Wait a second — I consume a lot of whole milk and a decent amount of dairy, now that I think about it. Perhaps I should reduce the majority of those from my diet. Appreciate it!
That's curious. Because of the heartburn that comes with Reta, I have one of those every couple of nights. On the blood test from 3 weeks ago, calcium came back right where it should be. Sodium, though, was on the low side. I blamed the Reta for that, but it turned out I was simply drinking far too much water and flushing the sodium out in my urine. Who knew. There was one more thing as well, though it wasn't anything significant.
PTH is within the normal range.
Hmm... I'm not convinced that advice holds up. Dairy makes up a big part of my diet, and the more of it I ate, the higher my Ca climbed.
These days I let the phlebotomist know I've had plenty to drink so it's easier for them, but I've stopped forcing myself to chug water since it throws off my labs. Doing this seems to stop the usual "you're not drinking enough water!" nonsense I tend to get from them.
Other people have pointed to this too. For me, what’s left out is Vitamin K. My allergist (MD) leans heavily toward natural approaches, and during my twice-a-year visits we mostly talk supplements. He uses very large doses of Vitamin D and K. K turns on coenzymes that are needed to “drive” calcium into bone, where it should be, and away from soft tissue. That lowers serum calcium and stops Ca from building up in soft tissues (arterial walls included). I take a moderate Vitamin D3 amount (2000 iu) plus a large Vitamin K dose (K1, K2MK4, K2MK7). I consume plenty of dairy and protein shakes, yet my calcium stays firmly at 9.1.
That's a fair observation—I'd actually quit vitamin K roughly 6 months prior to these labs. That said, reviewing results from the period when I was on K, my Ca only came down to roughly 10.2, so the change was minimal. Possibly I should increase how much K I take.
To identify parathyroid disease, calcium alone won't cut it — what matters is how Ca and Pth relate to each other. When glands are functioning normally, that relationship is inverse; when they aren't, it becomes direct. Evaluating Ca in isolation, without Pth, is an error. There are also cases of secondary hyperparathyroidism, which may stem from kidney issues or gastric bypass, and that's a separate matter altogether.
My calcium came back a touch above the reference range, while my vitamin D was on the low side. After I brought my vitamin D up to normal, my calcium climbed even higher — and that pattern points toward a parathyroid problem.
