What product do you use for Calcium Citrate?

Well today is the day they told me to start Calcium citrate. They gave me a whole bunch of options and who knows where to start. Just needs to be chewable or liquid.
What do you use and why?

These supplements are adding up!

Ditto for me - I am supposed to start next week after surgery.  I have looked at the pharmacies at local grocery stores and wal-mart and I haven't seen any chewables or liquid.  Guess I need to head over to Walgreens

I use Twinlab caplets.  At first you will think they are too big to consume, but with a little water they'll go down.  You can find them on www.dpsnutrition.com.   2 caps = 450 mg Ca/Mg or about 68% of the RDA. 

I generally think that caplets will be absorbed faster because once the dissolve, it's already powdered.  Big tablets might not be fully dissolved by the time they make it through your shorted pipes.

Guy

Just needs to be chewable or liquid.

I thought you had your surgery at BIDMC -- what NUT there would tell someone 2 months post-op that they need chewable or liquid calcium citrate?

I was crushing Citracal tablets until about 4 weeks out.  It turns out that these tablets (or their drugstrore generic equivalents) will dissolve in fluid, though it's still a bit gritty.  But I honestly never have had any problems whatsoever just swallowing the tablets.  I take two Citracal+D three times a day.

Chewable or liquid calcium citrate is very difficult to find; not impossible, but difficult.

/Steve

I use Bariatric Advantage Chewable Calcium Citrate. I take 4 per day. I like the cinamon flavor best. It's not cheap, but I prefer the chewable.

Over the past almost two years I've used a few different things. Here's my list of the ones I liked

CitraCal soft chews--lemon was best.
CitraCal Petiet---chewed it up...like a stick of chalk
UpCal D--powdered in a canister. Mixes with everything
Bariatric Advantage--pricey, but a good take-along product.

I've used the UpCal D the longest. I got a can of it that's lasted a while. I also got packets that I keep in my briefcase, and at work. It mixes with anything, even plain water. Doesn't change texture/taste much

Thanks guys for your take on this. I will have too much fun. See if I can tolerate the tablets dissolved in water. I go for cheap if I can still swallow without gagging.

Steve, yes I am at BIDMC. Their whole stage 5 packet only lists liquid and chewable options. No one has ever said dissolve in water is an option (only got that here) AND no one has said swallowing is an option. Personally right now I am not ready for that test. I have enough trouble with food that hurts like hell because it gets stuck because I have not chewed it enough.

Remember that it's not whether or not we can swallow pills, it's what they do once they're inside that counts. I can swallow a lead weight, but it doesn't mean I'll absorb it by the time It comes out the exit.

That's an interesting analogy, but it would be more appropriate to imagine a compressed tablet of, say, lead acetate compared to a lead weight.  The former will quickly disintegrate and deliver a toxic dose of lead; the latter has a very small surface area, won't disintegrate and will be excreted in the feces.

Anyone who imagines that a calcium citrate tablet would stay intact as it traverses the GI tract should just place it in a glass of water and watch.  It'll disintegrate in 15 minutes or less; more quickly if you stir it regularly.

/Steve

good point.