Calcium and Kidney Stones - Osteoporosis Message Board

glowing4 · 04-25-2007, 08:20 PM

I am very sad, scared, and discouraged tonight, but wanted to pass along information that might be useful to others.

A few years ago I was diagnosed with mild osteoporosis. I did not want to take the drugs, and did a great deal of research concerning them. I also have kept very current on these drugs, talked with many women about them, and feel that I made the right decision for me. The side effects (including loss of bone in the jaw and severe problems with dental work), plus the fact that they coat the bones rather than replace bone all did not seem right to me. What I have done is work out with weights, take strontium, and take calcium supplements. Therein lies the problem - calcium supplements.

I am now faced with a kidney stone attack and have never had this problem before. I have many small stones and one large one. I have been in pain for over a week, gone through x-rays, CT scans, and on lots of medicine. After seeing a urologist today I am looking at either passing the stone with a great deal of pain or having a procedure that sends sound shock waves through your body to break up the stone. Neither thing is good and both painful - both requiring drugs of some kind and possible risk to the kidney.

What I want to share though is when I asked the doctor if there is a direct link between the calcium supplements and these stones he said, without hesitation, YES, stop the calcium. I have been a good girl and taken the calcium for two years and just as directed. Every doctor I saw for whatever reason brought up calcium and the importance of taking it. Not one doctor gave me a blood test to see what my calcium levels were or even mentioned it. Not one doctor warned me about kidney stones. There were no tests at all - just told to take it. Now, I am in quite a mess, and in pain.

I do not want to tell anyone what to do. All of us are different. All of us must make our own choices that are right for us. I also do not want to scare anyone needlessly. But, I would like to advise all women to question and not accept blindly. Ask to have the tests done. Ask if your body is absorbing calcium and not passing it off into the kidneys. Be smart about your body and do research on your own. It is so important to question and find the right answers. Who would have thought that by following doctors orders, that something so seemingly harmless and to help my bones could make me this miserable.

With caring, glowing4

taape · 04-25-2007, 09:30 PM

I'm sorry to hear that your in this situation and pain. I hope you can get the stone passed and then heal. How much calcium supplementation were you taking?

osteoblast · 04-25-2007, 10:34 PM

Glowing 4-I too am sorry to hear about your problems and thank you for sharing your situation. I hope that you get good medical advice to determine the right way to proceed. I am wishing the best for you . It sounds like a very difficult and worrisome situation.

So many of us here are also taking calcium supplements and some like myself have elevated blood calcium levels. The doctor advised me to decrease the amount of calcium I am taking in by about a third.

We need to have a good discussion on this board about this topic. I hope that people who have some knowledge/experience with this will share what they have learned about both the risk of developing stones when taking calcium and how they were treated if they developed stones. The urologist's comment to you about his certainty that it was the calcium supplements is a concern.

Again, I hope the best for you and will send my prayers.

NHone · 04-25-2007, 10:34 PM

Did they ever tell you that you MUST take magnesium to make the body absorb calcium? If you don't take magnesium with the calcium the excess calcium will be distributed in the soft tissues, and in your case kidneys. Excess magnesium on the other hand is excreted by the kidneys. If they tell you you get plenty of magnesium in your diet.. tell them to think again. When is the last time you ever heard of a farmer adding magnesium to his fields. Crops today are depleted of magnesium. You might want to look up some information by Dr. Mildred Seelig. She was the world's leading magnesium specialist.

osteoblast · 04-25-2007, 10:55 PM

Glowing 4-I just found some excellent information that might help you at Mayo on the net. Look up "kidney stones" and "mayo" and you'll get to a discussion of symptoms, causes, diagnosis and treatment. In fact anyone now concerned about this topic should take a look. Glowing 4 there is a bit of discussion on alternate treatments and their pros and cons. Perhaps this will help you with further questions for your dr.

On the calcium issue the information seems to directly contradict Glowing4's dr. -stating that dietary calcium and supplemental calcium taken on a full stomach may protect against calcium stones. There is discussion as to why this occurs but rather involved for me to re-state right now. I wanted to get something to glowing4 tonight.

One important point stressed for prevention is to drink alot of water.