Vitamin Question

 I have a question about my multivitamin and my calcium supplament.

I had to buy more yesterday because I only had enough to get through this week. I got a different calcium than previously because the one I was buying was 630mg and I know that we can only absorb around 500 mg at a time. So I got Citrical Plus: calcium citrate (500mg), vitamin D, and magnisium. Then I was just curious to see what was in my multivitamin. I buy the women's one a day, except that I get the walmart brand. It says that it has all of those things in it. It also said it contain 500 mg calcium. 

I'm wondering if I don't need the calcium supplament with this particular vitamin? Or if the calcium in my multvitamin isn't calcium citrate (it just said calcium)? Or should I take them at seperate times? Should I be taking another multivitamin?

I am so confussed after reading the labels. 

The calcium in the One a Day Womens is carbonate.  Check out their own link and list of ingredients here:

http://www.oneaday.com/womens.html

You definately still need your calcium citrate supplements.  You also might want to check out a different multi next time - One A Day are better than some, but there are others out there that provide even more nutrients.

Also, you probably are already aware of this, but with the Citrical the 500mg dosage actually equals TWO tablets.  It's not 500mg per tablet. 

 Yeah, I know about taking two pills. I wish I could find one that I only needed one pill. I have a lot of trouble taking my vitamins because they get stuck in my throat on the way down and it hurts! It even happens when I cut them in half and is way worse because then they have those sharp corners where they were cut. 

Thanks for the information. I never throught to go to their site.  I think I probably should get a differant multi. I origanlly started taking it because I of the iron. But since I take an iron supplament, there really is no reason to still take this particular multi. 

 And actually, I don't even think it contains iron. Weird. 

Most vitamins use calcium carbonate so that is a Part of why we tahe extra calcium

If the supplemental listing does not say citratate after the calcium, you can bet it's not calcium citrate. Calcium citrate is more expensive form of calcium, and most multi's choose to use less expensive. Reading labels is an important issue post op.  I would also strongly suggest a dry vitamin D. Standard D is D2, and D3 is absorbed much easier by your body. Most post ops suffer from either very low D, or deficient levels of this vitamin.  DO NOT get the dry D3 in a softgel, as it's in oil, so it won't be absorbed well.  Dealing with low D issues and trying to use 1000 iu or 5000 iu to overcome this shorage will likely lead to very little improvement. I've been through the low D issues.  I get the 50k iu dry d3 from vitalady.com and my system may require more than yours.  I was taking 4 of the 50K per week, and my labs were at 65.  In the normal range, but not good enough for post ops.  Target levels for D are 80-90.  I've began taking 7 of these 50K dry d3 per week, and hopefully my next labs in a couple of months will be in the target range.  ALWAYS get a printed copy of your lab results.  I spoke to a 5 year post op woman who called me yesterday. She had some vitamin questions, and she relied on phone calls alone for her labs. I asked what her B12 and D labs showed, and she was unable to answer.  She may be low for post op ranges of both of these vitamins or other vitamins--but she really doesn't know without her lab sheets.  Post op life is a learning curve, and annual labs at minimum are a must to monitor how well your body is absorbing vitamins, etc. DAVE

Calcium and Iron compete for absorption in the body.  You don't want to take them at the same time. That is why your multi vit don't have iron because you have to wait 2 hours between taking iron and calcium.   

Upcal D can be found at amazon.com and is a powdered calcium citrate that you can easily add to your crystal light to help make it easier to get into your routine.