I had parathyroid surgery in 2025. Can you please give me your opinion on how much Calcium Citrate I should take daily?
The short answer is: it depends. This is something that has to be personalized based on your situation.
After parathyroid surgery, I recommend that everyone take calcium and Vitamin D in the immediate postoperative period. Typically I’ll recommend taking calcium and Vitamin D for at least six months after the operation, to help replace the calcium that has been lost from the bones as a result of primary hyperparathyroidism.
The amount of calcium and Vitamin D, and the duration of supplementation, depends on the individual and their bone health status. Most patients will be put on around 1500 mg of calcium daily for the week after surgery, then 1000 mg daily for the week after that. For people with osteopenia or osteoporosis, I typically recommend staying on around 1000 mg daily. For those with no bone loss or mild osteopenia, I will usually recommend dropping to around 500 to 600 mg and staying on that for six months. For Vitamin D, around 1000 to 2000 units (25 mcg to 50 mcg) long-term is a good amount for most people. Anyone who is on calcium should also be taking Vitamin D. Higher doses of Vitamin D may be necessary for some people, but can also cause problems if taken long-term (like causing high calcium).
You also have to consider other factors for calcium supplements. Someone with absorption issues, or very low calcium in their diets, will need to take higher amounts of calcium and will need to stay on it longer term. If you have had a gastric bypass, for example, you will have lifelong difficulty with calcium absorption and will need to take calcium supplementation, typically around 1000 to 1200 mg of calcium daily.
As for the type of calcium, I do like calcium citrate because it tends to be well tolerated. But you don’t have to take calcium citrate. If you do well with calcium carbonate and like that, then that is great. The important thing is to take a calcium that you tolerate and will take every day. There are tons of different calcium supplements out there, so you can experiment and figure out which ones you like best.
