Endocrinologist tomorrow
Going to see the "new" endocrinologist tomorrow. Hopefully he'll be able to give me some insight into my calcium level and parathyroid issues. I do NOT want to short my body of my intake of calcium when it appears that my parathyroid will just grab it from my bones to keep it elevated.
I had "issues" with this pre-op. My surgeon knew about it but was okay with me going ahead with the surgery.
My calcium has been elevated for a number of years. It is above normal in the 10s up to 11 or so. The reason that it is elevated is because my body is producing too much parathyroid hormone (PTH). There are 4 parathyroid glands that reside near the thyroid. Their only job is to regulate calcium levels. The reason for elevated parathyroid hormone is a small benign tumor on one or more of the glands. They are 95+% benign so I'm not worried.
Problem is that the glands are so very tiny that the tumor would be minute and would be hard to find. My old endo was watching this (I didn't care too much for the man - that's why I'm seeing someone else) - actually he knew it was off for a year and a half without telling me (another reason I'm changing endos).
The ultimate cure is removal of the gland or glands where the tumor(s) resides but it has to be big enough for them to find. The remaining glands will regulate things back to normal levels. My old endo said that they normally wait for the PTH to be in the hundreds and for calcium to be coming out in your urine before they operate. My PTH pre-op was 122.
My PCP did a blood test at my one month post-op and my calcium was 11 and her nurse called me to tell me to cut my calcium intake by half. I didn't want to do that. The parathyroid gland is going to do whatever it can to keep my calcium level too high so if it doesn't get calcium from me orally - it is going to take it from my bones. Hopefully, this new endo will give me guidelines as to how much I should be taking given my issues and given that I'm a post-op.
Kathy
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