Confused - Calcium Help!?

Hi All, I thought you all might be able to help with some confusion about calcium. There have been a million posts on the main board lately about how post-op we do not absorb the calcium in tums or viactiv properly. It seems that most are taking calcium citrate. I'm scared to ask them - for fear that I'll get mauled or something! My surgeon recommends tums while my dietician recommends viactiv. Either way - I feel these are the people I should listen to. I know there are people out there who do a ton of research, but I still feel the professionals know best. So I guess I would like to know if others have done okay with the calcium from tums or viactiv or if the majority are taking the calcium citrate. I do plan to ? the doctor at my next visit, but would just like to calm my paranoia! Thanks all, Deeann

Deeann, by all means follow your doctor if it makes you feel better BUT, read Michele Curran's profile and see what happen to her by just taking calcium carbonate. My personal choice is to err on the side of caution. It won't hurt me to take the calcium citrate but if everything about calcium carbonate is true then I would be hurting myself in the long run. I don't want to take the chance of having weak bones and teeth in a few years. Patty

What I have been instructed to do is to take Calcium Citrate three times a day. You can go to most health stores and find chewable ones. Basically you are taking 1500mg each day. For me, that means chewing 2 huge pills (that taste ok) three times a day. It's a lot, but I gotta do it. Personally I don't see how tums or the chocolate chewy stuff would remotely help. They don't give you what you need calcium wise. But that's just my opinion. I know there is a reason why the citrate is better, but I cannot recall why and my paperwork is downstairs. I will post some info later once I get my hands on it. Seriously try the citrate.

i would do what your dr tells you

While I think my surgeon is the best thing since sliced bread, I also think that he's an outstanding surgeon and not a nutritionist. When it comes to the calcium question, I am balancing his wisdom with my own and those on this board. I don't use Tums, I also bought Calcium Citrate and got it from VitaLady.com. I take two capsules a day and they go down easily. My first blood tests will be in a couple of months, so we'll see how I'm doing. For more information on this, check out Dame Tooter's website. It's called Bariatric Bytes and she's got a bunch of good information. You'll have to do a search for it. Jan