Is it unheard of to get an upset stomach from a multivitamin?

[Foxhound3857]

When I first started taking Centrum it gave me bad bouts of nausea, so I started breaking it in half to see if that would help. It did, the stomach irritation was still there but it was tolerable.

Today I tried to take a whole vitamin again, trying to get back on a routine regimen, and I took it with food this time, a strawberry yogurt and an egg and cheese quesadilla. Fifteen minutes later I'm vomiting my breakfast into a porcelain bowl.

Is it normal for a multivitamin to do this? I want to take one just to shore up any deficiencies in my diet, so I'm thinking maybe go back to the old Flintstones chewables I took as a child, as ridiculous as that sounds at my age. Those never hurt my stomach the way Centrum seems to.

 

[kirstenb1]

I'm fine with Centrum, but those prenatal vitamins years ago always gave me indigestion. I can totally believe it would upset your stomach.

 

[lorimay]

Oh yeah they bother my stomach empty or full, morning or evening.

 

[Chickenlady]

Very common side effect of vitamins. I find that to be able to take a multivitamin, I have to take it at bedtime on an empty stomach. I was once on IV's for a while. When the nurse would come in and put the vitamin solution in the IV bag, I would get horribly sick. They thought it was all in my head until they started sneaking it in in the middle of the night and I'd wake right up and barf. I could taste it! Luckily, tablets don't have the same effect at night.

 

[morgan98]

I have always had trouble with taking mutli vitamins, especially on an empty stomach. Like I have thrown them up several times.

I find that chewables are better than nothing.

 

[Micca]

I want to take one just to shore up any deficiencies in my diet

A doctor can run a simple blood test to see if you have any deficiencies, you might not need them at all. You might compare Centrum with the chewable vitamins, I have a hunch that the biggest difference between the two is marketing

 

[Christine]

Lots of people react to vitamins.

Could be the fillers/binders in the tablet, could be the vitamins themselves (iron bothers many people--not sure if Centrum has iron in it). Go back to Flintstones or one of the many "gummy" vitamins on the market.

 

[Foxhound3857]

Alright, back to Flintstones it is. Even if I don't need it, the worst thing that can happen is my body will discard whatever it can't use. I don't have the best diet after all.

Might even help me to remember to take my antidepressant in the morning.

 

[MissManda]

I take my multivitamin at night. That has helped me with the nauseous (which I think is from the iron in it). Also, I would suggest switching brands to see if that makes a difference.

 

[Micca]

Alright, back to Flintstones it is. Even if I don't need it, the worst thing that can happen is my body will discard whatever it can't use. I don't have the best diet after all.

Might even help me to remember to take my antidepressant in the morning.

Hope it works out! I'll just add one thought to my earlier post about blood work. If you are deficient in something--let's just say Vitamin E, there's a chance that the amount contained in the multivitamin is not sufficient to make up for it.So there you are ingesting a bunch of vitamins you don't need while not getting enough of what you do need. A doctor can help you find the correct strength to fix it.

Anyway, maybe more than you wanted to know, you probably would like to stop getting sick and get on with it.

 

[Foxhound3857]

I take my multivitamin at night. That has helped me with the nauseous (which I think is from the iron in it). Also, I would suggest switching brands to see if that makes a difference.

Even without the multi my Iron level is always pretty high whenever I go to donate platelets, about 15.3 on average.

 

[lifesavacation]

I'm fine with Centrum, but those prenatal vitamins years ago always gave me indigestion. I can totally believe it would upset your stomach.

Man, prenatal vitamins were tough on me. I was already throwing up from morning sickness and then trying to keep those down was an almost impossible daily battle.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

I agree with the iron assessment. If your iron is already fine, definitely try a multi vitamin without the iron. They are not always easy to find.

 

[smiths02]

I agree with the iron assessment. If your iron is already fine, definitely try a multi vitamin without the iron. They are not always easy to find.

A lot of the men's formulations do not have iron.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

A lot of the men's formulations do not have iron.

Ah, ok. I had a hard time finding a women's vitamin without it, and eventually used a prenatal without iron, not because of wanting to get pregnant, just that was the only I could find.

 

[Foxhound3857]

Those centrums do have Iron. That might be it.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I believe that most OTC multivitamins are full of cheaper and synthetic vitamins, etc...
I can't take them.

THESE I can take:
But, I am seeing a new label design, and perhaps some changes to the formula.
I hope they are still as great!
You can take one of these at each meal....
https://www.swansonvitamins.com/pure-essence-lifeessence-multivitamin-mineral-240-tabs

The label on our big bottle of these, which we keep in the fridge, is the same look/design as this alternate version, below.
I had not looked at this one before. My husband has ordered the original for years.
I think from GNC, Swanson???? Where ever is on sale cheaper.

This is the ONE PER DAY formula - with less bulk minerals like Calcium, to fit into one dose, but most of all the other supplements.
https://www.swansonvitamins.com/pure-essence-one-n-only-superior-tonic-multiple-90-tabs

I notice it says can be taken with a meal, or on an empty stomach.

Here is the Pure Essence web-site:
https://www.pureessencelabs.com/multivitamins/

They have formulas for Men, Women, etc...

 

[jsmith]

Something with out iron, as others have said, may solve your issue. Years ago I had horrible issues with prenatals. We put it down to just pregnancy blech but those prenatals were high in iron. Fast forward 30 years and a medical issue left me anemic. After trying 4 different types of high dose oral iron all of which made me the doc went to IV iron. I think my orginal issue was those prenatals.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Even without the multi my Iron level is always pretty high whenever I go to donate platelets, about 15.3 on average.

I'm betting you have already enough Iron in your diet.

I took Women's One a Day for just a few days and I was horribly sick to my stomach. It was from the Iron content. I was basically getting way too much iron.

FWIW even though myself I took a multivitamin without a doctor looking at me first I wouldn't recommend doing what I did (and what a lot of people do). Truthfully a lot of people take multivitamins and they don't need to. Their diets already get enough.

There is a difference in needing one or more vitamin or minerals on a person to person basis and us just taking the multivitamins because we've been inundated with things telling us and marketing to us to take multivitamins.

So I'd recommend getting yourself tested and then having the doctor give you recommendations.

 

[Christine]

Even if I don't need it, the worst thing that can happen is my body will discard whatever it can't use. I don't have the best diet after all.

This is not a true statement. For the water soluable vitamins like Vitamin C or B, this is true. You'll just pee out anything your body doesn't need. For the fat soluable vitamins (A, D, E, & K) these build up. If you are not deficient, you can get side effects from them building up. I had some uncomfortable side effects from too much Vitamin E. Chances are, though, that whatever is in a multivitamin is not at a high enough dose to be a problem.