Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

My experience has been that when I take 500mg calcium citrate supplements, my restlessness gets significantly worse. In fact, I think that I got rls after I started taking calcium citrate supplements when I was having hip arthritis which eventually lead to hip replacement surgery. My restlessness started about a year ago now.
I noticed the correlation between calcium citrate supplements and restlessness again after I got an iron infusion. My restlessness didn't improve until I stopped the calcium citrate supplements. In the past couple weeks, I tried again adding calcium citrate supplements in the morning hours at a minimum of 3 hours before I ate or took other supplements. Same thing - my restlessness got worse.
My diet is very low in calcium and I would really like to use supplements for my bone health. Right now I'm drinking non-dairy milk that contains TRICALCIUM PHOSPHATE and that seems ok for me although I never have milk that amounts to more than 225mg of calcium at a time.
Has anyone else experienced the same? Any suggestions on calcium supplementation that will not make rls worse besides taking at least 1 hour prior or 2 hours after food and/or iron supplements which doesn't seem to help me?

Your issue with calcium could be that it interferes with the body's system for absorbing dietary iron. If it was the citrate, then a large orange juice or lemonade could cause the same problems.

There are a limited number of cells in the small intestine for absorbing divalent metals in the diet (primarily calcium, magnesium, zinc, and iron although there are other trace minerals). These cells are officially called divalent metal transporters or DVTs. Unfortunately, they give iron the lowest priority and calcium the highest. I guess that makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint since our bones are primarily calcium and magnesium and we only need a bit of zinc and iron (primarily for blood). There are only a few of the metal transporter cells, so if the iron in a supplement or your diet gets past them because they are busy with calcium or magnesium, the iron doesn't get absorbed and it gets pass out without being processed. That is also why using an antacid (calcium/magnesium carbonate) to stomach upset due to an iron supplement is a bad idea.

Thanks for your response, Steve. I understand the relationship between iron absorption and calcium. Any suggestions for how I can get the calcium I need and not impact my restlessness?

Iron needs to be taken on an empty stomach, in other words, between meals. If you take it mid morning, then take the calcium in the afternoon, evening or with a meal.