Daily Column

November 25th, 2008

DEAR DR. GOTT:
I am a registered nurse and was taking my coffee break with a friend who is an X-ray technician. She was looking at the abdominal X-rays of a female patient. I noticed several little white spots on the lower intestine and asked her what they were. She told me they were calcium tablets that were being passed without being broken down and that it was quite common.

Since then, I have taken my calcium supplement in liquid form. Perhaps the reader who complained about the Allegra-D tablets passing undigested could benefit from a liquid allergy medication such as Zyrtec instead.

I hope this helps your others readers as well.

DEAR READER:
I have received a few letters with similar claims of several types of pills passed relatively undigested. Yours is the first from the medical community, claiming it is common with pills that are not time-released.

I have chosen to print your letter in the hopes it will help my readers, especially those using calcium supplements. Perhaps more medications should be made into liquid form in order to combat this potential problem.

Your suggestion to use liquid allergy medication is also an excellent one. There are several over-the-counter liquids such as Benadryl and Claritin that may be beneficial. I am unsure if Zyrtec syrup is available OTC but I imagine it is since the pills are. To the best of my knowledge, Allegra only makes an oral suspension for children.