I started feeling weird on the 15th of November, dizzy and lightheaded, nauseous and tired. Small physical effort was tiring and left me breathless and I noticed my heartbeat, which normally rests at 65-76 beats per minute was going up in the 120-130 range while at rest and any kind of physical activity would make it go even higher. I put this run-down feeling to the fact I was busy with holiday activities; baking, decorating, lifting boxes up and down stairs, but after a week of feeling like this, I started to slow down and take it easy. I had chest pain, and spasms and generally felt crappy. I had just recovered from a bad bout of bronchitis so I thought maybe it was coming back. This feeling appeared to go away for a few days when I slowed down. But a few days later, I started having extreme thirst, a complete lack of appetite (definitely not like me) and when I did eat anything more than toast, it would come back up. I figured I would give it a few more days and if it didn't go away, would head to the clinic. But it got worse instead of better, and by the afternoon of the 25th of November, I could not even get out of bed with the weakness, nausea, and rapid heartbeat. I called the Ontario telehealth line who advised me to go the ER right away. They said that they would fax my info to the hospital and I would be seen immediately. My husband brought me to the hospital and 15 minutes later, I was in the triage unit. As I have a family history of heart disease (both my father, my aunt and my sister died at 60 or earlier with heart attacks) the immediate thought was heart trouble. I was given an ECG and at the same time, blood was being drawn and I was hooked up to an IV with fluids. After three hours, I had my diagnosis: hypercalcemia, (an excess of calcium in the bloodstream). I was severely de-hydrated and my kidneys could not filter this excess and were shutting down.
The immediate solution was to flush my system as soon as possible and hope the levels of calcium came down enough to give my kidneys a chance. If the levels did not come down, alternate treatment would be employed, possibly dialysis. I was told I would not be going home that night. The ER doctor told me if I had not come in, it would not have been long before my kidneys would have shut down completely, resulting in renal failure and possible death (I am not sure if he meant hours or days but it was enough to send my blood pressure skyrocketing). Since I have never had any sort of a medical crisis or any major surgery, this was scary stuff. I was told I would stay in the triage until a bed was available, probably not until the next day. The rest of that night was spent peeing continuously ( as they gave me diuretics) which had to be collected, measured and analyized, and getting vial after vial of blood work done, as part two of this mystery was why this happened.
The normal causes of this condition are malfunction of the parathyroid gland, certain types of cancers or an overdose of calcium over a long period of time. They ruled out the parathyroid malfunction and because I had remembered that I had been told about six years ago that my calcium levels were elevated, they figured it was not cancer, so that left them with the calcium intake. I had been diagnosed 5 years ago with osteopenia, or low bone density and was told to take calcium supplements to build up density or be susceptible to brittle bones. Most people can tolerate up to 2000 mg of calcium on a daily basis without problems (the recommended dose is 1200 mg per day). Of course I did not realize this and I was taking 2 tablets of 1200 mg daily but I was also ingesting antacids with the thought that the more calcium, the better. I was taking 3-5 ultra strength antacid tablets at 1000 mg each. So everyday I was taking 5400-7400 mg of calcium and had been doing so for the past 5 years or so. My body finally could not tolerate this any longer, my kidneys could not filter out the excess any more and started to shut down.
Luckily for me, this story had a good ending. My levels started to go down the next morning and continued to do so each day until they returned to normal. After 3 days in hospital, I was released. They have found no cancer (however tests are still on-going just to be sure), my meds have been adjusted, my parathyroid and thyroid are now on the correct dosages and I have been advised to not take any calcium supplements or antacids like Tums. I learned an important lesson about paying attention to recommended dosages, warning labels and keeping a close watch on your health. Every drug, prescription or over the counter and supplements of any kind all can interact to create health problems. We all need to be vigilant and honest with our doctors and pharmacists and pay attention to their advice and warnings.
I am feeling like myself again, and the best news is that will all that calcium intake, I now have the bones of a young adult!!
