To paraphrase Michelle (vitalady) "The issue of iron deficiency has nothing to do with what is happening between your legs." Iron deficiency is a result of malabsorbtion and the fact that part of our digestive track is taken out of the loop (for both the RNY and the DS). From my understanding, iron is absorbed in the duodenum which is left out of the food path for a RNYer, even in a DSer we are only left with a portion of our duodenum in the food path, so unless we eat a lot of red meat, a DSer needs iron as well.
A regular multi normally is not enough iron for a person with malabsorbtion. Don't forget we are not treating an iron deficiency (at least if you are not deficient yet), but you are treating malabsorbtion to avoid deficiency. It is much better to prevent a deficiency then to get a deficiency and have to catch up...esp with things like iron which can lead to bad H&H numbers and anemia. OTC iron is really cheap, and to me it's worth the extra 6 dollars a month to make sure I'm good.....of course your doctors instructions and individual labs should be your ultimate guide.
I didn't know I needed an iron suppliment, most DSers don't suppliment iron because again a portion of our duodenum is left in place and if you eat enough red meat, it is generally enough...I hardly ever eat red meat, I much prefer chicken and fish...and well guess what I watched my red blood cell count drop and drop for a year before it clicked..hello I need iron. You do realize that it is u p to you as an individual to track your lab trends, just because something is in the normal range, it may take a year or more for it to go to abnormal, and by then you'll be playing catch up (ok I threw that one in...it's kind of a lesson learned on my part).
Hope this helps.
Scott
