PatchMD

[-Flo-]

I will be getting the DS in April and I am looking into vitamins. I was wondering would the patchMD multivitamin and the calcium/ D3 patches cover everything that a DS patient needs? I was thinking that since it is absorbed through the skin, it would provide enough vits. Am I way off?

 

[Clematis]

No way for the multivitamin patch -- there just isn't enough of what we need. I have used the D/Calcium patch but you would have to wear 2 of them ($18 a month per package x 2 + shipping). I wore only one but I also took D, Calcium and magnesium in tablets 2x a day.

Of course the real question is: Do they work? I don't know. Because I was supplementing with pills too I can;t look at my labs and tell. It seems to me that if they did work, wouldn't there be a lot of manufacturers in competition?

PS: You're only supposed to wear the D/calcium patch for 8 hours. I never managed to remember that so left it on for 24. I don;t know what was supposed to happen by leaving it on longer but I'm still alive.

 

[-Flo-]

But do we need the super high doses if our intestines are not involved?

 

[Kate]

I am confused. On your "I have a date" thread you mentioned you were being revised from the VSG to the DS. How then are your intestines not involved?

 

[-Flo-]

I am revising from VSG to DS. But with the patches they do not absorb through the intestines like oral pills do. They absorb through the skin, so do we need the super high doses.

 

[Clematis]

The only way you can know how they are absorbing (and many think they do not absorb very well and/or absorb erratically), is through your labs at 3 months, 6 months, 12 months and then every 6 months thereafter.

The multivitamin patch does not have enough of the variety of vitamins we need. So the only possible patch is the D3/Calcium. It is my understanding that we need Magnesium Citrate. The patch only has Magnesium Malate.

 

[DBmom23]

i use the vitamin D patch and my level went from just above the ULN pre-op to 70s (very respectable) at my first set of 6m labs. It's only one data point but I was very pleased and am continuing to take just the patch for D for now. I will say that I am a light weight and transdermal absorption may not be as good if you are SMO. Also I bought a bunch of them when there was a massive sale. I think 40% off so you may want to wait for that. I don't do any other patch. And I leave them on and just change when I shower in the AM. Good luck!

 

[Clematis]

What about your calcium (or rather your PTH) @DBmom23 ?

 

[Munchkin]

There is a FB group of DSers trying the patch. Some are doing the patches only and others patches plus oral vites. Honestly, results are all over the place. Some are doing well and others are not. All in all, I would say too soon to tell.

And I get the transdermal thing and the idea that vites absorbed through the skin should affect us the same as a normie. However another thing I have said for ages is normies are never tested at all and most likely a huge percentage of the general population is deficient in some area. There needs to be a study done, probably with CF patients but there are no big bucks in this for big pharma so it won't be done.

 

[DBmom23]

My PTH was not good at 6m (went from 48 to 71) so i have increased my Ca++ from 500mg three times a day with food (Bariatric Advantage Chewables) to 1000mg four times a day with food. Now I do know that it is commonly said that the body can only absorb ~500mg Ca at a time, but it is not realistic for me to be taking my Ca reliably more than 4x a day and so even if i am not absorbing 100% of the 1000mg i am taking, my guess is that i'm getting somewhere between 500mg and 1000mg each time and hopefully that will make a difference. This approach was actually suggested by my surgeon, John Rabkin. Not that surgeons are great with supplements, but he is very thoughtful.

 

[Clematis]

So what you are saying @DBmom23 is that the patch was effective for absorption of D but was NOT effective for absorbing calcium as evidenced by your high PTH? (I was only using the patch for the calcium as a way to avoid those horse pills.) At $18 + shipping per month for one package, that's too pricey for D alone. I'd like a patch to deliver all the vites it claims it will.

 

[southernlady]

From what I have seen reported by those using the patches...the calcium patch doesn't work like it is suppose to.

As for calcium pills...there is the Citracal Petites and then there is the Jarrow Bone UP which is a capsule NOT a pill.

 

[DBmom23]

i never intended the Vit D patch to work for Ca and clearly it didn't given i was also taking Bariatric Advantage Ca chewables which i highly recommend if you have trouble swallowing. They are not cheap, but i couldn't get the big pills down--making me gag.
I never tried the petites or the Jarrow capsules.

 

[Larra]

I'm also one of those people who can't get down the huge calcium citrate pills, so I use the Bariatric Advantage lozenges (you can either chew them or suck on them til they dissolve) and the chewables. Yes, costs more than the pills, but if you can't swallow the pills, they're useless. I haven't priced calcium patches but I would guess the BA lozenges are cheaper. Also, with the chewables, some are 250 mg and some are 500 mg so you need to keep track of what you are taking, and also they do contain small amounts of sugar alcohols, so I wouldn't want to take them exclusively.

 

[southernlady]

The advantage with the Jarrow is that as a capsule, you can open it and sprinkle the calcium in yogurt or something like that.