Has anyone been told you can take tums instead of calcium?

A friend of mine who had surgery about 3 years ago recently told me this and I thought he was nuts! So, I guess it is for real.

The pharmacist told me this and while I too thought no way I saved about 30 bucks so I was kinda sold but I'm a little worried now.

Was doing some researching into this...and this was like the first thing that came up
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/lani-simpson-dc-ccd/calcium-heart-attacks_b_1553873.html

Digging a little deeper, I think the recommendation is for Sleeve patients only, given the issues Sleeved folks have with acid production, it would make sense that using an acid reducing calcium carbonate would be a decent idea, however in bypass patients, with the stomach coming in later to our tracts, it might not be such a smart idea.

Edited August 3, 20188 yr by Matt Z

I'm a sleeve and was told that the calcium carbonate wouldn't be digested enough because of reduced stomach acid. So we were advised to take calcium citrate. I take TUMS occasionally when my GERD is bad (since I have acid a-plenty) but don't count it toward my calcium supplementation, per my doctor.