I am a ds patient, 7 years now and am having lots and lots of calcium problems. Body does not absorb, blah, blah.  I currentl take Bariatric Advantage calcium citrate chewables but have also taken Bariatric Choice calcium supplements.  Does anyone prefer one to the other and why?  The BA ones are so big I am choking when I take them.

I take Vitalady's calcium citrate capsules. Easy to absorb but add boron and magnesium citrate (dry capsule) with each calcium dose. Also think about vitamin K2.

--gina

 Don't forget about taking dry D3 also, it too helps with the calcium absorption. So many vitamins and minerals are needed to "boost" one another. There is so much more to it then just taking calcium citrate.

How is your Vitamin D? If it is too low, you body won't absorb the calcium you're putting into it. I'd be sure to be taking lots of D3 and K2 to aid in the calcium absorption.

my vitamin D is low...I am on 50,000 i.u. d3 pills 4x a week which helps a bit but I will look into the K2..never a dull moment.  Thanks for getting back to me.

Thank you for the response.  I am going to google vitalady and the magnesium and boron you mentioned.  I just cannot take these darn horse pills anymore lol.  Thank you again.

Thank you for the response. I am going to google vitalady and the magnesium and boron you mentioned. I just cannot take these darn horse pills anymore lol. Thank you again.  I think I posted this reply to someone else also..oops.
 

I take the vitamin D that is in ADEK from bariatric advantage and D3 from Puritans Pride which I just read the label and it is oil based so I will stop taking that. My Endochronologist prescribes the 50,000 IU of Vitamin D and I am not sure if that is oil based or not. I will also look into your suggestion. Everyone is so nice and informative here and it's nice to be in the same boat with you all.

I've been taking the Bone Booster Complex from vitacost.  It's a lot of pills, but it's keeping my numbers in good shape.

Also - from a Vit D perspective - are you taking your D in dry form?  I'm taking 150k per DAY to keep my levels up (ordered from Vitalady).  If you are taking the oil base it's pretty much worthless.

Good luck.

What exactly are your calcium problems.  Bone issues?  Low blood calcium?  Did you have this diagnosed by an endocrinologist through a urinary calcium excretion?

What exactly are you meaning by the BA calciums being too big -- they are chewables, no?  Are you chewing them?  I'm not sure how one chokes on a chewable, so if you can describe the exact problem, that would certainly be helpful.  There are many other things to try, so do not fret.  There are capsules, tablets, small sized tablets, liquids, etc.

There are many other vitamins and minerals that support bone health if that is your issue.  This is including, but not limited to: magnesium, vitamin D, vitamin K, boron, even certain B vitamins have been implicated.  Plus, too much of certain vitamins are detrimental to bones as well (like Vitamin A).  I will need to know more about your supplement schedule and lab values. 

Also, if you are on a certain set dose of vitamin D, and you are still deficient, I do believe the obvious solution is to increase the supplement--do you agree?  I have seen many DSers take 50-100, or even 150,000 iu of vitamin D daily.

I realize that it is a lot of work, but in order to get to the root of your problem, it would be very helpful if you would share any and all laboratory values that you have in an excel-like spreadsheet (you can upload to GoogleDocs, click share, and provide the link), along with the normal ranges that your lab provides.

This plus your daily dosing schedule and anything else you have already tried will be incredibly helpful.