Hi all- I had my second round of botox on Jan. 4th and until yesterday I was having a great week to 10 days! But then I woke up with a very irritated skin tag, some pain with bowel movement and some bleeding. :( I am not sure why...
A day or two after the botox, I decided that as I have been in my first year or two of menopause and have not been taking calcium supplements during this time (because of my fear of constipation) that I would add them back in now. I guess I was thinking that if I am going to have trouble, better to find out now than to heal and then try it and have everything go back. I don't even know if that makes sense...
Anyway- I took Calcium carbonate (just one 600 mg tablet) daily this past week and also added in a little more Miralax and one 250 mg. magnesium before bed. Things seemed to be going so well- I was pretty routinely having just a couple of BMs a day that were soft, yet formed and all was well. Then starting Tuesday I started having the gassiness that I associated with magnesium I was taking up until a few months ago. And then Wednesday, I had a third very loose stool that was pretty explosive. I don't know if that is what caused my setback.
My bottom line question is: Do you think I should even be messing around with trying to take the calcium now? When my hubbie found out I had not been taking it, he was upset because he said that long term that could cause more problems than what I am going through now (his Mom had pretty severe osteoporosis at the end of her life- at 98!- and I think that scared him...)

Oh- and I did find out Wednesday that calcium carbonate is the most likely to constipate so starting yesterday, I switched to calcium citrate. Today I have that rumbling around, maybe I have to go any second feeling which I hate!

I take a calcium/magnesium tablet which doesn't seem to cause any constipation problems. It's 2:1 calcium to magnesium in each tablet. I get it from my chiropractor (Healthsource--if there is one near you). I think it's important to take calcium and Vitamin D unless you are getting lots of dairy!! I also have been using almond milk (switched from soy) in my oatmeal and in my smoothies that I have been making. Good luck!

I remembered that I posted this a while back and wanted to just say that I have since seen my gynecologist for my annual exam and thought he'd be all upset that I had not been taking calcium. He was like- oh they don't even know if taking supplements really helps anymore. It's better to just add in more calcium rich foods and you could just eat more broccoli if you are avoiding dairy. Or add yogurt. He said D3 and weight bearing exercise is now seen as more important in postmenopausal women like me. Anyway, just thought I'd let you know that. And my bone density came back at least as good as 2 years ago and in some places a little better!
Bambi