Calcium

OK, I know we all have to take calcium citrate.  Have any of you found one that you like.  The one that I have is awful.  I got it from the Vitamin Shoppe, and I have to take 6 pills a day, they are chewable, but taste awful, and make me feel nauseated.  Any suggestions on what you guys use would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks Caroline

I was able to find a liquid Calcium citrate at the Health Hut.  I've tried both the strawberry and orange.  Health Hut isn't a big chain, so I'd expect that you could find it at other local health shops.

I take the generic version of Citracal, which I get from BJs or Sam's Club.  The pills are huge, and I just can't make myself take more than 2 of them per day.  So I also supplement my calcium by drinking a couple bottles of Propel with Calcium every day.  Each 16.9 oz. bottle contains 20% of the daily RDA for calcium, and it's in the form of calcium citrate.  I've been doing this for about 18 months and my calcium numbers were find in last round of bloodwork in May.   By the way, I also eat quite a bit of low-fat dairy products, so I'm getting calcium there as well.   Good luck finding something you can tolerate!   Kellie

I can take either calcium citrate or carbonate.  I had some boxes of Citracal that I had ordered before they were bought out and I tried one of those the first day post-op.  They are *way* too big for my pouchie right now so I'll be eventually trying those again in a few months.  Given that, I went out and bought Tums.  I like them, they're easy to take and if things keep going well I'll probably just keep taking them.  I am from Wisconsin and I adore cheese (I'm hoping pouchie does too - we'll find out soon) so I'm not too worried about taking calcium carbonate over the citrate.

Calcium citrate is much preferred to calcium carbonate post-RNY.  There are a couple of reasons, but the most important is that it requires a lot of stomach acid to absorb calcium carbonate, and our pouches don't have much acid because they are made from the top part of the stomach, and most of the acid secreting cells are in the bottom half of the stomach.  Calcium citrate does not require an acidic environment, and is thus better absorbed.  There are a lot of people many years post-op who have serious bone loss and osteoporosis because their surgeons told them calcium carbonate or didn't specify at all.  Just letting you know.  Actually, citrate is recommended over carbonate in the general population also - something like only 2% of the calcium in calcium carbonate is absorbed, whereas its around 20% from calcium citrate. 

I use UpCal-D, the link is below. I know alot of people who use this and are happy with it, it mixes and is flavorless - you can get a can or individual packets that are handy for work or to keep in your purse.

Hope this helps.

http://www.colonialmedical.com/catalog/Upcal-D-120-packets-p-19796.html

As you get farther along the big pills wont be as hard to take.... I take the petites...I get that right at my local drug store. calcium has never really agreed with my system in any form And I never really found out why..

Caroline, Go to vitalady.com, she has two brands, both only require you to take 3 per day.  Calcium in one of the minerals that you can only take up to 500 mg. per time for it to be most effective.  I think Twin Labs also make a chewable but I think you have to take 4 or 6 or them and they are big wafers. 

I used bariatric advantage chewable calcium for the first 9 months or so, plus mootopia milk which has 40% more calcium, in citrate form, than regular milk.  I've recently tried a few other calciums - upcalD, caltrate, citracal, citracal petites, and citracal chewables.  I didn't care for upcalD, oddly enough, because most people really like it.  Regular caltrate and citracal pills are HUGE, and I still kind of choke them down but I'll probably end up with those.  The chewable citracal are pretty good, but they have some calories and are hard to find.  Right now I am finishing off my bottle of citracal minis - I take 4 per day.  They are smaller so they are easier to swallow, but they don't have as much calcium as the big ones, so more pills.  Remember not to take more than 500mg calcium at a time, the rest is wasted money.  I break it up into two doses. 

Hi Dunny, I just was reading a book and it said exactly that... the gen pop is leaning towards the Citrate.  The advertising on TV has even gotten into it pushing the Citrucal for the more mature user. Jeanne