Question: What is the cause of too much calcium in the blood? What can be done to help get rid of it?
- B.M.Answer: There are many possible causes of a high blood calcium level. They include an overdose of vitamin D, bone diseases, an overactive thyroid gland, bone tumors and kidney failure.
A common cause, one that I suspect you have, is hyperparathyroidism. The parathyroid glands are neighbors to the thyroid in your lower neck. When the para-thy-roids pour out too much of their hormone, calcium is released from bones and the kidney cuts down on the amount of calcium it filters from the blood.
High blood calcium levels can put you in a mental fog. Tiredness, weakness, constipation, frequent urination and loss of appetite are other symptoms that appear when blood calcium levels get really high.
For many, elevated calcium levels are noted on a routine blood test, wherein many body chemicals are measured on the same sample of blood. When calcium levels are not all that high and no symptoms develop, often no intervention is necessary. A course of watchful waiting is safe.
Your levels probably will be measured from time to time. If they remain stable, nothing need be done.
On the other hand, if you have any of the symptoms I mentioned or if your calcium levels are sky high, or if you are younger than 40, then your doctors probably will consider parathyroid removal. There are medicines that lower calcium levels, but they are temporary solutions to a problem best dealt with by a skilled surgeon.
My guess is that your doctor spotted a slightly elevated calcium level and is going to see what develops. You might never have to do a thing about your calcium.
Will you drop me a line and let me know?
Question: My son has hemochromatosis. He is having blood withdrawn weekly to reduce the iron overload in his body. What effect will this treatment have on his health? What is his prognosis?
- D.C.G.
Answer: Hemochromatosis is an inherited illnesses in which the body loses its ability to allow just the right amount of iron to pass into the blood.
In time, excess iron damages the liver, pancreas and heart. Arthritis occurs if iron finds its way into joints.
Removing blood is the quickest, safest and most effective way to rid the body of iron, since red blood cells are chock full of it.
It sounds like a medieval treatment. It is not. The treatment will not harm your son in any way. It likely will save his liver, pancreas and heart.
If no damage has occurred to those organs, blood removal will permit him to have a completely normal life span.
Since hemochromatosis is an inherited disease, close family members are advised to have a blood test for it.
You and your son would be well-served by writing Dr. Margaret Krikker at the Hemochromatosis Research Foundation, P.O. Box 8569, Albany, NY 12208. Krikker has been tireless in promoting information on the illness, which is not at all rare. She treats letter writers as her personal patients.
Question: I haven't had a check-up for 15 years. The reason? I'm terrified of needles. Is there a substance available that can be applied to the skin to numb it prior to getting stabbed with a needle?
- T.H.
Answer: There are sprays, ointments and creams that can numb the skin.
I'll bet it's not the pain that freaks you out about needles, however. Really there is little pain from drawing blood or from getting most injections. However, the power of the imagination can cause paralyzing fear.
Distract yourself when a blood specimen is taken. Transport yourself to a tropical isle where all your cares vanish.
Definitely do not watch the needle being inserted or the blood filling the tube. That unhinges many people.
Be frank with doctors, nurses and lab technicians about your phobia. They probably will go out of their way to make you comfortable.
You're not unique. People who draw blood for a living face patients such as you every day. Reassurance and kindness can relieve your anxieties.
Stop putting off the exam you have so long postponed.