Hyperparathyroidism refers to a medical condition in which the patient has an abnormally high concentration of parathyroid hormone in the blood, leading to loss of calcium and weakening of bones. Some of the common symptoms of hyperparathyroidism are headaches, depression, poor concentration, memory loss, body aches, bone pain, chronic fatigue, and difficulty sleeping.

If you are experiencing any of the symptoms above, the doctor may recommend a routine examination of your parathyroid glands to confirm hyperparathyroidism and start treatment. Here are some methods used for diagnosing hyperparathyroidism.

  • Blood Tests

As a part of hyperparathyroidism diagnosis, the doctor may recommend blood tests to measure the levels of calcium, parathyroid hormone (PTH), and other related minerals. A PTH test will help determine how much parathyroid hormone your parathyroid glands are producing. If the PTH level is appropriate to your calcium level in the blood, the doctor may recommend more tests to determine the cause of high or low calcium levels.

  • Urine Tests

Urine tests are also part of hyperparathyroidism diagnosis, which is done with blood tests. The urine test determines how much calcium your body is excreting in a 24-hour window.

  • Bone Density Tests

The bone density test determines whether you have osteoporosis caused by calcium loss due to hyperparathyroidism. The test involves X-rays to study how many grams of calcium and other minerals are packed in a bone segment.

  • Computed Tomography Scan, X-ray, and Ultrasound

The CT scan, X-Ray, and Ultrasound are additional diagnostic tests to study the structure of the bone and calcium loss. The scans help doctors identify any blockages due to excess calcium and bone fractures.

Understanding Testing in Parathyroid Disease

Hyperthyroidism is also called parathyroid disease. The human body has four pea-sized glands in the neck that secret a parathyroid hormone that controls the calcium level in your blood. In some people, these glands become hyperactive, resulting in excessive PTH secretion that causes loss of calcium from bones.

Doctors mention that calcium and PTH levels can be misleading in some cases. For example, 25% of patients with a parathyroid tumor will have high calcium but low PTH levels. In such cases, test results indicate the patient might not be suffering from hyperthyroidism, but he is in reality. Such test results confuse doctors leading to unfair treatment.

What Is the Right Method of Diagnosis?

Though blood and urine tests are clinically reliable, there is no guarantee these tests will get your parathyroid disease diagnosed. One of the problems with blood tests is that a patient with hyperthyroidism may have high PTH and calcium levels at one time and normal levels at other times.

The problem with urine tests is the kidney filters most calcium, and there are very few traces of calcium in the urine. Due to the non-reliability of these tests, doctors can have a tough time diagnosing hyperthyroidism accurately. However, if a patient has a parathyroid tumor, he is more likely to have high PTH and calcium levels in the blood, which makes hyperthyroidism diagnosis easy.

If the calcium levels in the blood are high, it will cause the parathyroid gland to go to sleep, and your PTH levels will be low. In most cases, doctors fail to identify hyperthyroidism in such cases. The best way to have the parathyroid disease diagnosed accurately is to have more blood and urine tests and conduct tests to determine whether the patient has a parathyroid tumor.

These are some of the best methods to detect hyperthyroidism in patients. The detection of hyperthyroidism at the early stages is crucial as it may lead to osteoporosis if it remains undetected.