no more calcium supplements??

Started by pharmasaur
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pharmasaur

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10+ Year Member
So I was volunteering at a health fair screening, I'm just a lowly P1. I was doing BP readings then I was chatting with this post-menopausal woman who was concerned b/c she just found out she has osteopenia and she wanted to find out how to make her bones stronger. I was like well first of all are you taking Ca supplements? and she was like no my doctor told me not to. And I was like uhh why? and she said he's like there was a new study that came out that said calcium supplements are bad for you b/c they cause heart disease...I was like WTF how is a doctor saying this...it's only if it's above 1400 mg/day or something like that plus she is on her way to osteoporosis?? Am I missing something or is this doctor stupid?
 
Well I'm assuming that her physician knows more about her medical history and maybe in this patient Ca supplements are not safe. Maybe she has parathyroid gland issues that could cause her to be hypercalcemic and this could likely precipitate arrhythmias especially if she takes calcium supplements. Sometimes all the patient will understand from this is that taking calcium supplements might cause heart problems. Obviously I don't know anything about her medical history so I'm just making assumptions here.

EDIT: Haven't heard anything about any new studies though.
 
According to NOF guidelines, intake in excess of 1,200 to 1,500 mg/day have limited benefit and may increase risk of developing cardiovascular disease or kidney stones
 
pharmasaur said:
So I was volunteering at a health fair screening, I'm just a lowly P1. I was doing BP readings then I was chatting with this post-menopausal woman who was concerned b/c she just found out she has osteopenia and she wanted to find out how to make her bones stronger. I was like well first of all are you taking Ca supplements? and she was like no my doctor told me not to. And I was like uhh why? and she said he's like there was a new study that came out that said calcium supplements are bad for you b/c they cause heart disease...I was like WTF how is a doctor saying this...it's only if it's above 1400 mg/day or something like that plus she is on her way to osteoporosis?? Am I missing something or is this doctor stupid?
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These health fair screening are tricky because they're not actual patient with a document PMH/PSH/FH/SH so you can't really know the whole picture. Given what you know I would be kind of wtf as well. However as some said, various endocrine disorder can impact calcium levels. As far as the studies goes, haven't read before but I probably should.
 
pharmasaur said:
So I was volunteering at a health fair screening, I'm just a lowly P1. I was doing BP readings then I was chatting with this post-menopausal woman who was concerned b/c she just found out she has osteopenia and she wanted to find out how to make her bones stronger. I was like well first of all are you taking Ca supplements? and she was like no my doctor told me not to. And I was like uhh why? and she said he's like there was a new study that came out that said calcium supplements are bad for you b/c they cause heart disease...I was like WTF how is a doctor saying this...it's only if it's above 1400 mg/day or something like that plus she is on her way to osteoporosis?? Am I missing something or is this doctor stupid?
Click to expand...

supplemental calcium does not treat nor prevent osteoperosis nor is it a foundation treatment for osteopenia. Vitamin D is the answer. You can give all the oral calcium you want, they dont absorb much of it without proper vitamin D supplementation. We base our recomendations on DEXA results and FRAX scores in terms of bisphosphanate therapy, wekkly 50k Vitamin D, 1-25 Di OH, etc etc. I have most of my post menopausal women taking OTC calcium. It doesnt hurt them. But I doubt it is doing all that much good if they are not on the Drisdol/bisphos/RANK-1 Ligands etc.

But I would caution you on what you say/hear at a preventative health screening. most of that is pro-bono work and is often not the most current EBM.
 
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