A parathyroid disease like hyperparathyroidism is often linked to gaining weight. Now the worries of weight gain post-parathyroid surgery is understandable, but unfounded nonetheless. Leading parathyroid surgeons in India have ruled this out as myth!
But, is it so? Let’s take a closer look.
Studies reveal that hyperparathyroidism is associated with increasing levels of hypertension, resistance to insulin and shot in cholesterol level. This causes temporary “bulkiness” or bloating. But, when researchers checked whether this phenomena stands with all patients or not – the results were mixed.
Some with lower calcium levels and suffering from hyperthyroidism has witnessed an increase in body mass index. Those with normal calcium levels showed a different story altogether! They not only exhibited zero weight gain, but also suffered from less complications post-surgery.
Now, let’s have a look what parathyroid patients have to say about this! The first and foremost signal from hyperparathyroidism is fatigue. Patients with high levels of PTH always complain of tiredness. But, the ‘tired of being tired’ chronic systems is often triggered from pyscho-somatal causes rather than physical reasons. This often results in developing hyperthyroidism as mentioned by the leading parathyroid surgeons in India.
So, is it just this? Is this really a myth then?
Though there is no scientific backing of this “weight gaining” claim, but the problem cannot be ruled out completely as of yet! Recent researches also suggest that removal of parathyroid tumour can “reverse” the effect of weight gain with hyperparathyroidism.
Thus, you see there is no physiologic reason to blame parathyroid surgery for weight gain. But, with the body hormones finally normalising after surgery, weight loss is observed among most patients. So, there is no such cause-and-effect relationship that links between the two.
It is more likely that patents with hyperthyroidism are generally overweight than their peers. So, their sudden spike in obesity may not be the cause of parathyroid surgery, after all!
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