For the good of the order I thought I’d make a public service announcement about a condition I went through - hyperparathyroidism
Simply put, your neck connects the body to the head. Among the tubes, bones and meat in the neck is the thyroid gland. The thyroid has four little nodules on it called Parathyroid glands. This is where my troubles began.
My “hyperparathyroidism” was diagnosed because of high “calcium, serum/plasma” levels in annual blood tests (up in the 10.6 mg/dL range) coupled with increasing fatigue, lethargy and a general air of malaise. Also weird inconsistent bone pain… like when hiking all of a sudden an ankle bone would start smarting real bad. Like it was about to break.
This slow buildup spanned 3 or 4 years and was discovered when I started seeing a new doctor who (1) paid attention to the graph of my calcium levels and (2) didn’t take for granted my flippant comment that “… I’m a lot more tired these days, this getting old is the pits, Doc”.
This led to an ultrasound and then a CT scan which detected that one of the parathyroid glands was messed up. Fast forward a couple months and they stretch me out on a table, slit my throat, cut out the errant parathyroid gland, tape my neck hole shut and send me home that evening.
The next day - good as new. Seriously… I didn’t realize how crappy I felt till I felt good again. I’m not sure if all these surgeries are as successful as mine but yanking that crusted over 2.6 gram hypercellular parathyroid gland out of my neck is the best thing that’s happened to me in a long, long time.
I'm in my mid 60s and have a 40-something friend who went through the same thing, also had surgery and is now as right as rain. Neither of us realized what was going on… this is a slow, creeping affliction with a huge variety of symptoms that gradually increase in severity. And most of the symptoms can be passed off to things like aging or stress.
Here’s some stuff from the web about hyperparathyroidism.
The most common symptoms of parathyroid disease are fatigue and a general sense of not being well. This can range from mild tiredness to severe fatigue that makes it difficult to work or perform normal daily activities. Cognitive symptoms like inability to concentrate and memory loss are also common.
Most people with primary hyperparathyroidism have symptoms or will develop them over time. The most common signs and symptoms are:
* Fatigue, or feeling more tired than usual
* General sense of being sick, "not feeling like myself"
* Difficulty sleeping through the night, insomnia
* Loss of interest in normal activities
* Difficulty concentrating
* Memory loss
* Body aches
* Increased urination
* Increased thirst
* Headaches
* Bone pain
* Hypertension, high blood pressure
* Heartburn, reflux
* Osteopenia or osteoporosis, thinning bones
* Bone fractures
* Kidney stones
* Palpitations, feeling like heart is fluttering
* Atrial fibrillation (cardiac arrhythmia)
* Chronic kidney disease, even leading to kidney failure and dialysis
* Hair loss in women
My 49 year-old daughter has been treated for hypothyroidism for quite some number of years. I'm thinking her mother may been dealing with the same issue. Recently, she was re-evaluated due to more and stronger symptoms. She has been diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease. However, other than tweaking her medse a bit, her doctor is not overly concerned. Changing the meds has improved her view of things.
What gets frustrating is that the list of symptoms of Hashimoto's is nearly the same as a variety of other ailments.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hashimotos-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20351855
@holy-cow I’d never heard of Hashimoto’s until a week ago when I found out two friends have it. I’m lucky I guess in that my malady is curable by a simple cut throat operation with a minimal chance of reoccurrence. Or so they tell me…
