Re: Bone Pain

 Hvaragerthi, what do you think about the relationship between adrenal fatigue, gluten intolerance, and hyperparathyroidism?

There is a relationship between these.  Starting with adrenal fatigue and gluten intolerance.  Gluten intolerances/sensitivities are different from true Celiac.  The intolerances/sensitivities result from the adrenal dysfunction, which lowers levels of immune modulating and anti-inflammatory coritcosteroids.

The most common reason for hyperparathyroidism is a lack of active vitamin D.  The damage to the intestine caused from gluten intolerance can lead to inability to absorb vitamin D properly.

Yes, I had low vit D, and super high PTH (up in the 150's and 170's, when the uppermost 'normal' range tops out at 60). At this point my endocrinologist guessed i had secondary hyperparathryroidism. After I was pumped full of both D2 and D3, my vit D levels went to normal BUT my PTH remained high for a year.

Again vitamin D₂ and the inactive D₃ used for supplmentation must be converted in to the active form of D₃.  This requires properly functioning liver and kidneys.  If there was an issue with either normal vitamin D levels will not make a difference if the D is not being converted to its active form properly.

My endocrinologist checked my vit D and PTH every month for almost a year. I had high normal calcium, but never higher than 10. So my parathryroidism was confirmed as secondary hyperparathryoidism.

Interestingly, after a year of elevated PTH, the PTH for the first time came out normal a few weeks ago.

So perhaps I've had only secondary parathyroid disease this whole time, but due to calcium malabsorption, due to leaky gut/ gluten intolerance??? I had a sestimibi scan that showed what docs thought was a tumor on my parathyroid gland, but it simply must have been a swollen parathyroid gland forced to pump out lots of pth.

There are several possibilities.  One is that you were having problems with vitamin D conversion and the problem corrected itself.  The benign tumors can be caused from a lack of active vitamin D. Or you could have had pseudohyperparathyroidism from something like excess phosphorus intake.

Anyway, I cut and pasted a paragraph from the site of a doc named Dr. Norman, at parathyroid.com... he's a pro at parathryoid issues...

"High Parathyroid Hormone Levels in Patients with Intestinal Absorption Problems, Such as:
Gastric Bypass Surgery, and Celiac Sprue, and Crohn's Disease.

"There is a growing group of patients who have dramatic life-long problems absorbing calcium in their diet. These patients are now illustrated on our graph in the purple area. These patients have a problem with their intestines that prevent them from absorbing calcium well. Since they don't (can't) absorb calcium from their diet, their NORMAL parathyroid glands will do what they are supposed to do... maintain a proper calcium level in the blood. There is only one thing these normal parathyroid glands can do... all four glands enlarge and produce lots of PTH which removes calcium from the bones--its the only place to get the calcium. The blood calcium is therefore maintained appropriately in the normal range (usually low normal between 8.2 and 9.2, but can be as low as 7.0) at the expense of taking calcium out of the bones. Thus these patients have very significant osteoporosis, high PTH levels, low normal calcium and high alkaline-phosphatase (shows increased bone destruction). These patients do NOT need their parathyroid glands removed. They have developed a total-body calcium deficit due to a longstanding inability to absorb calcium through their intestines."

If you are interested in replying, I would be quite interested in your take on this matter... as I know you give people a lot of medical advice... my endocrinologists are truly stumped, and get angry when I try to explain what might be going on. :)