Hyperparathyroidism Diagnosis

Please forgive this very long post. I just hope that if this can help one person, then I'm glad.

A few weeks ago, I was diagnosed with hyperparathyroidism. I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around this and learning all I can about this under-diagnosed condition. It was found by one of my doctors when I had a high calcium level in my blood. Further blood work found that I also had high parathyroid hormone levels, meaning that I have primary hyperparathyroidism. I will be having surgery on September 15th to have the offending parathyroid gland removed and regain my life again.

Now, for a little lesson: We all have 4 parathyroid glands (no, they are NOT the same as a thyroid gland. In the picture at left, they are the small yellow objects over the thyroid and have 2 on each side of the trachea.). The ONLY purpose of the parathyroid glands is to regulate the calcium level in our body so that the nervous and muscular systems can function properly. This is all they do. They measure the amount of calcium in the blood every minute of every day... and if the calcium levels go down a little bit, the parathyroid glands recognize it and make parathyroid hormone (PTH) which goes to the bones and takes some calcium out and puts it into the blood. When the calcium in the blood is high enough, then the parathyroids shut down and stop making PTH.

The most common cause of hyperparathyroidism is the development of a benign tumor in one of the parathyroid glands. This enlargement of one parathyroid gland is called a parathyroid adenoma which accounts for about 94% of all patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (this is what I have). This “naughty” parathyroid gland is slowly causing damage to my body because it puts out an abnormally high level of calcium in the blood which can slowly destroy a number of tissues. Parathyroid adenomas can range in size from an olive to a walnut. The normal parathyroid gland is about the size of a grain of rice... but one cell inside this normal parathyroid gland went out of control and started reproducing itself until a large tumor developed (naughty thing!). This tumor will almost always continue to grow until it is removed (which is why I have scheduled my surgery to remove it on Sept 15th). As it grows, it makes more hormone and will make you feel worse. This tumor is constantly making parathyroid hormone which is what takes the calcium out of your bones and makes the calcium in your blood too high. This is exactly what I don’t want!

Some Symptoms of Parathyroid Disease

• Loss of energy. Don't feel like doing much. Tired all the time.
• Just don't feel well; don't quite feel normal. Hard to explain but just feel kind of bad.
• Feel old. Don't have the interest in things that you used to.
• Can't concentrate, or can't keep your concentration like in the past.
• Depression.
• Osteoporosis and Osteopenia.
• Bones hurt; typically it's bones in the legs and arms but can be most bones.
• Don't sleep like you used to. Wake up in middle of night. Trouble getting to sleep.
• Tired during the day and frequently feel like you want a nap.
• Spouse claims you are more irritable and harder to get along with (cranky, bitchy).
• Forget simple things that you used to remember very easily.
• Gastric acid reflux; heartburn; GERD.
• Decrease in sex drive.
• Thinning hair (predominately in older females).
• Kidney Stones.
• High Blood Pressure (sometimes mild, sometimes quite severe; up and down a lot).
• Recurrent Headaches (usually patients under the age of 40).
• Heart Palpitations (arrhythmias). Typically atrial arrhythmias.

Most people with hyperparathyroidism will have 4 - 6 of these symptoms. Thankfully, I have very few of them. In general, the longer you have hyperparathyroidism, the more symptoms you will develop.

Side note: this diagnosis also carries with it one nasty little secret – an 85% miscarriage rate, of which I’ve had 7 of them.