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How to Cut Your Vitamins Bills from your Gynae trip by 50%

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By Rena

I saw this article from Turtle Investor on Why Pay For Panadol When Generic Paracetamol Costs 73% Less?, which brought back the memories of cheapo me and my friends when we were trying to save cost during our pregnancies and after, and checked out each others' prescription from various doctors. 

Disclaimer: Hey, before you read further, do not that I'm NOT a doctor, and I have no certification or knowledge of medicines/ healthcare and whatsoever. I only know how to google and read the labels. 

The reason for checking one another's prescription was due to the differences in our bills. Some of us had a sky-high bill at the first gynae visit, and the one month's worth of vitamins (note: Vitamins, not medicines) cost way more than the consultation at the first visit. On the other hand, some of us, walked off the clinic with a month supply of vitamins at a mere fraction of the cost. Also, some of us had more vitamins prescribed than others.

Here are some of the typical vitamins prescribed during pregnancy:

- Multivitamins

- Folic acid (sometimes combined with the multivitamins)

- Calcium

- Iron 

- Fish Oil

Not all gynae prescribe the same thing, and not all were prescribed all. Fish oil and multivitamins were the most common. Some had calcium included. The least popular was having iron tablets in the prescription. But that could be because iron was in the multivitamins, or it could also be because that sample size had someone who needed more iron. 

All of us from different clinics got different brands of vitamins. From a sample size of my pregnant friends and me (years ago), the more atas the doctor and clinic, the more atas the medicine prescribed. A look at the label though, suggest that sometimes, the difference in what's inside is small (though price difference could be huge).

Anyway, here's what we found. For these vitamins such as calcium and folic acid, you can get cheap generic ones. Just look out for the ziplock bags packaging located usually near the counter of the pharmacy of Guardian   or Watson (note, not cashier). You can also shop at polyclinic pharmacies. For multivitamins, check the label rather than the brand. Most multivitamins for pregnant and breastfeeding folks have similar items (a bit more and less of some vitamins), but cost can be huge. And finally, ask yourself whether you really need that supplement. If you take a lot of real food containing certain vitamins, you may not really need the supplement.











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