Hi folks - Please bear with me - this is an expansion of a question on calcium and magnesium that I, a type O with Fibromyalgai, put out to you before (see early Jan thread) - I received many wonderful and informative replies, and now have another question.

First, a quick recap of what I asked before follows. Dr. St. Amand, the guaifenesin guru, feels that calcium phosphate accumulation is addressed by using guai, which, by thinning mucous, helps FMer's to excrete excess calcium phosphate. Dr.D'Adamo says that O's need calcium supplementation (which makes a whole lot of sense), but does not suggest taking it with magnesium as most other sources do. The magnesium gurus says that intake of malic acid and magnesium helps all with FM enormously, because we need magnesium to break up the toxic effects of accumulated alluminum in our bodies, and helps us to excrete it. Based on your advice, I had decided to go with calcium/magnesium in a 2:1 ratio, BUT now the further question.

I have recently been hearing about flouride and how its similarity in chemical composition to calcium can lead to people accumulating too much calcium in their bodies because people try to use the flouride instead of the calcium, and this can lead to chronic pain. This is a big issue for me, since I have FM and I was fed supplemental flouride drops in my milk by my well-meaning parents (who I love very much, by the way) as a child. Also, my mother cooked with aluminum pans.

Hence, I am now wondering if I should avoid calcium supplementation altogether, as I am not eager to add to my chronic pain. But this seems counter to Peter's advice?
Aaaaaargh!!

BTW, my stools have always been hard and difficult to pass - magnesium alone softens them, but magnesium and calcium together keep them as is. This seems to indicate to me that I am more in need of magnesium.

Thanks everyone - kind regards, Kathleen