Malabsorption

[SufferOne]

What to do if my body is not absorbing nutrients from food. I'm taking nutrients shakes but haven't seen any turning point.I'm feeling so depressed with all these symptoms. I want to feel normal again

[Nackapan]

Can you get a blood test to see your nutritionall status?

Certain foods need to he eaten together to get absorbed. Like iron rich food and vitamin C.

Do you see a dietician. Not knowing much that's all I can think of that might help

[fbirder in reply to Nackapan]

Vitamin C is good at helping the body to absorb iron in some forms. The iron found in plant foods can be especially difficult to absorb. the iron in meat (haem iron) doesn't have such problems ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/174...

[clivealive Forum Support]

Hi SufferOne ironically because of acid reflux you have been prescribed a PPI which lowers acid levels but which also may affect absorption of vitamins and minerals so have you tried adding some lime juice or apple cider vinegar to a glass of water with your meals?

healthline.com/health/how-t...

I am not a medically trained person

[SufferOne in reply to clivealive]

clivealive I tried both. Apple cider seems to help a bit. Thank you.

[deniseinmilden]

Hi!

There is lots of good information in the replies on this forum to get you started. Look through the "Related Posts" to head you in the right direction.

If you find a useful answer you can look up that person's profile by clicking on their name and looking under the heading "replies" to see more. Generally most questions have been covered at some point!

Malabsorption is tricky but manageable. Are you already having B12 injections? If not that's a start and it is possible to get folic acid injections too (although I don't know who uses them). If you have a formal diagnosis then you might be able to get multivitamin and mineral injections: they are available but have become harder to source over the last 10 years following a change in the preservative.

Most absorption problems other than B12 can be got round by eating a well balanced, nutrient dense diet in specific food groups and taking a judicious amount of appropriate supplements. (e.g. IF iron is a problem then you can take iron supplements with red meat or fish two hours apart from any sources of calcium as calcium "locks up" iron).

To stop weight gain you have to cut out "empty calories" from refined sugars and fats/oils.

I have found that I still absorb most things OK in my mouth so either put tablets under my tongue or use sprays or liquid versions which I can hold in my mouth.

[Hidden in reply to deniseinmilden]

Hello Deniseinmilden. You mentioned multivitamins and mineral injection. I have been looking for this for a long time and only found injections for cattle. Where can you get these for humans? Thanks.

[deniseinmilden in reply to Hidden]

I've used the ones you are talking about to very good effect in animals and as far as I know they are, like our B12 and many other drugs, developed for humans first and then used in the animal industry afterwards. To get approval to be used in animals for human consumption they must be safe for humans, so it must be possible to get them from the human health service somehow, the only problem is it might be like drawing hens teeth!!

[Hidden in reply to deniseinmilden]

Thanks. I'll keep looking. The closest thing I found as far as providing vitamins and minerals to humans while bypassing the digestive system is G&G Xtra Protecta multivitamin and mineral supplement. It costs about 10 British pounds plus shipping. I have some people in this forum who say they have conditions such a Celiac disease and that regular Centrium pills are not working. They asked for injections but injections are available for only B-complex vitamins and a few other minerals. It's not possible to get the entire spectrum of vitamins and minerals from just these injections. And since these digestive conditions are chronic, it would be prohibitively expensive to rely on multiple shots just for half of the minerals necessary for being healthy. Thanks.

[deniseinmilden in reply to Hidden]

Thank you very much for the heads up on the sublingual multivitamin and mineral supplement - great!

In tablet form you don't seem to need to use expensive branded multivitamin and mineral supplements: I've done a sort of "Top Trumps" with lots of different ones and have found that the basic supermarket ones are just as well balanced, if not better.

As well as chewing them (mind your teeth!) it is possible to powderise them in a coffee grinder and disguise their taste with strong flavours but this isn't great as they have so much filler in them (this is done to make a big tablet to trigger the placebo effect in people who don't need them). So far when I'm not good I've managed with just taking extra tablets to counter the lower % absorption.

Capsules, which can be broken open, are available and have less filler but I found it hard to get well balanced ones with the full spectrum of everything needed.

I've looked at kids' ones in liquid form and they are OK ish but work out expensive for adult doses. They aren't great at supplying a full spectrum either.

Incidentally the previously mentioned injectable ones won't harm you but taste disgusting (accidental ingestion) and sting like mad - I can't remember which ingredient causes this but my vet has told me. This has put me off the idea of using them on myself! Their lack of long term stability due to the preservative change is also a problem as they don't come in single use ampoules.

If you are hospitalised they can give you injections to cover any deficiency but I'm now wondering if they just make these up to order? This is also only for acute treatment too. However, it should be possible - if only we could find someone who wanted to help!

[MoKayD]

I've just started taking digestive enzyme capsules. I can tell by looking at my bowel movements (sorry if this is TMI) they are helping with my digestion. I am hoping that because of this, my nutrient absorption is also improved.

[dgnvb]

Probiotics have helped me.

[deniseinmilden in reply to dgnvb]

Did you see the post on probiotics from Polaris recently? Thought you might be interested if you missed it.

[cshelly747]

Patches. Your stomach may not be able to absorb nutrients. Try a patch. It puts the nutrient straight into the blood stream. I’ve used the B patch from Patch MD because my stomach can’t absorb B12 or B6. Works well. Not sure what other “nutrients “ they have or what you’re looking for.

[pollianna]

I personally would try the enzymes and go on a fresh green juice fast. I think if the only thing in your system for a week is pure veg juice some of it is likely to get through.

I did it for a week when my whole spine was so inflamed I couldnt even sit up.It was like waving a magic wand.

[Hidden]

SIMPLE SOLUTION....!!! So you can't absorb nutrients from food or nutritional shakes. There are injections out there but they only supply the B-complex and a few other nutrients and they cost hundreds of dollars and considering you have to use them long term, you could spend thousands. You could take a regular vitamin and mineral supplement but these are not getting absorbed because you have a compromised digestion. There is one solution: sublingual multivitamin and minerals. Unfortunately, there is only one product on the market right now, and its this: G&G Xtra Protecta. You put the powder under your tongue and the nutrients absorb thru the blood vessels under your tongue. You will need a digital scale that measures milligrams accurately. Go to gandgvitamins.com or if you live in the UK go to amazon.co.uk to get these. Frunutta also sells sublinguals supplements: frunutta.com/collections/ou...

One last thing that might benefit you is probiotics. Probiotic help break down food for absorption. You will need the pill form because regular yogurt bacteria get destroyed by stomach acid. I've also heard of digestive enzymes but I have not researched it.

God bless you and get better soon.

youtu.be/bAEWeYL8aZI(Not working as expected?)

[deniseinmilden in reply to Hidden]

Thank you!

[Eloh13 in reply to Hidden]

Switch ones to purchase?

[Hidden]

Hello SufferOne. Today I just received my first batch of sublingual vitamins. I have also been taking nutritional shakes but can't absorb. These sublingual nutrients are absorbed in the blood vessels under your tongue. So you don't even need to swallow them. You can start checking out the website below if this interests you. Here's the link:

frunutta.com/collections/ou...