Library Jet

I’m going to have my neck cut twice this coming Friday. As I mentioned in the post below, “Fractured bones galore,” I have osteoporosis. I recently had some tests done, found out I have hyperparathyroidism. I also have an unrelated neck problem, a thyroglossal duct cyst.

Each person has four hyperthyroid glands, and they check the amounts of calcium we have in our blood. If one (or more) of these cysts senses there isn’t enough calcium in the blood, it sends out parathyroid hormone. The parathyroid hormone “tells” the body to take calcium from the bones and put it into the blood. That’s what has been happening to me. Even though I eat plenty of calcium, one of my parathyroid glands is blocked (probably by an adenoma) so the gland doesn’t detect any calcium in my body. It is constantly sending out messages to take calcium from my bones so there will be enough calcium in my blood to carry out important everyday functions. Once that parathyroid gland is removed, the other three glands should start working and the leeching of my bones ought to stop.

The symptoms of hyperparathyroidism are remembered by medical students as “bone, groans, moans, stones and psychological overtones.” Bones = osteoporosis, groans - gastrointestinal problems, moans = muscle aches, stones = kidney stones, psychological overtones = depression, memory problems, confusion, fatigue, anxiety, and a feeling of weakness. I’m not depressed, nor do I feel weak, and I haven’t yet had kidney stones, but the others are fairly common to me. More on hyperparathyroidism can be found here.

The thyroglossal duct cyst is completely unrelated to the hyperparathyroidism. I’ve had this cyst since birth (apparently), but it only recently “popped out,” about a year and a half ago. When a embryo is forming, the cells that are supposed to be the thyroid gland sometimes don’t all make it to the right place. They get left behind in the thyroglossal duct, which is a canal that goes down the neck and is supposed to disappear once the thyroid is formed. If some of the cells get left behind in that canal, the canal doesn’t go away, and a cyst can form. This results in a soft mass in the neck that can become enlarged and can hurt and impede swallowing and sometimes breathing. Usually these cysts get big sometime during childhood, but mine just popped out when I was 46. Back then (a year and a half ago), I was scheduled to have it removed, but when the surgeon did a needle biopsy on it, the fluid drained out. Once drained, it was too small to operate on, but luckily it popped back out a few weeks ago, as I was preparing to meet with the surgeon (a different one) for the hyperparathyroidism. (Good timing! Get both surgeries done at once!) You can read more about thyroglossal duct cysts here.

I’ll be in the hospital (MCV) overnight and then will be convalescing at home for three weeks. (Then I go to the National Marfan Foundation’s annual conference in Philadelphia! This will be my last conference for a while, as I will no longer be on the board of directors after July).