Liquid Supplements

• In the first few weeks after gastric bypass surgery, bariatric supplements must be in liquid form. Patients will not be able to tolerate swallowing a pill so soon after the surgery. Protein shakes ensure that you are able to get enough protein in your diet while you are consuming a liquid diet. Chewable vitamins, like the ones for children, are the best way to get vitamins and minerals in your system in the first two weeks after surgery.
  
  Supplements will be necessary for the rest of your life after bariatric surgery. Not taking supplements to ensure that you are getting the proper amounts of vitamins and minerals can result in malnutrition and other serious conditions. Bariatric patients should be especially concerned with deficiencies in calcium, protein, vitamin B12 and iron.
  
  

What to Look For

• Once you are able to swallow multivitamins, look for a vitamin that is high quality and provides all of the necessary daily requirements for vitamins and minerals. Choose a vitamin that dissolves quickly so that the nutrients are absorbed into the body faster. A vitamin that dissolves faster has a greater ability to be absorbed.
  Choose a vitamin that does not have a great many fillers. The fillers in most vitamins do not provide any nutritional value and are there to give the pill flavor or make it bigger. The fillers can prevent absorption, and this is a special concern for those who have had bariatric surgery.
  
  

Vitamins for Life

• As a bariatric patient, you should have your blood checked every six months, or at minimum once a year. The absorption problems gastric bypass patients face make vitamin supplementation a fact of life after the surgery. The blood tests are used to ensure that you are getting proper levels of vitamins and minerals.
  
  If you are feeling fatigued or sluggish, it is time to have your blood checked to make sure that you are getting the proper nutrition. The surgery can do wonders for your weight by restricting the absorption of the foods that you eat, but it also can cause problems because nutrients are not absorbed as well.