If you are like many people, you may have visited your physician with general complaints like "I just feel old", "I hurt all over", or "I'm tired and weak". If you are older, you may hear the answer from your physician, "It's probably arthritis and remember you are getting old."

Well, that's not always the case. For about 100,000 people in the United States each year, it is a problem with a parathyroid.

If your physician orders blood work, one thing that is often omitted from this test is checking of your parathyroid hormone level. You may have never even heard about this, but many times older people are afflicted with parathyroids that are overactive for one reason or another.

Symptoms are vague and can creep up gradually. You just feel tired, you ache all over, you don't have the strength you used to have. And as time goes on, your family begins to notice that you just don't care about anything. You moan and groan everytime you stand up. You sleep all the time and when you aren't sleeping, you're just staring off into space and not really thinking about anything. They might even think you are slipping into senility. You keep forgetting things and you get confused, and then they begin to wonder whether it is Alzheimers. Real physical signs can include bone loss, irregular heartbeat, or kidney stones. You may have mildly impaired kidney function.

The parathyroids are 4 small glands in your neck, just above the thyroid. They work to regulate the calcium and phosphorus in your body so you have strong bones. If your physician has told you your calcium levels are rising, it would be a good idea to ask them to check your parathyroid hormone level.

What happens when parathyroids go wrong? One of the 4 parathyroids in your neck may develop a small tumor over time. Rarely are these cancerous, but they cause many health problems. As the tumor multiplies, this parathyroid begins to ignore its basic purpose. It doesn't care how much calcium there is, it just keeps producing more parathyroid hormone, which results in loss of calcium from your bones.

The cure is relatively simple. Usually only one of the four parathyroids is affected, and surgery to remove the bad one brings about a reversal of many of the symptoms, even the bone loss. In the past 10 years or so, a minimally invasive surgery has been perfected for this type of surgery. It is performed as an outpatient and usually takes only a short period of time, after which you can go home. No hospital stay. The medical journals all say this type of surgery is much safer and more predictable, i.e., more successful.

Just because you don't have all of the symptoms, doesn't mean it isn't your parathyroid. If your parathyroid hormone level is above normal, there is only one reason for this. 

To learn more about this, just google "hyperparathyroid". It might bring enjoyment of life back to you or a loved one.