Barbara’s Parathyroid Story

In 2009, I was extremely sick…..heart palpitations, debilitating fatigue, losing my hair and what hair I retained was like straw, blood sugar issues including fainting from low BS, etc. etc. I kept going to my GP who had absolutely no idea what was wrong with me. Blamed it on my fibro, stress in life, etc.

I asked for copies of my bloodwork for the past several years. The only real abnormality was that my calcium level kept increasing. It had been out of the “normal” range for the past 2 years. When questioned, my doc said it “wasn’t that far out of normal”.

In desperation, I Googled “hypercalcemia” and the parathyroid.com website popped up. Epiphany!! I went back to my doc immediately who was dumbfounded but did a PTSH level which was off the chart. Dr. Norman confirmed the diagnosis after I faxed him bloodwork, symptoms, etc.

I was put on the surgery schedule but when my calcium took another jump and I ended up in Coronary Care for several days, they expedited me. I flew to Tampa a very, very sick girl…..within 3 hours of the surgery (which is a breeze….18 minutes and woke up with a bandaid) I was back in my hotel, took a brief nap and then went out to dinner. I slept through the night which I hadn’t done in MONTHS before surgery. I woke up the next day and felt 100% better. Went back to my doctor 2 weeks later and he could not believe I was the same person. He hugged me, cried with me and decided that just because he had never seen a parathyroid tumor, it totally changed the way he looked at patient blood work results for th e future. He vowed to never miss another one. I can’t say enough good things about Dr. Norman and his staff…..I have seen the results of other parathyroid surgeries done elsewhere (even the Cleveland Clinic which is near my home) and they are horrendous.

I came so close to dying because of something doctors get only 5 minutes of training about in med school. My doc even admitted he briefly heard about it but had never seen one. He vowed to test anyone with an increased calcium in the future. Yay!

I just found out yesterday I have Hashi’s (been hypo for two years and still feel horrible on Synthroid). Your website (and book which I just received) have been a godsend. My doc agreed to try NP Thyroid. I’m excited!!

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