persistent high calcium after parathyroidectomy

Hello,

I have the same problem. Had the parathyroidectomy in January, due to a blood calcium of 12.7. Had a blood test last week and my calcium is at 10.9. What in the world is going on.

Please let me know how you are doing and what transpired after your last post.

Thank you.

I am having the same thing happen.Three months after surgery my calcium is 10.6 and my pth is 47. Before I had  2 adenomas removed my calcium level was at 11.4 and pth at 86. What is up with this???? How much calcium are you taking? Could that be affecting the levels?

Has anyone had parathyroid surgery and after had calcium levels of 10.6 at 3 months after surgery? I had 2 adenomas removed..pth at 46.. I am worried there may be another adenoma involved.

Hi JHamilton,

Well it looks like we are in the same boat.  My Endocrinologist couldn't figure out what is happening, and just kept saying lets

do a wait and see approach.  I had my parathyroid surgery Jan 2011.  In May 2011 the surgeon went back in and did exploratory

surgery.  They took 12 different sections.  The sections included Lymph Nodes, and tiny pieces of each of my 3 remaining

parathyroid glands.  All looked ok to the pathologist. 

 

Make certain you are Not taking any supplements at all, (like vitamins, or herbal teas, pills/stuff) They also went in and did a chest x-ray which is also ok.

 

My calcium remains at 10.9, my PTH is 17 which is within the std range of 14-72.

I just changed insurance company's so hopefully my new HMO which is Kaiser can figure it out.  The thing about Endocrinologists

is that they usually deal with mainly Diabetes and not high calcium problems.  My last doctor told me that perhaps I would need

to go to a teaching hospital and put them on a trail to figure it out. 

 

I had parathyroidectomy in nov 2011. My calcium now is 10.4, pth of 34. My sx postoperative have not improved at all. Did any of you have bone and joint pain? The dr told me I would feel so much better after surgery but my pain and stiffness hasn't improved at all. I'm concerned like you guys of why my labs are still high normal and my sx continue. My dr just saw wait and see but I heard this 2 years prior to finally finding the parathyroid tumor. Does anyone have ideas why our ca levels are still elevated after parathyroidectomy. Most experience low calcium after surgery.

Hi there,

Yes, I had lots of bone and joint pain before the parathryroidectomy in January 2011.  Almost immediately after the surgery I had no more joint pain.  Did they perform a Bone Density Test on you? 

More importantly I was getting a lot of mental confusion/brain fog presurgery.  I was having a lot of problems with word finding.  I was so frustrated, agitated, and upset thinking early dementia was setting in.  Thank goodness, my memory is much clearer now.   Later on the Endo tells me my memory problems were due to my calcium being so high.  They also told me about a new drug that they can put me on to lower the calcium level. I am very hestitant to take the meds.  There is too many times which you see on the news about side affects etc.  I told my Endo, I need them to figure out the source instead of bandading the symptoms.

Let me know how things are going for you.

 

What is calcium and pth levels after surgery? How long did it take until levels were within normal limits? My calcium is 10.4 and I'm 2 months after parathyroid surg. Joints and bone pain continue. I'm concerned that maybe I have another tumor or surgeon didn't remove all the old tumor. I read that most pain subsides after surg. How long does it take to feel back till pain disappears and memory gets better? How did you feel 2 months post-op? Thanks

My calcium was 10.4 2 months post surgery and my pth was 46.. My endro. cut my calcium back to 630 units per day and Vit D to 2,000 per day. Maybe it just takes awhile to get the calcium levels back to normal. I don't think they missed a parathyroid gland as I had 2 glands removed and the other 2 were normal. It is a mystery why the calcium level is still high but others say the same thing. Hopefully, we will all find out why?

My calcium is still high normal and I don't that any calcium replacement. How long was it before the brain fog and bone pain stopped. How did the surgeon determine how many tumors you had? Did more than one show on your scans or did he check each parathyroid gland during surgery? I'm not any better and my sx are getting worse. I'm concerned something else is wrong. Thx for help and comments

I never had any bone pain or brain fog. They did all kinds of tests and checked the parathyroid while I was in surgery. THey were not sure how many to remove until they went in there and operated. The scans showed maybe one on one side and one on the other side.I went to Dr. Stickney in Seattle who is an expert on parathyroid surgery. She trained with Dr. Norman in Florida. How long ago was your surgery. I have my 6 mo check up in March.

My mother has absolutely the same problems as you guys. what is the best solution except changing the doctor? 

There is nothing about this on Dr. Norman's parathyroid surgery site which is interesting!!

I live in Silicon Valley (High Tech area of San Francisco Bay Area)

When I read Dr. Norman's website I saw that parathyroid surgery is very rare, and that many Endocrinologists & Surgeons were not well versed in this type of surgery.  Well, my surgeon Dr. Carla Cassani (works for Palo Alto Medical Foundation / my surgery was done @ El Camino Hospital in Mtn View, CA) told me that she performs severral parathyroid surgeries weekly.  When I asked her the statistics she told me 2 people in every 300 will need this surgery.  I was floored!  Dr. Cassani worked many years at Sanford Hospital in Palo Alto, CA.

Carver: I don't know that changing doctor's is going to help your Mom.

I wish I had an answer for all of us.  Please continue to post.

 

 

I think there is lots of new info coming out about parathyroid surgery and I wonder if it is just ok that our calcium levels are still 10.4 after surgery as they were a lot higher before. Again, I have no symptoms and feel great!