[kaja]

I was diagnosed with a Parathyroid Tumor 3 years ago, of which, I had removed. I was told that this may have been the cause for my kidney stones because it was producing an extreme amount of calcium in my body. Because I had so many stones prior to the removal of my Parathyroid I was told that will have to wait to pass them but that I shouldn't be producing any more.
Has anyone had this diagnosis before, and if so, has it helped you when it was removed? I have a 9mm stone now and have to go in on Thursday for Lipsotripsy (?spelling).

[angieskidney]

My situation was a little different but I am very familiar with Parathyroids ..

I had secondary hyperparathyroidism due to chronic renal failure.

What that means is that my high PTH or ParaThyroid Hormone levels were caused by a secondary reason .. meaning something else caused my Parathyroid problems. The cause for me was Kidney Disease where as the cause for you was Kidney Stones.

Now, even though our causes are different, we both have had our ParaThyroids removed. There are 4 of them that sit on the Thyroid itself. The Parathyroids tell your bones how much calcium to remove into the body's blood.

But what happens with kidney problems, and what I am learning from you, kidney stones as well, is the Parathyroids screw up and pull out too much Calcium from the bones and put it into the blood. This causes the blood to have too high of Calcium issues.

You might have been told that you could end up with bone problems due to not enough Calcium in your bones. Now I was confused as well at first with that statement til I did my own research. I realized that in the blood lab results it said my Calcium was too high because they measure the blood and the Calcium was being pulled out of the bones and into the blood. So the Blood Calcium count is high (not sure if the exact name for that is Ionized Calcium or if that is something else .. I am still learning myself as I go along) which then leaves the bones with not enough Calcium .. so the bones could crack .. break .. fracture .. you could end up needing a hip replacement or a knee replacement, or even in a wheelchair..

What I have also learned is there is a medication called Sensipar but is only given when your PTH is high AND your Calcium levels are high in the blood. I don't know why they never gave it to me. Without my Parathyroids I now have to take high doses of Vitamin D and take Calcium pills for the rest of my life.

If you had all 4 of your Parathyroids taken out (in rare cases people might have more or less than 4) then your body will NOT make any more Parathyroid Hormone (that is what PTH stands for by the way). I am not sure if the body can grow them back in rare cases.

I hope that helped. I used no website for this information. This is what I have learned and I hope I Said everything accurately. I am not a doctor or nurse or anything. I am a kidney transplant recipient.

- Angie