How much calcium are you in post TT?

[rayneweather]

How much calcium are the necklace brigade on after a TT?  I asked my surgeon about how much I should take now and she said that doesn't prescribe it pre-op.  I eat a lot of dairy but I'm not sure if it's enough.

[DMLee]

It took about 3 hours to get really going.  The whole time the nurses kept trying to get the endo to call back (a whole other issue) so they could start the Calcium drip.  It felt like my head was sitting on a vibrating plate and my fingers were as extended as they could get.  Eventually my arms pulled up in a fetal position and I could straighten them and couldn't feel my fingers.  My lips felt like they were pulling back off my teeth.  Could feel my abdominals tingling.  Yea, very strange and me being a Physical Therapist, I am analyzing the whole thing as it happened.  And yea, definitely don't need to go through it again.

[hazelhurst]

DMLee--Since it is very rare, I'm just curious if your tetany experience was similar to mine. Full body cramp, felt like an elephant was crushing my entire body, couldn't move my limbs, hands inverted inward. And when the iv calcium finally started to kick in, it felt like pulsing waves or surges of electricity going through my body, from neck to toes. As though I were being reanimated in some Frankensteinian experiment! A truly bizarre experience, and one I hope to never go through again. (Don't mean to alarm anyone, this is truly a seldom-seen side-effect, and in retrospect quite interesting).  

[DMLee]

I still have Calcium issues after my TT in October 2006.  Went into Tetany in the hospital.  You need to know if any of your parathyroids were damaged/removed as these are the major players with metabolizing Calcium.  I am on like 4000 mgs which is like 8 Citracals a day.  As well as loads of extra Vit D.  They had me on gobs of extra Magnesium but have since stopped that as too much extra Magnesium can shut off Parathyroid activity.  So it is my personal challenge to get off of all this and have switched to my medical guy instead of the endocrinologist as he seems to follow a mantra if you need more just keep taking more.  But you truly need to know what your Calcium levels are currently.  If you have any buzzing around your lips and hands then that is a sign that your levels are significantly low.

[hazelhurst]

It really depends on your calcium levels. If they tested you in the hospital and you were normal, it's not so crucial. But it wouldn't hurt to chew a couple of Tums every day, or take a multi-vitamin with calcium.