Could Your Fibromyalgia Really Be Hypoparathyroidism?

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The parathyroid glands are 4 small glands located either side of the main thyroid gland. The only job of the parathyroids is to control the blood calcium levels within very fine limits.
When one or more go wrong the calcium levels rise,causing Primary Hyperparathyroidism.(PHP).

High blood calcium over time can cause kidney and heart disease as well as prostate and breast cancer.



Fibromyalgia(FM) and PHP have some symptoms in common and this can be a cause of misdiagnosis, if a high calcium level is not noted on the initial FM blood test, and an HPH test is not carried out subsequent to a high calcium test level being found.

A recent study found that a percentage of FM people should really have been diagnosed with hyperparathyroidism (PHP) and others who had been diagnosed with just FM, had both FM and PHP.

The call appears to be going out now that all diagnosed with FM should be checked for PHP.
Treatment by a 20 minute outpatient operation appeared to help both groups.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/824429

BOSTON – For some patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia, parathyroidectomy may be the cure.
In a new study, nearly all patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHP) who had a preexisting diagnosis of fibromyalgia (FM) experienced improvement in their FM symptoms following parathyroid surgery, and 1 in 5 were able to drop all of their FM-related medications.
The finding suggests that a subset of patients diagnosed with FM actually have unrecognized PHP, which can be cured with surgery. The implication is that screening for the endocrine condition should be included as part of the FM workup, which it currently is not, Kelly L. McCoy, MD, assistant professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, said here at the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons (AAES) 2013 Annual Meeting.
"Look for PHP before diagnosing FM. Even if they really do have FM, they may appreciate significant symptom relief and medication decrease after successful surgery," Dr. McCoy told Medscape Medical News.

Primary doctors can sometimes not understand the need for teatment for elevated calcium levels and can just adopt a "wait and see" attitude, not understanding that the high calcium is due to a parathyroid adenoma.

https://thefibrodoctor.com/what-is-hyperparathyroidism/

Anybody with FM should ask for a calcium level check from their doctor and if its above 10 (2.5 in European tests) then a PTH panel test. Take a copy of the MEDSCAPE article on https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/824429 to show if he is reluctant.

https://www.cortjohnson.org/blog/2014...able-condition

“The impact of this paper is that it will be exceptionally important to reach out to primary-care doctors, to rheumatologists, and to fibromyalgia centers to present this information and experience and encourage them to do a screening. It’s not widely appreciated.” Dr. Mira Milas


For a comprehensive guide to all parathyroid problems www.parathyroid.com