Rule number one with calcium supplements is to not take calcium with prescription medication, as it can alter the effects of the medication... So I don't take calcium in the morning, as that's when my two prescription meds are taken.
Rule number two is to take calcium with food... I've discovered that, to avoid stomach upset, I should take the supplement at the beginning of the meal, so that it digests completely with the food I eat.
Rule number three is to not take more than 500 mg of calcium at a time... I have been given two reasons for that: A nurse at the cancer center told me that studies have shown that taking more than 500 mg of calcium supplement is bad for the heart. (Here is a link to the what the Mayo Clinic online says about that...)
When I mentioned this to the osteoporosis specialist, she didn't comment to confirm or deny it. Instead she said that the body can't absorb more than 500 mg of calcium at a time.
To complicate matters, I've discovered (online) that elemental calcium is what the body absorbs - and with some calcium supplements only a small percentage of total calcium is elemental. Here's a quote from the Mayo Clinic website:
Amount of calcium
Elemental calcium is key because it's the actual amount of calcium in the supplement. It's what your body absorbs for bone growth and other health benefits. The Supplement Facts label on calcium supplements is helpful in determining how much calcium is in one serving. As an example, calcium carbonate is 40 percent elemental calcium, so 1,250 milligrams (mg) of calcium carbonate contains 500 mg of elemental calcium. Be sure to note the serving size (number of tablets) when determining how much calcium is in one serving.
(So... how much elemental calcium am I really getting when I take my 333 mg. calcium carbonate pill? 40% of 333 mg?!)
A final concern for me at the moment is an adverse reaction I seem to be having to my current calcium tablets (the container on the left in the photo...)
My doctor told me to take two a day, with different meals, but I often develop a stomach ache after taking the second pill, with my evening meal... The discomfort sometimes persists through the night...
Until I see the specialist again in September, I've decided to try another form of calcium for my second dose - one that looks and tastes like chocolate candy... Delicious! But the label tells me that just one candy tablet has way more elemental calcium in it than I should take in one dose. So I've decided to cut the toffee-like candy in half, and take only half at a time... So far I've had no stomach problems with this form of calcium.
But I do have more questions: My doctor indicated that TUMS can also be used as a calcium supplement. But it is mostly calcium carbonate... so again only perhaps 40% is absorbed by the bones. But I notice that the latest container I purchased, for acid indigestion, contains a lot more calcium carbonate that I want to take at once... Should I be using TUMS that contain less calcium?
What harm am I doing if I'm consuming too much calcium in supplement form??
In case you're wondering, my doctor said that I should be eating four servings of calcium rich food a day (milk, yogurt, cheese) plus two 333 mg calcium tablets, if that is the supplement I choose to take.)
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