calcium supplements

[Romilly2]

Hello lovely people ! Just looking for some advice on taking calcium. I’ve been through FAQ but can’t seem to find anything. I’m intending going for a DEXA scan soon to the same place I went 20 years ago to compare . Currently tapering with no ill effects 🤞Purely with all the good advice from this site and no input whatsoever from my GP !

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

try following - should find some info there -but what exactly do you want to know?

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to DorsetLady]

plus this if not already included in above -

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

[Romilly2 in reply to DorsetLady]

Thankyou! Yes want to know if I should take them! I’m dairy free for Hashimotos ( which has worked well as part of that management) so I’m not getting calcium in dairy .

[Dartmoor4 in reply to DorsetLady]

thank you. Will do

[PMRpro Ambassador]

You can only compare the results when done on the same machine - and it is unlikely it is the same device as 20 years ago!

I took calcium supplements from the start and at one point was told to cut dairy (weight loss and blood lipids) which immediately sent the dietician into a panic when she realised I'd have next to no calcium until I reminded her about the supplements. I took calcium until I was having repeated UTI symptoms - but they were probably due to calcium grit forming in the urine. I stopped the supplements and upped dietary calcium which seems to have worked. My bone density has barely changed in 13 years of pred.

What exacty do you want to know?

[Romilly2 in reply to PMRpro]

Hi , yes hopefully a different machine now 😁 I was just wondering as I’m on prednisolone ( tapered to 7.5 mg at the moment) wether I should be taking a calcium supplement. I will go through the links that Dorsey Lady kindly shared 😁

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Romilly2]

It is the first level of protection from bone density loss and studies did find that patients being on calcium and vit D reduced the incidence of bone density loss. I took calcium and vit D from the outset. The calcium caused bladder problems after some time so I stopped the calcium, increased my dietary intake and take 4000 IU vit D per day - D3 is arguably as, if not more, important than the calcium unless your diet is very deficient. Vit D isn't available through diet - unless you eat an awful lot of wild salmon and mushroom omelettes!

What I meant was - doesn't have to be the same place if it isn't convenient!

[Romilly2 in reply to PMRpro]

Thankyou for your reply 🙂 I do take Vitamin D and K2 , have done for years so I’m not too anxious about introducing the calcium . It was just another one of those things that came up in my deep dive into anything steroid related. Aside from that I would be curious about the DEXA results as a baseline going forward. I’ve thought about trying a slow reintroduction of dairy and see what happens with my thyroid but that’s another story !! Have a good weekend!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Romilly2]

Lots of other things with calcium and most dairy substitutes have added calcium.