random bits

[cellio]

I used to occasionally have a problem with an overnight power outage killing the alarm clock and causing me to oversleep, but I've more recently realized that having a UPS or three means never having to fear that again. :-) (Fortunately, today's power outage came after we were up, not in the middle of the night, and only lasted about five minutes. I was just about ready to interrupt my morning grooming to shut down computers when the need went away.)

In the "interesting if true, and interesting anyway" department: earlier this week I learned that the folks who handle disposal of sensitive documents for my company are blind. (Well, not the truck driver.) If I understand correctly, the local blind association arranges this, as sort of an extra guarantee or something. Who'd'a thought?

Signal boost: it looks like someone's testing stolen credit-card numbers on a large scale. Check your statement for microtransactions; they're testing the cards with ~20-cent transactions to verify that they're good before hammering them. Link from jducoeur.

A few days ago my copy of I Remember the Future by mabfan arrived. Yay! I'll have some nice reading for Shabbat.

Oldest LOLcat? Link from siderea.

My doctor confirmed that I should be taking calcium supplements now to (with luck) fend off problems later. Where can I find calcium tablets that are sized for, y'know, normal people and not horses? Most bottles in stores don't even include pictures on the label, so it's hit or miss. The oblong ones I have are scored for cutting widthwise, but I need them to be narrower, not necessarily shorter, and my attempts to do that have all ended badly. What do other women of a certain age do?

Comments

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

Where can I find calcium tablets that are sized for, y'know, normal people and not horses?

What about chewables (http://www.amazon.com/Chewable-Calcium-Supplement-60-Count-Containers/dp/B000FKJTT8)?

[spiritdancer]

re: calcium supplements: Try Viactiv (or the generic equivalent). It's a chewable calcium supplement in various flavors (most commonly chocolate; I recall seeing caramel, as well).

OTOH, you may want to give your doc a call back and ask about Vitamin D supplementation, as well. It doesn't really help to take the calcium if you can't absorb it (and going into winter where you live, odds are pretty good you're going to be Vitamin D deficient).

Reminds me I need to start taking my Vitamin D again :-)

[cellio]

Ooh, thanks! I had no idea that chewables were an option! (I didn't see them in my local grocery store, but I haven't been to the big pill store, err GNC, yet.)

[cellio]

We did also talk about Vitamin D. (800mg/day, sayeth the doctor.) My current calcium tablets bundle it, but you're right to remind me that not all do.

Thanks for the pointer to Vicativ! Chewable hadn't occurred to me as an option. (I thought they only did that for kids' medicines/vitamins, and while I'm willing to pretent to be a kid if it gets me something I can swallow, somehow I think the dosages would be different.)

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

Oh, don't pay their prices. Go to CVS or Walgreens. GNC will... well, what I was going to say is indelicate, but they are WAY overpriced for simple things like calcium supplements.

[cellio]

Thanks for the tip. I've never actually had occasion to go into a GNC before. We've got CVS and a shiny new Walgreens nearby, so I'll check them out.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Another way to boost calcium is to choose calcium-fortified orange juice, if you don't already.

[spiritdancer]

The Vitamin D dosage recommendation is, I suspect, going to in flux over the next couple of years, what with all the ongoing research. Personally, I've been using a considerably higher dose, and my doc didn't blink an eye when I told him (plus it seems to make a difference in my depression, without the side effects and at lower cost than prescription drugs).

If you can (and do) drink milk, you get vitamin D and calcium in one package. There're more foods supplemented with calcium, but I don't see many with extra vitamin D.

'Course, you could invest in tanning bed time in teh winter months, and get the vitamin D "naturally" (via skin production). :-)

[dreamdancer85.livejournal.com]

Try Costco's Kirkland brand. I use their 500 Mg + D(400 IU) and K (40 mcg)

The pills are about the size of a one a day multi-vitamin.

I take two of these as I need both the calcium and the Vit. D.

The BIG bottle has 600 in there, and costs $10.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the historic LOLcat!

Calcium

[fauxklore]

There's a cheaper chewable option than Viactiv. I use Tum's (or the generic equivalent, i.e. a calcium carbonate antacid.) Each tablet has about 200 - 300 mg of calcium, depending on the brand. So two tablets a day works for me.

One other thing with calcium is that oxalates can interfere with absorption, so eating dishes made with cheese and spinach is counterproductive as you absorb the fat but not the calcium from the cheese.

blind employees

[ticklethepear.livejournal.com]

The other great job placement I saw was in a cigar factor in Nicaragua where several blind people who in charge of quality of control of external packaging, since their sense of touch is more acute.

[cjsherwood.livejournal.com]

My personal favorite for calcium supplementation is Tums (or generic store-brand thereof). Chewable, not too unpleasant tasting and, iirc, one can get a full daily dose of Calcium by chewing 2 daily.

[cellio]

I can drink milk. I don't tend to drink a lot (though more in the winter than in the summer because hot milk with honey and hot cocoa are both nice then). I do eat yogurt nearly daily, for what that's worth.

My doctor advised 1200 mg calcium and 800 mg D per day, which are both higher than product packaging suggests as a daily dose. I'm not going to argue; I figure up to some limit that I'm not going to hit anyway, being over is better than being under. Having recently learned of an inherited vulnerability to ostioporosis, I want to do what I can now rather than having regrets later.

'Course, you could invest in tanning bed time in teh winter months, and get the vitamin D "naturally" (via skin production). :-)

Yeah, but then I'm just trading skin cancer for vitamin deficiency, right? :-)

[hopeness.livejournal.com]

With the credit card thing, that is exactly the pattern the thieves used--a small "test" transaction (at a movie theatre halfway across the country!) prior to the big charges.

And others have suggested chewable calcium - even better, before I had to start on my current crazy vitamins, I was supplementing with calcium "chews"... chocolate tootsie-roll like things.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

*makes note of microtransactions and more*

[cellio]

Good point. I don't buy a lot of OJ, but when I do I'll watch out for that.

[cellio]

Thanks for the tip!

I've seen two shapes of one-a-day vitamins, roundish and capsule-shaped. Which are these similar to?

Re: Calcium

[cellio]

Thanks for the tips.

Wait, milk is good but cheese is bad? And what's the deal with spinach?

Re: blind employees

[cellio]

Interesting. I've heard the "other senses heightened" thing anecdotally, but didn't know there was anything behind it.

[cellio]

Thanks for the tip. And here I thought Tums was just for upset stomachs.

[cellio]

Yeah, I thought I remembered that that's what had happened to you.

Re: Calcium

[fauxklore]

Sorry if I confused you re: dairy. Both milk and cheese (and yogurt) are high in calcium. The problem is that if you eat/drink them at the same time as spinach, the oxalic acid in the spinach keeps you from absorbing the calcium. (The high fat and sodium in cheese are a separate issue.) There are a few other things with oxalates, but spinach is the most common and there are lots of dishes with spinach and cheese, which is why I thought it worth mentioning.

[cellio]

I found chewable tablets at Rite-Aid that each contain 600 units calcium and 400 units D; two of those is exactly what the doctor ordered. Yay! And they don't taste horrible, so now that I know that I can go looking for the jumbo bottle.

Thanks for the pointers.

Re: Calcium

[cellio]

Aha. Thank you for the clarification. I didn't know that spinach caused interference, and you're right that omelettes and quiches are common deployment paths. I'll pay attention to that. (Most of my spinach intake is via salads or a certain fish dish that I like to make, fortunately.)

[jducoeur]

No -- actually, if you read the label, they have special instructions for "if using Tums as a calcium supplement".

I would agree with the recommendation. While they're a bit chalky, Tums aren't bad, and it's probably the easiest way to get calcium in a reasonably cheap chewable form...