Blood work - Year 4- patches, tespo, standard...what worked the best for me!

I just got back my blood work for my 4 year surgiversary. We tend to do the appointments in April or May vice June so its not quite my 4 years yet. After looking at my blood tests and having tired the patches and now Tespo here is what I have learned (for me)

The patches, chewables, and Tespo all seem to provide consistent results.

the patches I used were a multi plus a b12 and a vitamin d and calcium (3 patches)

They are light weight and convenient but I do get some irritation where the patch is occasionally. I will continue to use them for backpacking and travel. They were a little less expensive if you considered all the pill vitamins at one time but more expensive then an individual vitamin pack

standard vitamins - also consistent results but easier to change doses if you need more vitamin d or iron or whatever. I took ALOT there was a multi plus b12, D, calcium, iron, A, E, etc etc. it was not good for travel or backpacking and took a good bit of thought. The expense was easier to shuffle through the month as I would tend to run out at different times. this was also inconvenient from a "keeping everything in stock" perspective

Tespo - I have used these for a few months. The auto ship is convenient the bariatric plus women's is about 65.00 a month which is a bit more expensive. Consistent results, and convenient to take. I add them to my smoothie some mornings and use the standard "shot glass" others. I also like the little travel cap so I can just take that when I travel or backpack.

All in all I think do what works for you but all these options did have pretty standard results. My Iron saturation is lower (still normal) and my iron levels normal with some drop in my calcium, d and PTH which means I am not getting enough iron. That's not the vitamins its me. My birth control and age make the amount of iron needed ever changing. I dropped back to menopausal amounts since I am not having a period however I am also not menopausal and it appears I need to go back up. Last time around my iron was too high. I will add back in some additional Iron, Calcium and D.

Finally I would say this...this journey has been and still is amazing.. I will be posting a different post on my 4 year stuff that's not blood work related!

I haven't tried the patches, but getting a box for travel sounds like a great idea - I'd never thought of that! I hate lugging all my vitamin bottles with me when I travel!!!

Yeah they are! I use patchMD. I am not sure if there are others. I notice I get a little itchy in red depending on which patch and where I place it but nothing that would keep me from using them.

I use there sleep one every now and again when my brain is too busy!

Oops commented on your other post then saw this one!

Don't know if this is helpful or not, but even prior to WLS I'm skating low on Iron. I've found that switching to cast iron for all my stove top cooking has resulted in a significant bump up in my Iron readings. If you're not very low, that might be an option to keep you up there without having to add more pills?