multivitamins making me puke

[KM84]

Help! I finally started taking a multivitamin, but even if I take it with food I puke it up in 10-15 minutes.

The pills are also so big I just about gag on them.

Are there any good smaller pills? I can take handfuls of advil no problem, but these vitamins are just not agreeing with me.

I'm seriously contemplating getting some flntstones vitamins (do they even make those anymore?). Because I am apparently 5.

[mamaforever]

Well, I have a few ideas.

1) Try taking the vitamin just before going to bed (but also with some food).  That is a suggestion for many pregnant ladies dealing with constant sickness, so it may work for you too.

2) Try a chewable vitamin (they actually make them for adults too- even prenatal ones!).

3) I started taking my husband's multi for a while but they made me feel sick (a little nauseous, but mostly gave me a pain in the middle of my gut), I switched to a prenatal and that solved the problem.  I think DH's vitamin (I think was Centrum brand) was just too strong for me- like maybe it was meant more for a man's body, not a woman's.  So maybe all you need to do is switch to a women's multi or a prenatal (if the one you're taking now is not)???

If all else fails, the children's vitamins are better than nothing at all! :)

[janellody]

I take a chewable prenatal, I can't take big pills, either and they have worked great for me!

[kittenbritches]

My prenatal makes me feel gross (even just swallowing it makes me queasy and I take bigger pills than it without issue)!  I try to always take it right after eating, and if I wait a little bit, I always at least eat a few crackers afterward.  I know plenty of pregnant women whose doctors have them take Flintstones vitamins because their prenatal makes them puke...so it's definitely a viable option!

They also have gummy vitamins for us "big kids," but I'm not sure of the details on those.  I got gummy vitamins for my kids once and they made me crazy because they were always stuck together inside the bottle and didn't stay soft.

Is there a lot of iron in your prenatal?  That's often the culprit for prenatals making you barfy.  Here's an article on prenatals causing nausea/vomiting from http://www.babycenter.com/404_is-my-prenatal-vitamin-making-me-nauseated_2076.bc

Some pregnant women do have trouble tolerating certain prenatal supplements, particularly those that contain a lot of iron. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all pregnant women take a daily supplement containing 30 milligrams (mg) of iron, but some prenatal vitamins contain more than that. So check the label — if your vitamin contains more than 30 mg of iron you can switch to one with 30 mg, as long as you're not anemic. Ask your healthcare provider to recommend one.

You can also try taking your prenatal vitamin with food or just before bed. Or break the tablet in half and take it in divided doses. If none of these measures help, ask your provider whether you can switch to a prenatal vitamin without iron during your first trimester if you work on increasing your iron consumption from food sources.

If the size of the pill is what's making you gag, you can switch to a chewable or liquid supplement or a smaller pill without calcium. Calcium is a very bulky mineral, and you can probably get what you need from separate chewable calcium supplements or dairy products.

Make sure that your prenatal vitamin contains vitamin B6 (or talk to your provider about taking a separate B6 supplement). Research indicates that vitamin B6 may help relieve nausea in some women during pregnancy.

Whatever you do, it's very important to make sure to continue to take folic acid. The CDC reports that women who take folic acid (a synthetic form of folate) in the months before pregnancy and during the first trimester can reduce the risk of neural tube birth defects in their baby by up to 70 percent.

The recommended dose of folic acid is 400 micrograms (mcg) a day while you're trying to conceive and 600 mcg once pregnancy is confirmed. (This is in addition to the folate you get from food, which your body doesn't absorb as well as the synthetic kind.) Your prenatal supplement should contain at least that much.

[Jaimee]

Yeah, iron is usually the culprit.  You can get prenatal vitamins without iron and then supplement with Floradix for your iron if you need it.  There are also several brands of prenatal that require you to take several a day.  This means the pill is smaller and might be easier to swallow.  Some brands also contain digestive enzymes to ease nausea.  I have always found taking them at night is helpful as well.  I use Rainbow Light and have rarely had issues.

[KM84]

Thanks for all the suggestions, it sounds like I'll need to spend a little more time perusing the bottles at the store.

[BubbleMa]

I would be really careful with a lot of the drugstore vitamins.  Most (if not all) of them have artificial coloring, flavors, and fillers.  Especially the children's and gummies.  And hardly any of them (if any at all) are derived from plant sources.  In addition to not being great for you, this might be causing your nausea. 

A lot of people in the health forum recommend the New Chapter brand.  I take Nutrilite and really like them. 

[morganxobrooks]

I'd probably suggest that you'd get the flintstone vitamins. They've always agreed with me, even with morning sickness and nausea. I can't handle prenatal vitamins either, they're huge and they make me gag. Flintstone vitamins would be better than no vitamins at all. You can only do what your body can tolerate...good luck.

[Katrinaquerida]

I always take mine right before bed. Then if my tummy hurts I am asleep and dont notice!

[BubbleMa]

I just found another possible alternative.  Emergen-C makes a Kid's Multivitamin in powder form.  You add it to water (or juice) and drink it.  I looked at the contents and it appears to have everything you need.  Including 400mg of Folic Acid. 

So, that's another option for you. :)

[Rani]

I went a different route. I have to take iron for anemia and never could take a mutlivit SO, I discovered that I could take them individually as a handful of pills and be okay. So I take iron, a fiber pill (for the iron), bvitamn, c, e and d in the morning after I eat breakfest. Then I take iron (have to split 100 mcg into 2 doses), folic, omega in the evening after dinner.  I can take a whole handful of the individual pills with no problems but will throw up a multivit in a heart beat.

[KM84]

Thanks, those are both great suggestions. I need to go to a better store for vitamins, the one near us didn't have any that were just folic acid. I found some prenatal chewables, which don't have iron, so those are working for the time being, but there's some debate about the source of Vitamin A used in them, so after this bottle I'll probably switch to something else.

[TeamViddy]

I get the Trader Joes multivitamins (they look a lot like the Rainbow Light food-based ones but are much less expensive). I could swallow them for a while and then started gagging... Now I chop them in half and take each side separately. TJs sells a prenatal too, and I'll start on that once I am done with the regular Women's Once Daily.

Also to Rani's point- one thing I've heard is that certain vitamins and minerals will cancel each other out, like calcium and iron taken together will hurt your body's ability to absorb both (source). So taking each one throughout the day and coupling them appropriately can have benefits beyond preventing nausea.

[Jaimee]

Originally Posted by TeamViddy 

I get the Trader Joes multivitamins .

My dh takes those and when I run out of my RL prenatals, I've taken his.  I personally found even though they are smaller than RL the smell was to much for me to handle.
 

[cameragirl]

Try a whole food prenatal if you haven't already. They're much easier to digest. Taking the vitamins at night can help, too.