Those of you who take OPTISOURCE for vits....

Okay, so I picked up a bottle at Walgreens, and I see you have to take 4 a day. My question is...when do you take your calcium? I know that calcium interferes with iron absorption, so if I have to take 4 calciums a day, how the heck do I take 8 different chewables far enough apart that they don't counteract each other?? I'm confused! Thanks in advance! Elizabeth

It was my understanding that all the calcium that we need is in the optisource. I just take 2 a day. I take 2 at a time - even that is hard for me to remember. Rachel

Hmm, that's only 1000mg of calcium for the day if you take all 4...I think the calcium my surgeon wants me to take adds up to 2000mg of calcium a day. But I never even thought to take 2 at one time! I think I'll do that Thanks, Rachel!

you dont take anything else with optisource.. just optisource has everything you need in it.. and i usually(when i remember) eek .. take 2 in the am and 2 at night. hth! Jen

Hey Jen! Well shoot...I didn't know you could take 2 at a time! That helps. I was taking one children's chewable 2x's a day before, so 2 optisource 2x's a day will be much easier! Thanks!!

I take my calcium first thing in the morning. Then 2 optisource at 11am and 2 more optisource around 3 or 4. And I'd like to add that the calcium in optisource is calcium carbonate which isn't the calcium we need for healthy bones and teeth. We need calcium citrate plus D. I get mine at the vitamin shop. One tablet contains 1000mg of calcium citrate and 400 IU of Vitamin D. Susan

I take vista vitamins and our iron is in with the Ca and everything, and I have never had troubles with abosorption. I think it depends how its made and how it is made to absorb into your system. The gastric nurse here said that she did not care which ones we took as long as our body abosorbed it, because Dr. Nguyen said he wanted all his patients on these really expensive vitamins, plus all these extra supplements separate.....my whole point for taking Vistas....no extra pills needed. I have a hard enough time remembering to take them.....much less take a lot of extra pills, too much trouble. One pill does it all, 4 pills at once, done for the day, well, night. Deb

Calcium Citrate is acidic based and Calcium Carbonate is alkaline based. Choosing the right calcium supplement really depends what your needs are! The most important factor when purchasing calcium supplements is to ensure that you look for the elemental calcium content, not the total content. For instance, a supplement containing 500mg of Calcium Carbonate provides 200mg of elemental calcium. Hence this pill in this example only provides 200mg of calcium, not 500mg. CALCIUM CITRATE, e.g. Citracal or Solgar: Absorption: Calcium is best absorbed in an acidic environment, hence calcium citrate is the best absorbed supplemental form of calcium. It does not require extra stomach acid for absorption, hence we may take it anytime in a day, even on an empty stomach. DR. BYRNE & THE STAFF NUTRITIONIST AT M.U.S.C. TELL US TO US "ONLY" CALCIUM CITRATE and that may be due to the fact that we had RNY surgery and we don't produce stomach acids as we did before surgery. But I suppose it just depends on what your surgeon or nutritionist suggests. Christian Love, Susan

how much is there? i didn't know walgreens sold it. (btw, you look fantastic)