Calcium woes...help!

Hi everyone!  OK...I've been listening at the support group meetings and trying to be vigilant about my calcium intake.  I bought some of the Citrucal Petites (which are STILL about the size of horse pills) and I take two in the morning and two at night.  However, I've noticed that since I started taking them I've been SO lethargic and wiped out!!!  Does anyone else have this problem?

The same thing happened when I tried to take zinc (for hair loss) and I just had to stop taking them. I don't know what to do.  Any ideas?  Am I taking too much?  Should I try a different brand?  Help!  I'm practically narcoleptic here! 

If anything, I'd say you're not taking enough!!  I'm looking at my bottle of Petites right now, and each pill has only 200 mg calcium.  Four a day ain't quite gonna cut it, sorry.

As for the fatigue, maybe it's an early sign of another deficiency?  Are you doing any B vitamin supplementation?  How about D?  Are you getting enough protein in?  I notice a huge drop in my energy when I have a couple low protein days.

I think each of my petites is 600 mg.  I take B-12 shots every other week and I'm fairly anal retentive about getting in my protein, but maybe I need to add some protein powder to something as well.

Thanks Wonder-Wendy!!! (superwoman of fitness) 

Hmmm, you might want to take another look at the dosage on your Petites bottle, just in case... 

Good for you for being so proactive!  How about your Vit D?  Do you take any kind of supplement there?  My levels have been steadily dropping even with the lovely little green pill. :-P

I love a good smoothie in the PM.  I like to make mine with a frozen banana, a few frozen strawberries, some skim milk, and a scoop of protein powder.  Sometimes I'll even throw in a little Splenda, hee hee.  YUM.

You know my take on those green gel caps 


http://www.vitalady.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=1070 is the link for the ones I take.

HAHAHA, don't say that too loud, certain people wouldn't like it. ;)

Hate to rain on your parade, but according to Citrical's website, the Petites have 400 iu's per serving (2 tabs), so you need to take them at LEAST three times a day, 4 would be better.

Now, I agree with Wendy, sounds more like a B deficiency to me.  Zinc made me cramp horribly, but that was the only side effect I had to that, and I haven't tried them since. I just don't think the calcium/lethargy have anything in common. I could be wrong. It's been known to happen....LOL

I take 1, 000 mc's of B-12 twice a day to maintain my <2500 level.

Do you have a copy of your lab results?  If you don't just ask your doctor for them. You want your b-12 level to be as high as possible. Under, say 500, could spell trouble for us. 211 is the low normal. Range is 211-911 for normal, but again, the higher the better.

I was just told I need to increase my Ca too.  And that does mean taking them 4 x day.  What a pain in the butt.  I take 5000 mcg of B-12 sublingual/day that I found at GNC.  My Calcium has D in it but I also take anoher 1000.  I take my multivitamin and top it off with some Vit. C.  I also still use protein powder every morning in my coffee.  I like the cookies n cream lavor fin it.  Yummy.  I take more pills now than i ever did pre surgery.  That's ok though, I like the trade off.

This is Courtney Coleman... Im on my dads page cuz I was lazy and didnt eel like logging off of his name and putting mine =) I was kinda confused at the last support group meeting also on the calcium...
 
I take 2 flinstones, one in morning, one at nite

Vitamin D the lovely gel caps whickh I poke a hole in now thanks to Susan, and I take those on Tue. and on Friday so 2 a week.... Thats all good....  Not where Im confused...

Where Im confused at is my CALCIUM.... i have been taking the WALMART BRAND called Calcium Citrate and they are 600 mg. I take 1 in the morning and one at nite... and thats every day of the week.... Am I taking the right kind of Calcium pills, or do I need to get another brand??? And  am I possibly taking too much, or too little????

Please Help Me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks, Courtney Coleman

Hey Courtney!  First thing -- look at the back of the bottle of Cal Citrate you have.  Does the dosage say 1 pill or 2 pills?  If each is 600 mg, then I would say you should take a pill 3-4 times per day.  If it's TWO, then you need to take 2 pills 3-4 times per day.  If I remember what Wendy #1 said correctly, we need to get about 2000 mg per day per the current recommendations.  (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong!)

Flintstones are a good start, but you might want to look around for other vitamins.  I use an adult chewable (2 per day) I found at Drug Emporium, it's fruit flavored.  Since you're so young, it's especially important for you to get all your vitamins in... you'll absolutely need all those calcium stores for when you get old like the rest of us. ;)