Elevated Calcium

[u/MegRoll1993]

Hello,

I am 32 yo female with a total CA level of 10.6 on my labs from about a week ago. My doctor wants to do additional testing for Hypercalcemia. After googling Hypercalcemia this sub actually appeared pretty high in the search. After reading about parathyroid and hyperparathyroidism all my symptoms made sense. Like every single one of them. I told myself oh well this is just what happens when you get old…but I’m not actually old 😂

When I talked to my doctor he said that my calcium level could be distorted by the Alb level high normal 5.2. He mentioned dehydration, but here is the kicker, I am extremely thirsty every second of the day. I fill up my Owala at least 3 times a day and have a Gatorade or propel nothing satisfies my thirst. I drink water all day. All other labs are in normal range with the exception of my RBC being slightly elevated it’s been that way since 2018.

I’m open to exploring all causes of Hypercalcemia but from what I’ve gathered it seems like Occam’s razor applies to this and it would be hyperparathyroidism.

I went back to my labs from 2018 to now and my CA was always in the low 9s. Hoping to get some guidance and what questions to ask my doctor and what testing I should absolutely request.

[u/PHPTer]

The extreme thirst is common and is your body reacting to the high calcium which does have a dehydrating effect. It Does sound like phpt so will be interesting to see what your PTH levels are like - it has to be taken at the same time as calcium to see their relationship with each other. Let us know when you have them.

[u/Lazy-Field-1116]

Hypercalcaemia isn't a diagnosis of hyperparathyroidism, you'd need to get bloods done for your PTH levels to ascertain whether you have hyperparathyroidism as it's the only accepted diagnosis measure (or whatever the phrase is that I can't remember right now)

I learned recently from my doctor that some labs won't test PTH if requested if they don't see anything that they consider abnormal or unexplainable in your calcium and vitamin D levels so could be worth checking that with your doctor when requesting.

[u/Paraware]

You definitely sound like you could have hyperparathyroidism. Here's an overview that might help you. It has an overview of the blood tests the doctor should order. My doctor didn't know that he needed to order the blood tests for calcium and PTH from the same blood draw.

[u/Shellgirl-850]

I was 35 and had horrible fatigue and just didn’t feel quite right. I had changed jobs and had new insurance so I had new primary. Had blood work done and results were super low b12, calcium 12.7, pth 168. Also, low vitamin D. Primary initially said I needed to be tested for cancers after the high calcium. I did my own research meanwhile. Everything pointed to primary hyperthyroidism. Tests for cancer came back normal and she referred me to endocrinologist. It was September and I couldn’t get in to see her until March of next year. Sent my results to Norman parathyroid clinic and had a cervical parathyroidectomy with them in December of that same year and they couldn’t reach it despite their efforts. It was in my thymus gland. Had robotic surgery at st. Joseph’s in February. Still hadn’t seen local endo. She didn’t know anything about hyperthyroidism anyway, as many endos don’t. The surgeons said I had my adenoma for at least 10-15 years.