Re: Question for TEI Individuals

From my understanding so far (and i might be wrong), the thyroid and parathyroids are not connected in function at all. They both have completely different roles in the body...so healing the thyroid won't heal the para's.
They are situated close to each other but that is all.
It's like the adrenals and kidneys - close to one another but both have completely separate functions.

ARL suggesting calcium supplementation just doesn't make logical sense to me as low calcium levels on a hair test more than likely points to low Vit D. If vit D and calcium is low, THEN it more than likely suggests sluggish parathyroids.
Why ARL or TEI don't factor this in, i don't know.

Interesting that your thyroid and calcium levels evoke a change in symptoms and worsening of your thyroid with calcium supplementation. Your tests obviously help to show this link. Are you on Vit D?
Too much calcium makes us feel awful just like too little calcium.
I'll look more into the thyroid/calcium connection, that's intriguing.

Parathyroid dysregulation is normally diagnosed through PTH (parathyroid hormone) levels and blood calcium levels.
See here for more detail on the results and what they mean:

http://www.parathyroid.com/diagnosis.htm


I agree addressing adrenal and thyroid imbalances works well with supplementation and nutrition.
I would assume that HYPOparathyroid condition would also respond the same.
In the case of HYPER-parathyroid, supplementing with Vit D could help, as the glands could have gone hyper due to low calcium in the blood.
In the case of the para's going hyper despite Vit D levels then as the link above suggests, it strongly points to one of the parathyroids (out of the 4 we have) being cancerous and is just spilling loads of PTH causing a hike in calcium levels.
Personally if i had hyperparathyroid tumour on one gland...as we have 4 of them, i would have the bad gland removed.

I think it's worth getting the blood PTH and calcium tests to check on the para's if hair tests continually show high calcium.
When i get my next hair test if my calcium is still high i'm going to explore that route. I had not supplemented calcium before my first hair test. I had not eaten dairy either. Yet i still had high hair calcium. I do have lots of leafy greens, raw and juiced and sesame seeds for calcium. Now i have more calcium supplies in my diet so the next test will be revealing.
I didn't follow ARL's supplements recommendations...meaning i don't take their supplements - i opted for more absorbable forms of the supplements they suggested. Worked out for me to be cheaper with better quality supplements than buying theirs.
They recommended Paramin too which i just ignored. Why they suggest Paramin for high hair calcium i wish someone would chime in and explain why! Doesn't make sense to me.

Alot of folk have mentioned feeling awful on Paramin. Perhaps it interferes with the parathyroid function causing all the unwanted symptoms?

Your vit D levels increasing after stopping Paramin make sense as you would have been using your low vit D stores to absorb the calcium in the Paramin.
Perhaps with summer and continued stopping of paramin you will see more of an increase in your Vit D levels.

I'm not sure you would need 3 months off of calcium supps to show an accurate blood level..look into it more but i would imagine that having had 2 months off already you would be showing 'real' calcium levels your body naturally has without supps.

The hair test really can only highlight possible imbalances - if there is anything else going on with the body outside of the scope of the hair tests ability using the ratio's as a guide to body health, then their supplementation regime is going to be a bit hit and miss, which for some people it is.
It's a valid analysis to have and can help hugely on many levels, certainly with metal toxicity, but it is not the grail of nutritional balancing that we would hope it to be. It can't be, as it's only one diagnostic format, giving one angle of health, yet it can give indications for which other tests to have to help to complete the picture.

That requires some personal knowhow as like you said, having a high hair calcium, they don't suggest we have parathyroid imbalances, so people happily take paramin per their recommendations. Yet they do suggest thyroid status and adrenal so people get their hormones checked. It's an ever-evolving Science and i'm sure at some point it will be even more useful as they come to understand it better. In comparison to how MD's generally approach health, i prefer NB any day of the week!