The purpose of this page is to simply let patients and doctors know that "observing" hyperparathyroidism to see if it gets worse is not in the patient's best interest. Hyperparathyroidism is caused by a tumor growing on one of the parathyroid glands, and this parathyroid tumor will never go away by itself. This parathyroid tumor will continue to make too much parathyroid hormone which will continually take calcium out of the bones slowly (or fairly quickly some times) so that all patients with hyperparathyroidism (male or female) will get osteoporosis eventually. Often the osteoporosis due to hyperparathyroidism is very severe.
The letter below shows that many life insurance companies know that having a parathyroid tumor and hyperparathyroidism will adversely affect your overall health, and decrease your life expectancy. Often they will use the diagnosis of hyperparathyroidism as an excuse to not provide life insurance, if they can show that the parathyroid disease has caused you some osteoporosis, kidney stones, or even "back pain". If they can show one of these problems, then they figure your heart has been calcified and you have an increased risk for other problems (like certain cancers), so they may deny you life insurance coverage.
We see letters like this almost every week. Parathyroid disease (hyperparathyroidism) is not a benign disease that can be "watched". Most patients with hyperparathyroidism have symptoms at the time the doctor figures it out. Occasionally the doctor will say "your calcium levels are not that bad, let's just wait a few months or a year and see if it gets worse". If the operation to remove the tumor took 6-8 hours with a huge cut on your neck, this might be good advice. However, if the tumor can be removed in 15-20 minutes via a 1-inch incision, then doing nothing and the "wait and see" approach is not in the patient's best interest. The life insurance companies know it, and they know you are a higher risk for many cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, and even cancer development. It is not 1965 anymore. Find an expert parathyroid surgeon and get the parathyroid tumor removed.
This is the second page on osteoporosis due to hyperparathyroidism on this web site. If you have not read the first page of parathyroid.com that discusses osteoporosis, then please do so.