# Vitamins not digesting, pooping them out



## 16520 (Nov 25, 2006)

Lovely title. Catchy.I've had IBS-A for 30 years, which has switched to IBS-C in the last year. I am constantly impacted, have to use enemas every 3 days and manual disimpaction - essentially the back door is closed and locked.But the SIBO test revealed that I don't have SIBO, but that I have rapid transit. I believe this due to the symptoms for years of IBS-D.I haven't read anything before about a large vitamin passing completely through your system without breaking down. I only knew because I saw it peeking out from one of the rocks that I pass.Has this happened to anybody? Is it "normal"? I can't talk to my doctor for a few days and it is disturbing me as I wonder if I am getting any nutrients at all.Any help would be appreciated.Thanks.


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## overitnow (Nov 25, 2001)

This is something I have heard of reported by people who pump outhouses for parks departments. Apparantly, finding any number of pills in the bottom of the tanks is normal, although, fortunately, I have no direct experience of that.Many vitamins use binders that don't break down well (or at all). Since most of us don't notice a big difference when we take them, we just assume we are absorbing them. This is often not the case--and with minerals, even if they do dissolve--as you have found out.There is a "peeing yellow" test, from one of the vitamins, although I no longer remember which. In any case, if your urine does not turn a much brighter yellow, you are probably not getting them into your system.Mark


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## 16520 (Nov 25, 2006)

Whoa, that is a fascinating fact, I'll have to go look that up - who would even think of that?I am on several different vitamins, started adding a few a couple of months ago, and my urine is NOT yellow. It always was when I took vitamins before, but I haven't noticed until you just mentioned it. Thank you for adding that fact.I can't each much due to the blockage and terrible pain, so this is not a good thing.Thanks again, a lot, I need to ask my doc about this for sure.


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

> But the SIBO test revealed that I don't have SIBO, but that I have rapid transit.


The results are essentially the same; whether you have one or the other is just how your doctor inteprets it.


> s I wonder if I am getting any nutrients at all.


What you are describing is not a symptom of not getting nutrients and it's probably the case as overitnow's suggested, that you are seeing the binders.


> There is a "peeing yellow" test, from one of the vitamins, although I no longer remember which. In any case, if your urine does not turn a much brighter yellow, you are probably not getting them into your system.


This sounds like a myth, so I did some digging and it appears that vitamin B2, riboflavin, itself is yellow in color and if you take too much, you may notice your urine is a bit brighter yellow. (Urine's natural yellow color comes from a pigment called urochrome, derived from the breakdown of hemoglobin.)


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## Kelly_K (May 15, 2007)

Overitnow - vitamin C makes the urine more yellow.


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## Feisty (Aug 14, 2000)

Extra vitamin that is not or cannot be absorbed or used, will be excreted via the urine. That is what makes the urine more yellow. Have you tried taking a liquid vitamin? Absorption rate is faster/better.


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## 16963 (Dec 5, 2006)

I don't know anything about whether or not you're absorbing them if you are in fact passing them. But I've seen a few vitamins in powder form that you add to drinks. Maybe you could find some of those? I bet you'd be able to absorb them a lot better because there is less digesting that needs to be done with liquids. A google search came up with a few places to find them:http://www.google.com/search?q=powder+vita...:en-USfficialOh, and on the peeing thing - B complex vitamins make my pee BRIGHT yellow. I'm on another board for my PCOS, and a lot of women on there take the B complex vitamins because certain PCOS medications cause B vitamin deficiencies. When I just take one pill a day it's bright and greenish.


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

> Overitnow - vitamin C makes the urine more yellow.


Vitamin C may be a _light_ yellow in color, but that description leads me to believe it couldn't have this effect. It sounds like it would have to be a very strong yellow to make urine look more yellow in the way vitamin b2 apparently does.


> I bet you'd be able to absorb them a lot better because there is less digesting that needs to be done with liquids.





> Have you tried taking a liquid vitamin? Absorption rate is faster/better.


Vitamins are naturally solid (powder). They dissolve well in the water/fat in the intestines, so I don't see predissolving them as any benefit for their absorption.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

I know when groups independently test vitamins one of the problems with some brands is that they aren't designed well and are unlikely to dissolve.I don't think it is likely that it is only not dissolving in you, but that it may be the ones you are taking may be one of the problematic ones.Now some pills are time released and the structure of the pill may remain intact but the stuff you want has all leaked out. Usually they will state time released on the label.http://www.consumersearch.com/www/family/m...ins/review.html talks about the dissolvability issue and suggests a test to see if the ones you take are likely to dissolve in any human.I can confirm that for me that high dose B vitamin supplements make the urine quite yellow. I know at least one of the B vitamins in solution is very yellow because one of the labs I worked in used it.K.


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## Feisty (Aug 14, 2000)

> Vitamins are naturally solid (powder). They dissolve well in the water/fat in the intestines, so I don't see predissolving them as any benefit for their absorption.


Flux.......What I meant to add to my comment was that you wouldn't have the outer shell of the vitamin tablet/capsule to breakdown first before the vitamins are released for absorption. Wouldn't that exhilarate the absorption rate if it was ingested in liquid form?


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

> I know when groups independently test vitamins one of the problems with some brands is that they aren't designed well and are unlikely to dissolve


According to Consumer Reports, this is true for some of cut-rate, bargain basement varieties. The report is at http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/health-...rview/index.htm if you have access to the site.


> I can confirm that for me that high dose B vitamin supplements make the urine quite yellow. I know at least one of the B vitamins in solution is very yellow because one of the labs I worked in used it


This seems to confirm that vitamin B2, riboflavin, is the one responsible for purported association between vitamins and urine color.


> What I meant to add to my comment was that you wouldn't have the outer shell of the vitamin tablet/capsule to breakdown first before the vitamins are released for absorption. Wouldn't that exhilarate the absorption rate if it was ingested in liquid form?


Yes, but I think it be an issue only for these specific, problematic brands, not for the big-name brands such One-A-Day and Centrum.


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## 16520 (Nov 25, 2006)

Thank you all for the helpful information.


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