New diagnosis...Help me understand what they mean...

[Nameless]

Secondary hyperparathyroidism and cholelithiasis are the two new ones. Anyone have good information that I could understand.

[Joe]

I can answer one of them: Secondary hyperparathyroidism is when the parathyroid glands in your neck produce too much parathyroid hormone (PTH) because your calcium levels are too low. This is something I'm dealing with and have just started taking meds to control it. I got started on Hectorol last week to work on getting the levels balanced back out (oh joy, yet another pill to take in the morning - I rattle for half an hour as it is  ) In the long run, it can cause your system to pull calcium from your bones making them brittle and prone to breaking.
HTH

[jbeany]

Sensipar is another option for treatment for parathyroid problems.  You may also be treated with medication injected directly into hemo lines if you are being treated in-center.  Some of the oral meds cause serious vomiting as a side effect, and they don't work for everyone.  If they don't work for you, you may end up with surgery to remove the over-active gland.  Mine involved an overnight stay in the hospital, so they could keep an eye on my calcium levels.  The second the gland is removed, your bones start sucking calcium back in, which drops the calcium in your blood drastically.  I had to keep chewing tums on an hourly basis for about a week after the surgery. (You can tell it's dropping because your lips and tongue go numb!)

Sorry, the other one I'm not familiar with at all.

[monrein]

 Cholelithiasis is gallstones. 

[Nameless]

Thank you...wouldn't it been easier for them to tell me my husband has gallstones? lol The first one sounds serious though...darn it I guess two more surgeries possible for my husband and he still hasn't had his fistula put in...

[RichardMEL]

SecondaryHyperParaThyroidism is pretty common (unfortunately) for dialysis patients. As others have said it's caused by an imbalance in the PTH being produced leaching too much Calcium and Phos from the bones making them brittle. Over time this obviously leads to some serious things. This is why, amongst other things, regular labwork is done to keep an eye on these things and to try and keep the delicate balance of K, Ca, PO4 and PTH more or less there.

Yes you can have a parathyroidectomy but I will say hopefully they will try meds first - Sensipar saved my neck from being cut - a fantastic med(for me anyway) really got my PTH under control - so much so it went too low at one stage (!). Some people do suffer side effects though, but I would definitely recommend it as an option ahead of surgery IMHO.

Good luck!