DO NOT TAKE TUMS!!!!!

Randi, Have the Greatest on the 12th!! Yes!! Ask YOUR Doctor! Most common and most important message I've ever seen out here! Best Wishes- Dx

Dx, What great info - thanks! I'm in the 3rd month of my doc-prescribed Natachews so am looking for vitamins to take post-op. Need to get a steady source of calcium, too. If you don't mind my asking - what do you take for calcium? Vitamins? I've been researching the different bariatric vitamins and my head is spinning...almost willing to shell out the big bucks for Vista Vitamins since everything is included - no thinking (except when putting on my charge!) Cheers! Melinda

WHEW!!!

My doc puts everybody on Protonix for 3-12 months to do exactly that... decrease stomach acid to try to minimalize the risk of ulcer formation. I know other do this as welll... hmmm.... wonder what the original poster was talking about as if that is a bad thing.

Stefanie, You, like most everyone now-a-days, Are the norm, not the exception. Fortunately, We reap the benefits of Many advances in medicine in the last decade! Best Wishes- Dx

I asked about calcium levels at my six month check up today. My doctor asked, "Are you taking TUMS?" (His recommendation since day one.) I told him I that sometimes I do, but mostly was taking calcium citrate wafers, Viactiv and liquid calcium magnesium. He said, "Oh you LIKE spending money?". He still swears that all I need to take for calcium is TUMS and has never expressed concern about the reduction of stomach acid. I guess every doctor is different and mine's no exception. All my levels came back perfect, so so far so good. Good luck, Holly

My surgeon includes both calcium citrate & calcium carbonate in his post-op protocol. I don't like Tums, so I have used other forms of calcium carbonate easily available. As for antacids, my surgeon recommended them post-op (if that's what Prilosec is) to keep the acid down while the stomach heals. When I went off the Prilosec, I had some major discomfort (not exactly pain) which was later revealed by an endoscopy to be gastritis - irritation of the stomach lining. He put me back on the Prilosec, problem solved. As others have said, each of us should do what our own surgeons tell us. Too bad there's not a standard of care across the board. That would solve many of these pesky repeated issues about food, supplements, vitamins, drinking diet sodas, caffeine, and medications, including hormones, birth control and extended release medications, all of which we have seen the entire spectrum of dire warnings about to every extreme, from requiring such to total restriction from them. Unless and until some standard is developed, the best we can do for ourselves is what our own docs tell us, not what other docs tell other people which they then relate to us here as if it was "Gospel." As for calcium, I learned that lesson the hard way! I slacked off on calcium citrate. I would run out and not have any urgency about re-upping my supply. Or I would get sick of the particular flavor or texture and stop taking it until I found something I liked. To make a long story short, let me just say: KIDNEY STONES. Oxalate stones such as I had develop when oxalates build up too much. How do they keep from building up? When there's sufficient calcium, it binds the oxalates and carries them thru the system. Without sufficient calcium, the oxalates pile up & turn to stones. OUCH. Needless to say, I'm back taking my calcium citrate faithfully! With my surgeon's & urologist's recommendation, of course

Kat, So sorry you had the kidney stones! Oooouch! But Thanks a million for passing on the - "sufficient calcium, it binds the oxalates and carries them thru the system. Without sufficient calcium, The oxalates pile up & turn to stones." Info!! You're a doll. Adding that to my list of things to look into and To my list of next visit questions for the doc! So many Doctors only get that one "intro to nutrition" class And spend their time specializing. Gotta keep asking those questions Cause it is medical "practice" after all. Some are "up on" some things And others on others. That's what I love about this place. Shared ideas that we can go and look up on our own! Thanks again for the tip!! Best Wishes- Dx

D. LePort now requires TUMS or another form of calcium.