I need to have my parathyroid removed in the next few weeks.

[Treasure]

oh, my! so many high PTH cases!

my pth was 4000 for a while, in spite of the sensipar.  i had a really serious allergic reaction to the IV hectoral...so they kept upping the sensipar. and that made me throw up....all the time...  so i just stopped taking it for awhile.

my pth is now between 200-400... so i've started taking the sensipar again. my pth will, as usual, climb up again.

i have asked, countless times, if they would just take my parathyroids out, but they always refuse. even when i have been going in for other kinds of surgery, i have asked...almost begged...but, they just won't do it.

*sniffle* i had hoped that when i had my transplant, that that would settle things...but it didn't. i know one day i'm going to work around all this kidney business, but i don't know that the pth problem will ever me solved.

[G]

Do your joints hurt? Before they took my parathyroid I could hardly move or walk. I was on a regular pain regimen. After the surgery the relief was almost instantaneous! Within a couple days I was up and around with virtually no joint pain. Aaahhh, relief!

[angela515]

Some people have joint pain for other reasons as well.

[G]

True

[okarol]

Hey NVRWKN - haven't seen you post in awhile, are you still scheduled for Tuesday?
Hope all goes well! 

[MiSSis]

I've had 4 parathyroidectomies because the little buggers keep coming back.  Each time I was told they removed 3 complete nodes, leaving only 1 or a part of 1 because they don't want to remove all of them.  Some of the hormone the parathyroids secrete is still necessary in order to maintain bone.  My first 3 surgeries all took place in the late 80's and early 90's and maybe it wasn't common practice back then but with my last parathyoidectomy, the surgeon took the remaining piece and auto-transplanted it into my left forearm.  Apparently these little guys don't care where they live but can do their job from anywhere.  I sure wish I'd know about this auto-transplanting procedure earlier, like with my first surgery.  Then they wouldn't have had to keep going back into my throat each time.  My last surgery was in 2003 and I was 49 by then.  It was much more difficult to recover from that one than any of the earlier ones.  If your doctor hasn't mentioned the auto-transplant option, you might want to bring it up.  If there's ever a next time when they feel they need to readjust the size of my remaining parathyroid, now it can be done under a local anesthetic, thank heavens.

[Sluff]

Hope everything goes well. Will be thinkin of you.