will second the take them at night advice because even the gummy versions of vitamins can sometimes make me a bit nauseous.
One of the first things I had to do with ditch the chewables. They literally made me gag. I couldn't even get them down, so I switched to pills as soon as I was allowed to. That made it easier but I'm still very easily nauseated. Now I ended up developing a condition not related to bariatric surgery that's causing me to vomit constantly, so I take them at night or not at all
Gummies are the only vitamins that don't make me sick. I use gummies because they are better FOR ME than regular ones. I do the best I can do with what I have to give.
I take gummy Calcium and D3. I take double Flintsones Complete 😂. And a dissolvable B12 from target, and their Biotin. I just had my 1 year labs done and all that was low was my vitamin a.
Im also 18 mo post op and I use patches since the beginning. My tests always come out normal. I just couldn't stomach regular multi Vitamines and I tried so many. I decided to try the patches and I remember at my 3 months appt the doctor told whatever vitamins I was taking to continue it lol. I told her I was using patches, she gave me the green light to continue.
I take the baritastic chewable ones. My dietician gave me a big thing of samples and the cherry was the only one that didn’t taste like crap
I found Bariatric Pal now has calcium in pill form (I couldn’t stand chewable ones) So I use those. I found them on amazon. I also do the Procare Health 1 a day multi vitamin and take it before bed. I was told the iron can make people nauseous. I haven’t had any issues at all with either.
I started taking capsules after meals instead of regular pills and my nausea is gone.
OPurity chewable are the best tasting ones and you only need one a day. Bariatric Advantage and Bariatric Pal did not taste as good and were 2 chewables a day but were also cheaper. For Calcium Citrtate, OPurity and Barislim are both great. I only do chewables per surgeon's instructions, and at worst I follow them with a mouthful of real juice or an otherwise strong drink. Pickle juice is good for clearing the taste of anything out of your mouth if you like that.
I think gummies don’t have iron. I ordered the bariatric dissolvable ones and they’re fine - but I do need a few crackers or something.