[net.med] Pills: A real pain in the neck

jmg@houxk.UUCP (11/21/83)

	Some time ago I wrote some articles concerning my problems with
caffeine and calcium in my diet which seemed to cause or agravate an
arthritis condition. Since I eliminated caffeine and sharply reduced
calcium in my diet, I've enjoyed an almost total disappearance of arthritic
symptoms. However, in the past week or two I experienced a temporary return
of calcium deposits in the neck and metatarsal pain in the right foot.
	Since I'd sharply cut back my calcium intake this was a bit of a
puzzle to me until I realized that at the same time I started to take a
number of vitamin supplements and many of these contain calcium compounds
such as calcium phosphate or di-calcium phosphate, etc. as fillers. It seems
that not all of the vitamins I have list these filler materials and I would
like to know if anyone on the net can provide more information on this subject.
	I'm continuing with the vitamins that don't appear to have calcium in
them. I'd like to know if vitamin C also contains calcium fillers. I intend
to call the manufacturers to get more info but I'd like to get a more impartial
viewpoint. Also I'm wondering about all those people out there who take aspirin
for relief of arthritic pain. They would seem to be in a vicious cycle if the
aspirin tablet also contains a calcium compound filler.

norm@ariel.UUCP (N.ANDREWS) (11/22/83)

for a source of vitamins in powdered form, try Vitamin Research Products.
They are in Calif, but I don't have address handy. Look in Pearson and Shaws
recent best-seller LIFE_EXTENSION for the address.  VRP makes available
several interesting products not easily available elsewhere...
--Norm Andrews