Question:
What is the truth about calcium absoption after the gastric bypass?

Is it true that after the surgery the body cannot absorb calcium any longer because of the duodenum s not functioning anymore? I am gonna ask my doctor when i go, but want to know what you guys know about this, it concerns me a lot since i dont have kids yet and dont want to ended with osteoporosis... thanks a lot, -Angie    — Angie D. (posted on July 4, 2001)

July 4, 2001
You might want to ask the vitalady, Michelle Curran (www.vitalady.com), or check out the library on this site. Basically, our bodies absorb less of a few vitamins and minerals, including calcium, vitamin B-12, iron, etc. Calcium should be taken in the form of calcium citrate because it does the most optimally absorbed form. Tums, Viactiv chews, etc., are all calcium carbonate and are not absorbed because they require the stomach's acids to be absorbed. I, too, am young and without kids and I'm trying to get in my calcium. I'm two weeks post-op and it's hard! I'm taking Twinlab calcium citrate wafers--they're like huge sweet tarts, but you have to chew FOUR a day to get them in. Ugh. Good luck.
   — PT LawMom

July 7, 2001
I have to disagree with the idea that calcium carbonate is not absorbed. I am 1yr post open prox RNY and take TUMS as my source of calcium. I take about 1200mgm a day and my calcium level is at the higher end of normal. I take a generic multi-vit (the least expensive one I can find) and B12 500mgm. All my levels were high normal. TUMS are also a lot less expensive that calcium citrate. Try it and see what happens.
   — Sandy W.

July 7, 2001
I have to disagree with the previous post. Calicum levels are blood tests which do not indicate the health of your bones. Your blood level calcium will be "good" as long as you have SOME bones left for your body to steal from. Your body will take what it needs from your bones to keep your other systems functioning. The only way you can KNOW how your bones are doing and if your BONES are benefitting from your calcium supplements is to have a Dexa-Scan. You can have the BEST lab work and still have a spine that tests 40 years older than the rest of you is!
   — BethVBG

July 7, 2001
The carbonate I took all those years made my blood levels great. I was always at the top end of normal ranges, even going over the top about the same time I had the kidney stone. Had to go somewhere, since it surely was NOT going into my bones. I had blood labs & my dexascan done the same week, and the labs were excellent, as usual, while the dexascan clearly indicated that it was too late for me. When I had my husband tested, he had been taking THREE times the amount of carbonate & oyster shell that I had. Same result. We both have about the same degree of osteoporosis. We know that carbonate does NOT work (as is evidenced by others' surgeries done as little as 2 years ago), so we are going with the accepted knowledge of the time that the calcium citrate will go to the bones. Accordingly, both of our blood calcium levels have dropped a bit. Not below normal, just a bit from where they were. My 1 yr exam rolls around shortly and I am counting the moments to see if there is any change, for better or worse, or if we have, at least, arrested the progress of the disease.
   — vitalady