Is my calcium supplement causing kidney stones?

So, you know calcium is one of the goals of the Kidney Stone Diet, but is your calcium supplement causing kidney stones? Let's talk about that. Welcome back to the Kidney Stone Diet podcast, the show about reducing your kidney stone risk and living your best life.

I'm your host and fellow student, Jeff Sarris.

And I'm Jill Harris, your kidney stone prevention nurse. Jeff, it's good to see you.

Good to see you, too.

It is funny that our names are so close. I was just thinking about that, too. It's the silliest thing I've ever heard.

I think people just read everything too fast, too, 'cause people are always like, "Is that your son?" I'm like, "No. He could be, but he's not. No."

But, yeah, it's just funny. Starts with a J, four letters, ends with an -aris, so…

Very weird. It's bizarre.

Yeah. But, yeah, so today we're talking calcium supplements. That's a big, big topic, big question.

Calcium's important, but what about supplements?

Yeah, so, and also I'm trying, so everybody knows, there was a couple comments on the on the channel, and I answered them. They're like, "Jill, you rock too much. It's really hard on the eyes." I have ADHD, so it's a self-soothing thing.

So, I'm using my I'm using my beads. So, I'm going to try to really sit I used to always get in trouble in school. "Jill, sit the stop moving!

I'm getting motion sickness!" I'm I'm sorry, guys. I'm I'm really trying, okay? Try not to move.

It is funny. I always pick something up, too. So, it's like the lens cap for this camera.

I'm just sort of spinning it around and…

I mean, all these little things I have. Okay, so calcium supplements. Now, this is such a common, common scenario.

"Jill, I have osteoporosis." A lot of people ask this on the Facebook page, and there is a private Facebook page. Thousands and thousands of people on that page, the Kidney Stone Diet with Jill Harris. Go on there and ask to join and I'll get you in.

And so they will ask, "I have osteoporosis, and my endocrinologist put me on calcium supplements," or "my primary put me on calcium supplements. Now, I've made kidney stones and I've read that they can increase my risk. What am I to do?" Now, as a nurse, here's legal stuff, as a nurse, I do not override doctor's orders.

I do not do that. And especially like on Facebook because I don't know your medical history, I don't know what's going on, you may be a bariatric patient, you may have you may have had a parathyroid surgery. All these things can lead to you having to take calcium supplements, but, but, so I do not override your doctor's orders, but I give you words and questions to ask your doctor next time you see the doctor, or in a kidney stone former's case who is taking calcium supplements, get in the portal and write and ask.

So, here's here's why. Calcium supplements, they're not absorbed that great and any excess that is not being absorbed can wind up in your kidney and they can increase your risk for kidney stones. "Well, Jill, what am I supposed to do if I have bone disease?" Ask your doctor, "Dear Doctor, I know you told me to take calcium supplements, but I'm going to get my calcium through food and drink.

Is that okay?" And the doctor will be thrilled. I've never had a doctor in all these years say, "No, Trixie! No, no, no!

You have to take the pills." I've never had that if the patient didn't have any other reason why a doctor was telling them to take calcium supplements. "Well, Jill, why would they ever tell us to take calcium supplements if they cause kidney stones?" Number one, that doctor may not be thinking about kidney stone risk. They're dealing with bone disease, okay?

Your primary, the doctors may not know the correlation between kidney stone pills and kidney sorry, calcium pills. Jeff's like, "Oh, jeez. You got to stop doing those mimosas for brunch, Jill."

Hey, all fluids count.

That's right, all fluids count. Water's best, mimosas count. So, why would the doctor tell me to do pills?

Well, they're not thinking about, they're thinking about your bones and they want you to get the calcium supplements. And also everybody knows, here's another stat, I've never worked with somebody in all these decades that has told me, "Jill, I get plenty of calcium. Don't worry about it.

I don't have to worry about calcium. I drink lots of milk. I do this.

I do that." No one's ever said that. You're not thinking about getting calcium until you have bone disease or until you had a kidney stone, or both. And kidney stones and bone disease, which is bone disease meaning osteopenia or osteoporosis, very common, very common, these two disease states.

So, the doctors are just, they're in a hurry. They're just like, "Take some calcium supplements," okay? Now, don't.

Unless you're So, you ask your doctor, "Is it okay if I get it through food?" They will all say, "Yes." But make sure because you may have other things, the reason, you know, reasons they ask you to do it. And then, if they say, "Yes, you can get it through food and drink," please do, folks. Because, first of all, when you get your when you get your calcium through food and drink, it's going to help you lower your oxalate because oxalate and calcium bind together in your intestines and leave through the stool.

So, lots of people say, "Jill, I'm not even eating high oxalate foods. Why is my oxalate so high?" Number one, you're not getting any calcium sources. And, number two, remember, oxalate is also a byproduct from general metabolism.

Once we metabolize stuff, our food and everything, there's just leftover, our body just makes oxalate is what I'm trying to say. So, in order for excess oxalate not to get reabsorbed into our body and get higher in our urine, we want to make sure people get enough calcium. So, you get calcium throughout the day, never more than 500 mg at a time.

Again, our body doesn't absorb calcium that great and we don't want I've actually had patients say, "Jill, I'm going to have six glasses of milk in the morning and not have to worry about this anymore." Please don't do that. "Jill, who would do that?" You'd be surprised. You'd be surprised what people do.

So you want to get it throughout the throughout the day. "I don't drink milk, Jill." You don't have to. You can get it through other sources.

There's lots I have on my blog at kidneystonediet.com, I have vegan sources for calcium, vegetarian sources for calcium, and also the supplemented milk. People will say, "Well, that's a supplement, Jill." Look, I will say this, they have not been studied, but I will tell you this, you take those supplemented milks, which ones are they?

Flax, Ripple, which is pea milk, macadamia milk, coconut milk. These are all non-dairy beverages in your in your next to the milk section. You cannot have almond milk, cannot have cashew milk.

They're too high in oxalate, okay? And again, on my blog I have a list of oxalate and calcium from those sources at kidneystonediet.com. So, you can use those sources.

What So, people will say, "Well, that's just like the pill. It's supplemented." So, therefore, I want you to shake up those containers when you're using those products, and I want you to use those products with food. Don't just be chugging, "Oh, my god.

I forgot to get my calcium in. Let me chug some calcium." Don't do that. You need to get it with food so it absorbs better.

I have so many patients that are taking pea milk and non-dairy milks and they do not have higher urine calcium in the 24-hour urine collection consults I'm having with them. So, I'm not seeing any issue. I'm hoping that we do some studies with those.

I really do. I hope we do studies with that, but until there are studies, we can only go by my decades of experience. And in the last 10 years, people have used these non-dairy milks and I'm not seeing any issues with them.

So, if you're somebody that must take a supplement because of other medical conditions, again, I'm looking at gastric bypass patients, intestinal people who have certain intestinal issues that cause malabsorption, people who have had a parathyroid surgery, parathyroid, not thyroid, parathyroid surgery. The parathyroid is a gland that regulates calcium and some of you will have to have a surgery to remove one or more of those glands or organs, whatever the hell they are.

I always forget. Yes, I'm a nurse, but I'm not perfect. I have a mental block with that.

And so, you may have to take calcium supplements for a while until your parathyroid starts catching up. If you have to take a supplement, remember, it's not recommended. If you have to, you have to, but it's not recommended.

But if you do, take those supplements throughout the day with food, never more than 500 mg at a time. It's imperative. The best absorption comes from food or drink that has naturally-containing calcium.

Next would be supplemented milks, non-dairy milks. After that would be the pill form. Not recommended, but some of you will have to do it.

I think a lot of times, too, the reason for the lack of absorption with the calcium pills is because people don't take them with food. You must, and don't take like 700 mg at a time. A lot of people do that.

You're not going to absorb all that. So, that's the thing about calcium supplements. Please talk to your doctor because they will always say, "Just get some calcium pills and take those." Ask the doctor if it's okay for you to get your calcium through food and drink and then do that.

Plenty of YouTube shows on that, on my blog, ways to get calcium different ways, kidneystonediet.com.

Yeah, and while you're there you can check out the All Access Pass. It's actually the first time we're releasing everything Kidney Stone Diet for one flat price. So, you can get the prevention course, you can get meal plans, you can get all the e-books, you can get absolutely everything including group calls.

Tell 'em about the group calls, because that's where you get to work with Jill directly in a group setting. It's a hugely beneficial set of services that we decided to finally lump together, so you can find that at kidneystonediet.com. Yeah, absolutely.

And a discount A discount on private services now. We've never done that. My privates are golden.

Yeah, so if you want one-on-one access and want to have the best price possible, that's exclusively for All Access Pass members. You can find that and everything else at kidneystonediet.com. And, again, thanks for tuning in this week and we'll see you next week.

Bye, everybody. Have a great week!