Multi vitamins minus calcium and vitamin D

[Haz58]

Saw Rheumy nurse yesterday. Still waiting to start Etanercept jab. But she said I should get multivitamins but minus vitamin D and Calcium as I'm already on calcichew D3 twice a day. Looked on line but cannot find any without these. Has anyone multi vitamins without calcium and vitamin D3?

[vonniesims]

I wonder if your chemist has any?

[Haz58 in reply to vonniesims]

Yes thanks. I'll go to boots or somewhere but as they aren't available online I just wondered if anyone else had had some without cal or D.

[AgedCrone]

Well…if your nurse prescribes this type of Multi Vitamin….shouldn’t she prescribe it?

Sounds like getting you to pay for it(if you get free prescriptions.)

Maybe this is a new instruction to GPs?

[Haz58 in reply to AgedCrone]

Well I actually thought that. I know they are cutting things like paracetamol etc and not prescribing them anymore. If 8 can't get them I'll ring the Rheumy nurse and see what she suggests.

[KittyJ]

I haven’t seen them but I take vit D and calcium and my rheumy is happy for me to take a general multivitamin too. I agree with Aged Crone that the nurse should prescribe them if they’re that hard to source yourself.

[CallMeSunny]

Do you think your diet is lacking any vitamins? A well balanced Mediterranean-type diet is said to provide sufficient nutrients without the need or expense of supplements. Obviously if you know you are deficient in a particular vitamin, then your GP can advise.

[Haz58 in reply to CallMeSunny]

Since I've been on sulfasalazine and when they add Prednisolone I get sore mouth edges. Ive had it everytime I'm put on it. I showed her and said that last time I was told to take folic acid for a week. (I don't like taking other stuff unless they say so) She said my bloods are fine but to take a multivitamin in case I'm lacking something. I'm going to ring them I think because I know taking too much vitamins can do more harm than good. This is the nurse that told me to double the Leflunomide too early (according to one of her colleagues) and it made me quite poorly. I'm a bit wary of her advice now.

[cyberbarn]

I wonder if you could clarify with the nurse what she actually meant. Bog standard vitamins will not have calcium but will have a small amount of vitamin D. I wonder if she meant stopping the calcichews as taking them and a multivitamin will give you a much higher amount of vitamin D.

And it is pretty easy to get vitamins only, Boots do vitamins at 99p a bottle. It is when they add the minerals that they get expensive.

[Haz58 in reply to cyberbarn]

Yes I'll do that. Thank you for replying.

[helixhelix]

Do you have a good diet, ie lots of fruit and veg with some lean protein and fish every week? If so how does she know you need multivitamins?

[Haz58 in reply to helixhelix]

Lots of veg. Large banana and big handful of blueberries for breakfast every day. Always have lean red meat twice a week and salmon once a week . Chicken one or twice and a vegetarian meal once or twice a week. Tuna twice a week in sandwiches. All I did was ask her about sores that I keep getting at the sides of my mouth since on sulfasalazine and Prednisolone and she said perhaps you should take a multivitamin. It was when I got home I thought about the calcium and vitamin D I already take prescribed by my GP after I had a vertabrae fracture.

[WilfDog]

I stopped calcichew and vitamin D3 and sourced my own vitamins. I showed them to my consultant who okayed them and found them extremely helpful. They are potent vitamins, essential oils and other minerals that can be lacking in the body. I haven't had a flare up since I've been taking them. I'm also on etanercept and prednisolone 5mg now, as I'm in the process of reducing them due to long-term use.

[Bethany02]

Worth getting your b12 checked my mum used to get angular cheilitis it's usually a sign of deficiency

[Haz58 in reply to Bethany02]

I started taking B12 and within 4 days it had gone. 😊