Looks like calcium was the culprit

[star0210]

I've posted about my constipation issues.
This past week I stopped taking my calcium (Vitalady's blue pills) and I've finally gone without help of some sort. I have had constipation issues for years but it's never been as bad as this.

So now what? Is there another brand or type of calcium that's not as constipating? I was thinking maybe trying the patches instead. There's no way I can live with that kind of constipation.

Maybe later a bit down the road when I can get in more fat or something I can try again? I don't know what do..I know I need calcium. Ugh.

 

[brooklyngirl]

That sucks! I think @Sheanie has talked about a regimen she uses in combo with each calcium dose to prevent that?

 

[star0210]

That sucks! I think @Sheanie has talked about a regimen she uses in combo with each calcium dose to prevent that?

I was taking 2 mag ox and 3 colace with each dose of calcium and that wasn't doing anything.

 

[brooklyngirl]

Oh jeez. I'd be investigating the patches if I were in your predicament

 

[southernlady]

I would second the patches as an alternative.

I know that calcium is a HUGE culprit in my being able to go...I finally found a sweet spot with mine.

 

[Elizabeth N.]

You might try the patches.... Maybe a liquid cal cit? Blue Bonnet is a brand name that comes to mind.

 

[star0210]

Thanks...I haven't even heard of a liquid. I'll check that out.

 

[Sheanie]

Well, I can offer you my experience. Calcium is the culprit for my constipation for sure. I've done an elimination and pinpointed the cause. I've played around with different things. Adding fat until I made myself sick didn't help one bit. Bullet Proof Coffee didn't help . Jigger of olive oil didn't help. Even Krispy Kreme wouldn't do it. I had full impaction at one point, which I knew how to deal with myself from my nursing school classes in the 70's. Not pleasant at all.

So now what I do is I take my calcium in 4 doses of 515mg each (Calcium pills in a combination of one large and one petite equal 515 together), and I take 2 Magnesium Oxide with the second two doses only. With each calcium dose, I eat 1 or 2 prunes, depending on the size. And I eat as high fat as I can tolerate without getting sick. Butter on everything, HWC, full fat versions of all dairy.

I know I'm absorbing calcium well, because my latest PTH was 12.8, my D level is 99. I never look at the calcium lab.

If I even get a HINT that I'm plugging up, I STOP THE CALCIUM, until it clears. I keep on taking the MagOx and prunes, though. I also drink WAY over what most people drink in a day, but it's all caffeinated beverages. Coffee and Green Tea is all I drink, ever. I used to be a full-sugar Coca Cola addict, so that's why all the caffeine.

@star0210 , you will have to find your own Magic Mix in order to keep your pooper working. I suspect it's a balance like mine, but who knows. For what it's worth, pre-DS, one prune would have sent me shitting my brains out for an entire day. Now, I eat so many just to stay comfortable, I cannot believe it.

 

[revisionDS]

I personally don't like Mg ox, it chops up the GI system and is poorly absorbed, try glycinate, and get a good probiotic

 

[Brandy]

Me too. OMG, it has been a rough ride, but I'm now up to about 2.5 K a day without constipation.

Things I learned along the way:

1. UpCal D. I read somewhere that it wasn't constipating, but I'm not sure. I don't think it is as bad. A scoop is 500 mg of elemental calcium and it is easy to put that in a protein drink. I now do two scoops a day, morning and evening. You have to kind of learn to swirl your glass before you sip.

2. No calcium or iron until I have had poopage. This was a hard one to learn.

3. Heme Iron. I decided I didn't need TWO things that could be constipating me. Proferrin is supposed to be non-constipating and can be taken at the same time as calcium. Because I never knew if I wasn't going to be taking my calcium on any given day, I couldn't settle into a schedule. It's expensive, but probably much less than going to the ER. It just seemed like this was something I could throw money at in the short run and make my life MUCH easier.

4. Start with 250 mg and no more than 250 mg of calcium added per week. Get stabilized with the amount of laxatives (mirilax) and stool softeners and mag ox. Even if things seem normal for a day or two, give your body the whole week. Even cut down on the mag ox if you need to but give your body time to get used to the calcium.

5. I like the product Mag o7 by Aerobic Life, 3 pills have 1,045 elemental mag, but also 99 elemental potassium. It just seemed to work better than the other brands of mag X I tried. Their mag is also "Ozonated", what ever that means. This stuff seemed to help with smell a little as well.

6. A bottle of Gatorade and a walk. Seemed like when I started getting uncomfortable that if I sat down and drank a whole bottle of Gatorade and then took a really long walk, I would get some relief. I don't know if water would have worked as well. In general, keeping your hydration levels high is good.

7. Fiber. About 6 g from supplements and I tried to get over 20 g a day. Soaking chia seeds in my protein shakes was good because then they absorb a lot of water. I found that I'm not eating that much, and by the time I started to get uncomfortable with the constipation I would really not be eating enough and you can't poop what you don't have. BUT be careful coming up to dosage on fiber, because that can cause constipation as well.

8. Probiotics can also help or cause constipation. One comes in my fiber so I haven't really researched this.

9. Fat, maybe that helps, but at five months, I'm just not that reliable about it to count on it to keep me out of the ER. I still have bad days where I'm lucky to get 500 calories and 30 g of fat. So, I learned the pill / powder route to success. In the long run, I would rather rely on fat over laxatives and stool softeners, but it seems like it is ok to do whatta I go do to get my dosage up.

10. Track my food and pills. I couldn't believe how much extra calcium had snuck into my diet. Between adding heavy cream to my protein shakes and centrum Silver, I was getting an extra 1000 mg of calcium a day.


I have now been at 2500 mg a day for 10 days without being constipated. I have cut out most of the mag o7 and reduced my mirilax to 3/4 of a dose because the last few days besides a morning poop, I've had the runs in the afternoon. I didn't think I would ever get here and mostly I blame it on being too rushed. I felt like such a loser that I wasn't taking my calcium. I would see people post two weeks after surgery saying "I'm on all my vitamins" and I would be mad at myself for not getting that done. As soon as I really slowed down and stabilized at every 250 mg level, it came easy.

 

[JackieOnLine]

a most excellent post, Brandy!