Calcium supplements hate me

I have never been able to really take calcium on a regular basis because it shuts me down and turns my insides to rocks. Surgeon said drink drink drink but take that calcium! I got my self into a real mess night before last and I'm still not quite over it. Any suggestions?

P

Well, you could do like me and refuse calcium supplements on the ground that there's little scientific evidence to show they do much of anything helpful, and more scientific evidence that they are harmful to your health, but it sounds like that would not make your surgeon happy.

In the short amount of time I took calcium supplements, I took liquid calcium (Wellesse brand - double dose) which I found very easy to digest. Maybe try something like that?

Got citations? I'm interested to see, as lots of the science I've seen suggests that supplements for bariatric patients-- independent of the general population-- DO benefit from additional calcium due to deficiency risk.

I know there is mixed evidence out there, here are some links:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21505219

"Conclusion: Calcium supplements with or without vitamin D modestly increase the risk of cardiovascular events, especially myocardial infarction . . ."

http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h4580

"Conclusion:  . . . Evidence that calcium supplements prevent fractures is weak and inconsistent."

http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h4183

"Conclusions Increasing calcium intake from dietary sources or by taking calcium supplements produces small non-progressive increases in BMD, which are unlikely to lead to a clinically significant reduction in risk of fracture."

Given the conflicting evidence, and given that I'd rather have a broken bone than a heart attack or stroke, my choice is to avoid calcium supplements and instead work to strengthen my bones with impact-bearing exercise.

My concern with these-- and maybe I'm missing something-- is that they seem to assume a standard, somewhat "normal" (even if post-menopausal) baseline calcium level from a non-bariatric diet. Given absorption issues, even for VSG, it seems like there may be a completely different starting point, leaving more of a gap to be filled by supplementation.

As the WLS population grows, hopefully there can be more comparative research on this.

Agreed, we definitely need more research specific to us.

there is evidence that show not taking enough calcium and magnesium and D, and K may cause bone loss - significant bone loss... 

so taking calcium - yea.. I rather deal with making sure my gut moves (Miralax) than not take calcium...or other minerals - vitamins.

Have you tried the Patch MD calcium/D patch?  Since it's transdermal, it might not upset your gut.

yea - the calcium my bind me up - but not taking it is not an option...

there is evidence that show not taking enough calcium and magnesium and D, and K may cause bone loss - significant bone loss... 

so taking calcium - yea.. I rather deal with making sure my gut moves (Miralax) than not take calcium...or other minerals - vitamins.

What kind of calcium have you been trying? You should take calcium citrate as bariatric patients absorb that better than any other form of calcium. I've taken maybe a total of 10 of those horse pills since my surgery over a year ago. I started out taking Wellesse liquid calcium right after surgery, then switched to powdered and put it in my protein shakes. Now I buy the bariatric advantage caramel and strawberry chewy bites...taste like candy.