PatchMD Possibly Failed for Me

Good Evening All,

I had my RNY done May 2010 and until November 2016 I was using Celebrate vitamins etc. I read about the vitamin patches and decided to try them out. I've had various little side issues along with my journey since starting the patches I now have severe osteoporosis and this past week I ended up in my local ER and a day hospital visit to receive huge infusions of Thiamine (B1) as I was extremely deficient. I am trying to research now what and where things took a wrong turn. For now I can only state that I began using the patches in November 2016 and now less than 6 months my system has crashed. For now I'm returning to my previous method of vitamin intake and upping some of my specific vitamins. Would love to have any feedback, comments, good or bad on these patches. I'm aware that all of this might just be a weird coincidence as well, hence the reason that I'm on a hunt to discover where things took a turn for the worse. Thank you to any and all for your time. Cheers, Tee in Texas

I would have to research but I'm guessing that it takes longer than 5 months to develop severe osteoporosis. Did you have lab levels drawn right prior to starting patches? If they've failed you, you would be the first person I've heard say that but anything is possible!

Hope you are able to get your levels back up quickly.

I used to be a member of a group for patches. The group was closed since majority of people reported very poor results with patches.

I use them since I have a major issues with any vitamins and minerals but I do supplement additional B1, B12, d3, calcium, magnesium, K2, etc etc..Etc...

I don't take any iron because my gut hates it. Any iron.

I was on patches last year and the only good number I got was iron. I should have lab work done next month.

I know that I was already low with some of my levels when I began the patches but I was hoping that they patches would increase levels and instead I ended up in the emergency room with a 4 day hospital stay. It appears that my B1 was non existent so I was given huge IV doses 24/7. I sure hope that I have not caused permanent damage to myself. The only thing for certain is that for the past 6.5 years I never had any problems with my B1 and now I'm dangerously deficient and the only factor that changed is the addition of the patches. When I did an earlier search all I found were glowing reviews of people using the patches so I wanted to give it all a try to see how things would work out for me. Oh well, I wished that it had worked as my pouch was much happier with this new delivery system but alas, my system disagreed with all of it. Thank you for your email!!! Cheers, Tee

For things like B1, D, B1, K2 - I would never trust just patches. But I was warned about them.

But I get why you did that. I am sorry I did not posted a warning earlier.

I hope you get complete recovery. Hugs.

I know that when I was on patches only - my PTH went higher than I liked. Indicating that my body is pulling calcium from my bones. And even though I hate calcium, I started taking it again. And D3.

I take 50,000 IU dry D3 ,2 or 3 times a week. That keeps my D in 50-80 level.

Thanks for the info. Can I ask a quick question about Vitamin D? I currently take a weekly Vit D (50,000IU D2). Should I be asking for something different? I've started reading about the Dry D3 and not sure I understand what it is exactly. Thanks!

At 9 years out - and with no GB, I know I still malabsorb some fat.

Our body needs D3. D2 needs to be converted in our body into D3. So the 50,000 D2 will end up much much less of D3 in your body.

Its much easier for us to give it D3 ...And in a water soluble form. Dry D3 has been formulated to be water soluble. Regular D3 is oil soluble, and since most of us don't absorb it that well - it is better to get dry D3. Just don't take it with any fat. Or get fat too close to when you take that.

The D2 is prescription ,- and a lot of people get ,"copays" do they think is cheaper.

I buy Dry D3 , on Amazon. 100 capsules? of 50,000 IU Dry D3 for app $22-$25. The 100 caps is almost my yearly supply. Biotech makes that.

Now not enough D is bad, but too high D can also be really bad. I aim for 50-70.

Specially when I have good bones, and good calcium. Calcium magnesium, vit K2 (very critical to bone building) plus trace minerals like boron, stronium, etc. help building strong bones.

D3 in the body will help us to absorb calcium. K2 will put that calcium into the bones.

High D, with Low K2 may cause high calcium that can get deposited into our veins, joins, soft tissues - that we don't want. So K2 is critical- as far as I know. I take dry K2 at least 100mcg (often more) once a day.

Google K2 bone health.

I had open heart surgery last year. Two months of almost no activity caused my muscles to atrophy and my bone mass to go down severely. I was on calcium during the whole time. The muscle mass came back with exercise but not the bone density.

When I first saw people posting about the patches I was intrigued and I wanted to know more. I did what research I could online. I didn't find much, but I did find a skeptical article from a bariatric website that basically said that the patch claims were not scientifically possible as some of the vitamins they claim to deliver cannot be absorbed through the skin and that the weight of the patches was significantly less than the weight of the vitamin quantities they were advertised to contain. (Found it. https://www.unjury.com/blog/important-information-if-you-are -recommending-a-patch-vitamin/ ) So I figured that people who were getting good labs must, at least partially, be getting it from their diets. I decided not to risk it. (Edited to fix link)

Unjury sells its own vitamins so of course, they will downplay any others.