best calcium for diarreah

Hi my friends,

I was wondering if any one knows :

Can I take extra calcium carbonate(to make up for lack of absorbtion) instead of Citrate ? Reason being cal carbonate helps Ds'ers firm up the stools whereas citrate does not firm it up nearly as much . Is it possible to just take more calcium carbonate or would it not absorb like i need it to be . Maybe take it 6-8 times a day to get the proper amount or do we just comply w/ the citrate and deal with the diarreah ? By the way....my Dr told me there was nothing they could do to stop the diarreah unless the make my common channel longer and that aint gonna happen so I want to try the carbonate instead of the citrate or maybe do both ? Thanx for your input . Just trying to firm things up a bit

I increased my citrate and it helped with my diarrhea. 

CitraCal Maximum firmed things up almost too well.

Taking carbonate is like throwing money out the window of a speeding car.

Add more citrate.  I *guarantee* it will have you thinking your insides are really a cement mixer.  It's better if the pill is crushed, or even cut, so the stomach acid can break it down more easily. If you can find the powder at a health food/vitamin store, that's even better.

I noticed you are not very far out.  As your DS matures over the next year, your stool will firm up.  You will also get to know what foods trigger diarrhea for you.  At first, it's milk products for a lot of people, because many DSers are LI (lactose intolerant) when their surgeries are new.  My surgeon told our pre-op class that usually, if you were not LI going in, it will most likely go away, once the intestinal flora have been restored.  A probiotic can help with this.  The bad news:  If you were LI going into surgery, the DS will probably make it worse.  I was, and the first couple of years was a pain, but now, at 5+ years, the only thing that will disturb my gut is the combination of milk products and sugar (sucrose=white sugar).  As long as the milk product doesn't have table sugar in it, I'm fine. 

This of course rules out ice cream and shakes from fast food restaurants.  Premium ice cream, with its higher fat content, doesn't bother me at all, even with the added sugar. 

Caveat: I eat ice cream because I can at 5+ years out.  This is not part of a good DS eating plan for newbies, or those still in the early years of their DS.

Diarrhea should be treated.  Take imodium.  Remember we are all different and what works well for me is citrate, carbonate, and apatite.  I take all three every day.

You might also think about adding fiber. I've been adding Benefiber to my protein shake and to my evening crystal light.

I think the calcium carbonate would be too hard to figure out what you are actually absorbing. It would be a lot less than 
the citrate. If you are taking magnesium you might stop that and see if it helps. I'm not sure why it would have a different affect 
than the citrate but you could take some in addition to your citrate, not to replace it, and see what kind of difference that makes.