During the past few days I have been posting about my illness, Hyperparathyroidism. Not many people know about it and it often goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. You can read my previous posts, “What Is Wrong With Me?“, “Hyperparathyroidism – What is it?”, and “Parathyroidectomy and My Missing Gland” by clicking on the links.

My surgeon says it will take time for my wound to heal and for me to regain my strength. My body needs to readjust to my calcium level changes. The other three parathyroid glands need to awaken from a long sleep and start working. All this takes time. My symptoms should start to disappear. Some things I noticed instantly, other things will take up to six months to be back to normal. I have ups and downs. I feel energetic and do something then I’m very tired. I have a tendency to push myself when I need to just rest. I’m not used to taking it easy and that is an adjustment I am trying to make to improve my healing.

What YOU need to know is 1 in 1,000 people are afflicted with Hyperparathyroidism. Many doctors miss the diagnosis or are unaware of the problem. Many treat the symptoms but never get to the root cause.

Check out the possible symptoms.

If you have 4 – 6 or more of these symptoms, please ask your doctor to run a calcium level and a PTH level blood test on you. If both are borderline or higher ask to be referred to a endocrinologist. If it is determined you have Hyperparathyroidism and need surgery, ask to be referred to an endocrine surgeon that does these operations everyday. Someone who is only doing them twice a year is not an expert and can cause you a larger scar, more neck trauma, and other problems.

I was very fortunate, my family doctor picked up something that many miss. Both the Endocrinologist and the Endocrine Surgeon praised him for finding this and sending me on.Some endocrinologists even miss this one. Many live in pain and misery for years and then develop secondary illnesses that eventually kill them because they were never diagnosed and treated.

I have included a video that I recorded about 12 hours after my surgery. I look awful, no makeup and my hair is a mess, but I wanted to share it with you. I’m sharing my story to help educate others so they know about this disease and maybe can save them or someone they love a lot of pain and suffering. Looking back, we feel I had symptoms at least 8 years ago. No one, including myself connected them together to my Parathyroids.

Robin Smith – 14 hours after surgery

If you have any questions, please comment. I will be happy to try and answer them for you or find the right expert who knows the answer.

Tomorrow I will discuss my recovery and show you updated pictures and reflections of this experience.