Low Calcium?

[shaerich]

My surgeon just called and said my calcium is low... to not taper off the tums next month as he had previously indicated.  My question is, how long does it take for your calcium to come back, typically?  I'm only 12 days post TT and my calcium was checked on Friday, so that was just 8 days post TT.  Should I be worried that my parathyroids might not come back?  I know they preserved 2 and reimplanted 1 and I lost one in surgery... so I have 3 out of 4 that hopefully have a shot of working again.

[rayneweather]

I wouldn't say rare.  Considering that you had damage to at least one of your parathyroids (the reimplanted one) it may or may not recover.  There are those who have no known damage to their parathyroids and for some reason they never quite recover.  Some are more sensitive than others.  So I would think that your recovery would take a little longer than most peoples' but it sounds like your doctor is optimistic that they will recover.  The doctor can always do a blood test to check your parathyroid hormone levels to see how they are doing and to track how they are recovering over time.

[pjgovitz]

Hi my friend just  had a TT April 30th, her parathyroids were all intact, but she spent 5 days in the hospital due to low calcium. If it's any help to you, her dr reassured her that the parathyroids would resume function, and the longest it has taken to fully recover is a year. It's been nearly a month and she's been able to stop the Tums, but continues on with Calcium supplements...other than that she feels great and went back to work this past week....
God Bless,
Pam

[shaerich]

Thanks!  I'm at 1200 calcium 4x day.  I had to go to the ER the day I was discharged b/c of tingling in my hands.  I have since had slight tingling in my feet, but at the ER they said my calcium was increasing so I figured it was in my head.  I didn't have any tingling yesterday and only a tiny bit today (but that could also be the shoes I'm wearing... it's SO light I almost wonder if it is in my head?)  Anyway... I was not surprised he said it was low, but I was surprised he said to not taper off in June like he originally told me.  It's rare for the parathyroids to not come back, right?

[rayneweather]

It could take several weeks.  I had low calcium right after surgery and I was on 2000mg of calcium 4 times a day for almost 2 weeks and then gradually weaned myself off of them over several more weeks.  My surgeon had planned on rechecking my calcium along with my parathyroid hormone level at 6 weeks postop but ended up doing it at 4 weeks because I needed to have my thyroid levels drawn early.  So by that time I was off my calcium (I think or I may have only been taking 1000mg twice a day - I forget).  So I wouldn't be surprised if you need calcium for a bit longer but everyone's body is different.

Rayne