Lowering High Blood Calcium Level - Osteoporosis Message Board

osteoblast · 05-16-2007, 02:24 PM

Hi all- I am on forteo and concerned about my serum calcium levels which before and after forteo are on the high end of range or slightly out.(pth not elevated) The endo. advised reduction of calcium supplementation by a third. I am waiting on new blood test results. I just wondered if anyone here had any luck reducing blood calcium levels by reducing or stopping cal supplements?

DesertBloom -Hi to you as well. If you read this will you check my last post in PikaB's recent thread about the dementia risk. I wondered if you would share the changes you made on calcium intake and the results you achieved .

DesertBloom · 05-16-2007, 04:31 PM

Hi Osteo: Unfortunately nothing I've done has solved this Ca prob. When I was taking 1500 mg of supplemental Ca plus getting dietary Ca my total Ca was normal. When you read my Ca intake, you need to keep in mind that those figures don't represent total elemental Ca. Depending on what type of Ca you're taking the elemental value changes. Look at the link below that explains elemental Ca, and you'll see what I'm talking about, so I actually wasn't getting as much as 1500 + dietary totals.

I went to an Endo, for other reasons, and he ran an ionized Ca and it came back at 1/10th of a point out of the normal range, the first time. I personally didn't think much of it because it was barely out of range, and I wondered how accurate the reference ranges are, since they vary from city to city, and lab to lab. I also know that 10% of the population will "naturally" fall outside of reference ranges anyway. I don't know what to tell you on which test is better, total or ionized, but they usually don't do ionized unless you have some other medical problem that would precipitate the running of that test, or if you were getting ready for surgery.

I went off of all supplemental and dietary Ca and the ionized count stayed the same, and the other 2 stayed at normal. This all occured "before" I started taking Forteo. Since my urinary Ca and total Ca was always normal I decided to go on Forteo anyway. Just to be sure that the Forteo wasn't causing this after it was first noticed pre Forteo, they took me off of it for a month and ran the tests again, and all the counts stayed the same. Since stopping dietary Ca didn't work, I continued to eat the things I find hard to give up that have Ca, and it hasn't made any difference anyway.

I can't tell you what this means, and neither can the Drs I've seen. The normal things to check for elevated Ca were done and are still being done, and so far they can't find any cancer, sarcoidosis, etc. Because my PTH is normal I can't get anyone to order a parathyroid scan, so I can't say I have hPTH. I am having another test done in a week or so for PTHrp and will have to wait for those results. I'm waiting to get in to see another specialist at LLU, and I don't have the date yet. I've been told the wait to see him (Endo PhD) is long.

Maybe if you read some of the others posts on hyperparathyroid disorder the calcium question may be answered there. One thing I know is that no one will treat my situation as an emergency until my count goes above 8 (ionized) and my highest count was 5.7 (normal 4.5-5.6) depending on the lab. Frankly, I'm not going to worry about it too much unless I develope more hypercalcemic symptoms, I've got enough on my plate already

I will continue to follow up on this, but not get stressed out over it.

[url]http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/calcium-supplements/AN00964[/url]

When you cut your Ca intake by 1/3 did it lower your count for any
significant time?

Sorry I couldn't give you a good answer

Olivette · 05-16-2007, 07:55 PM

Hi Desert Bloom...just wanted to mention that you don't have to have high pth to have a parathyroid adenoma. Most doctors have not yet been educated on this fact yet. I had a large parathyroid adenoma removed and never had a high pth level...not even borderline.
According to doc norman on parathyroid.com...the high calcium is sufficient to indicate hyperparathyroidism in 97% of the cases. You might want to check out his site, the section on diagnosis, and show to your docs. Good luck. liv

DesertBloom · 05-16-2007, 08:16 PM

Hi Olivette: I've been to Dr Normans site, and got a lot of good info, I found the site about a year ago, so I'm familiar with all the conflicting info going around. I wasn't able to take the page I wanted to with me to my Drs appt. because my printer just gave out

I basically explained about the 10% of patients with a normal PTH and slightly elevated Ca, and they both said they've never ever heard of this. I've been trying to get someone to order a parathyroid scan, but no one is willing to give it a shot, saying my insurance won't cover it without a dx of high or low PTH. I've been dealing with this for over a year now, and it's really annoying. I'm having another PTH test in the next week, so maybe it will help me to get the scan (PTHrp).

Unfortunately there is no way I could get to Florida, so I've been trying to find someone that would agree with Dr Norman's info, and go from there, and so far no luck.

Thanks for the info anyway, I appreciate it!!!

osteoblast · 05-17-2007, 02:46 PM

DesertBloom- Hi! As you know my high calcium level is a situation that is of concern to me. And, from you postings I know it is a concern to you. Would you , however, be so kind as to say exactly what your concern centers on? I guess putting it another way, what is your fear?? And, do you think your dr. shares the same level of concern about it?