parathyroid problems?

[timber32]

I have had severe kidney stones since I was 19.  I am now 32 and fed up. I have had several EWSL treatments for them. My doctor has finally decided on blood work to check for parathyroid and calcium levels.  He said they came back in normal range.  But my 24 hour urine was extremely high in calcium.  I don't take in a lot of calcium.  So he put me on a no calcium and low sodium diet for a week then repeat all the tests.
He doesn't seem to think the parathyroid is the problem but I have all the symptoms that go along with it.
I have read on several medical sites that sometimes the parathyroid test can be in normal range even blood calcium too but still have hypercalciuria as a symptom and is very hard to diagnose that group of people. Is this true and should I get a second opinion?

[stella5349]

I am in the process of a hyperparathyroid Dx and I am seeing an endo Friday - I have normal serum calcium 9.3 - but the symptoms mock totally hyperparathyroidism. I am also an RAI thyroid patient - with sub clinical TSH of 3.82.  My case is a tough one and I am pushing forward.

What are your sumptoms?

I am not familiar with the above post on Dr Howard - but there is a a web site www.parathyroid.com that has a very user friendly data base. This is by a Dr Norman and Poliziter ( not sure if I spelled the second one right) They have the clinic in Tampa Fl. Everything is discussed on the web page.

Choose a second endo wisely and make sure if you suspect hyperparathyroidism that the endo you see specializes in that. If you do not - you may be wasting their time- your time and your money.

Thypatient -

I checked out the CHicago hospitol - you are correct - University of Chicago does offer MRIP for surgery. It is only 45 minutes away from me. Thanks.

[darlingdivatx]

Google Dr.Howard. I think he's in FL. He runs a clinin and I think that's all he does. See's like 3500 a year and takes out the PTH tumor. I just read his page because I am wondering about this as well. He has a REALLY REALLY good web page. I think's it's endocrineweb.com. He says that high urine calcium is often a diagnostic tool for this even when blood calcium is normal. Also you need to have your "ionized calcium" checked. The standard test is "serum calcium".

[Thypatient]

I would.  I was diagnosed with hyerparathyroidism and had subsequent surgery.  I think it was going on long before it was revealed in my blood.  The things I was told were symptoms of a problem with high calcium were things I had observed for a long time, I didn't see them as a problem though.  As I thought back I could remember getting full blood panels, for different reasons, none showed any issue.

[ifupleze]

Yes.  Go to an endocrinologist or doctor of Internal medicine.