Even 2000mg of calcium citrate isn't enough, apparently

Lora, if you are still having bone loss on 2000 mg calcium citrate, I would have to wonder if taking a fifth dose is going to help.  Is it going to be worth the trouble and the cost and, honestly, there have been studies that suggest taking too much calcium can have negative effects on the heart (although of course those studies were not done on RNY folks and didn't control for the type of calcium taken, so I don't worry much about them, at least not when taking the amount of calcium citrate recommended by the ASMBS).  And I'm not suggesting you shouldn't add more calcium, just wondering if it's going to help.

And your vitamin D level is good, right?

I think talking about meds for osteoporosis makes sense.  I don't know if they would be appropriate at this point and I don't know if it's worth the risk of side effects.  But I would check into it. 

Yes, my Vit D is good. It was right around 100 two months ago.

I told my PCP's nurse that I will ask my GYN about osteoporosis drugs, but the side effects (and the fact that the Boniva made my mom so incredibly sick for several days after taking it each and every time) makes me nervous.

I would  strongly urge you to make an appointment with an endocrinologist.  It's often just not as easy as adding more calcium - and as Kelly just mentioned - this can affect your cardio health. 

An endo will check your Vit D - Calcium - renal function etc etc ( I just had my blood re-taken for my appointment next week and cant remember all of the things my Endo indicated needed investigating)

You likely know that everything we ingest affects something else in our bodies - negatively or positively. 

( and I hope like hell I have used "affect" and "effect" properly )

That is actually a really good idea.  I just had my yearly labs done along with some additional bloodwork for hepatic, kidney, and pancreatic functions, so I likely already have a lot of the info he would need. 

There were a couple of things that were on the low side of normal, but an endocrinologist would certainly know more about how those things may be interacting than my PCP does.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Forgive my ignorance Lora if his has already been discussed or is just a generally stupid suggestion, but could the type of calcium you are taking affect the absorption? There are different forms of citrate: pill, chewable, mixable, etc. Do you just rely on one type? Could another form be better absorbed by your body?

This popped into my mind this morning as I scoured the Internet for another type of iron to try. My PCP wants me to try yet another form of iron before recommending a hematologist and I wondered if the same concept applied to calcium.

I actually mix mine, but I have never heard or read anything about whether different forms of the same element absorb differently. It is all calcium citrate, but I take one dose as a powder, two as pills, and one as a chewable (either BA chews or Calcte Creamy Bites).

Good question, though...

Do some reading about Calcium hydroxyapatite. (I may have misspelled that.) It's supposed to be more bio-available.

Will do.  Have never heard of it before, but I am open to anything that will help! Thanks.

It shouldn't. 

If your PCP wants you to try another type of iron, does she mean to try a chewable instead of a pill or does she mean something like carbonyl instead of ferrous sulfate?  Because carbonyl is absorbed a lot better than ferrous sulfate, but it shouldn't matter if you take it in a pill or a chewable.