X-Post From Main Board re: Calcium and Bone Health

There was a disturbing thread yesterday on the main board that asked about taking Viactiv as a calcium supplement post RNY. The OP was having trouble getting in the calcium horsepills (we all can relate to that!) and wondered if Viactiv would be a good next step.  Some people said "no" because it is the WRONG kind of calcium--carbonate vs. citrate. Some recommended UpCal and various other products. Fine.

Lots of people jumped in, some who said that they take carbonate and they'e "fine" because that's what their doctors told them to take. One poster said that she trusts their doctor implicitly on this because "he went to school" and she didn't.

Some people advised that was short-sighted and that the only way to tell if your calcium is where it needs to be is to do a Dexascan. I believe in Dexascans and made damn sure I had a baseline one done before I had my DS.

However, I just wanted to pipe up here that there IS a way to tell if your calcium is where it needs to be, long BEFORE a Dexascan would show an actual bone loss. It's a simple lab test, PTH, for parathyroid hormone.

The way I understand it (and I am no nutritionist), your blood labs could show a good calcium level, even if you're in fairly deep trouble. Our bodies have their own mechanism for getting blood calcium up--taking it from our bones, using the parathyroid hormone. Your kidney and other organs can suffer, too.

SO, PLEASE GET YOUR PTH TESTED EVERY TIME YOU GET LABS DONE. DON'T WAIT FOR A DEXASCAN.

If your PTH is elevated, then your body is being efficient--taking calcium from your bones. You don't want that in the long-term!

Here's a simple blurb from webmd.com on this. I'm sure there are lots of peer-reviewed clinical studies out there on this topic. If that's your thing, please do a PubMed search.

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/parathyroid-hormone

Here's to our good health!

Nicolle
If you are considering WLS or looking to have a revision, please visit www.dsfacts.com.