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Healthy You Archives |
Coping with Illness
Your Tiny But Powerful ParathyroidsAs a local woman discovered, they can overload you with calcium
She’s a lively mom again—Erin Reynolds now has the energy to keep up with her 5-year-old son, who’s shown here getting a biking lesson from his dad. Suspecting she was pregnant again, Reynolds saw her doctor. When the pregnancy test was negative, she knew something was wrong. Her doctor discovered that too much calcium in her blood was making her tired and sick.  The culprit: one of Reynolds’ four tiny parathyroid glands (see illustration) was producing too much parathyroid hormone (PTH). This disrupts the body’s calcium balance, drawing excessive calcium out of the bones and into the blood. The condition, called hyperparathyroidism, affects more than 100,000 Americans each year, with women outnumbering men 2-to-1. Risk increases with age.Hyperparathyroidism can be hard to identify, since most people with excess blood calcium don’t have symptoms. Although the parathyroid glands can swell to the size of a marble, they’re hard to feel in the neck. Some people suffer fatigue, headaches or the blues. Kidney stones are a symptom in about 20 percent of people with hyperparathyroidism, says internist Steven Scott, M.D., of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. “The kidneys have trouble filtering large amounts of calcium from the blood, causing stones to form,” he says. Finally, the disorder can cause gastrointestinal pain because excess calcium increases stomach acid. The best way to detect hyperparathyroidism early is to report any of the above symptoms to your primary care physician and discuss the possibility of checking the calcium level in your blood. If you have a family history of hyperparathyroidism, thyroid disease or have had radiation to the neck, you should be tested regularly, says Scott’s colleague, surgeon Heiwon Chung, M.D. In some cases, the problem is discovered in connection with an unusual bone fracture. When PTH draws calcium into the blood, it robs it from the bones, which can lead to bone-thinning or osteoporosis. “Remarkably, PTH also is used to treat osteoporosis,” Scott says. “Given in low doses daily, it can help stimulate calcium formation in bones.” How is hyperparathyroidism treated? “Surgical removal of the overactive gland is the best treatment,” Chung says. In the past, all four glands would be removed even if only one was overactive. Now, a nuclear scan helps detect the diseased gland or glands. That means a smaller surgery (it’s usually done on an outpatient basis) with minimal scarring. Reynolds wasn’t able to have the surgery right away—by the time her doctor zeroed in on the cause of her symptoms, she was pregnant. Sadly, the excess calcium in her blood caused a miscarriage. “The fetus wasn’t getting the calcium it needed because that was being eliminated from my body,” she says. A few months later, she had her diseased parathyroid gland removed and within a week was feeling great. Reynolds and her husband, Shane, expect their second child this spring.
Want to Know More? Call 610-402-CARE. This page last updated 2/12/08 04:08 PM
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