Adrenal gland calcification

[Guest guest]

Six weeks of nausea and a trip to my doctor led to the finding of a calcium

buildup in my

adrenal gland. Initial suspicion was TB. A skin test was performed and came

back negative.

One month has gone by since the finding and I will finally get to see an

endocrinologist this

next week. I'm interested in feedback any of you may have regarding this. I'm

basically in

the dark about what's going on and what is in store for me. The only info I

have thusfar is

what I've googled, and none of that information is comforting at all!

Thanks,

Rick

[Guest guest]

I have reposted a reply from June 5 which applies to your situation. Hypercalcemia of various types is not that unusual with HIV and often indicates the presence of MAI or other problems.

>> Six weeks of nausea and a trip to my doctor led to the finding of a calcium buildup in my > adrenal gland. Initial suspicion was TB. A skin test was performed and came back negative. > One month has gone by since the finding and I will finally get to see an endocrinologist this > next week. I'm interested in feedback any of you may have regarding this. I'm basically in > the dark about what's going on and what is in store for me. The only info I have thusfar is > what I've googled, and none of that information is comforting at all!> > Thanks,> Rick

My Doctor at the time eighteen years ago, when there were not many drugs to be on, had a patient who experienced hypercalcemia. He had extreme pain in virtually of of his joints and a rapidly plunging T cell count and percentage. Over a period of weeks many specialists did tests and gave their assessment - none with a good idea of what was going on.

Then, when his T4 count was down to around 20 and he had been on the hospital for a few weeks, his hypercalcemia suddenly resolved over the course of one week. His T4 count rose back to the 700's where it was prior to the hypercalcemia and the bone spurs and other calcified deposits which had shown up on all of the x-rays and scans dissolved away over the next couple of months. Needless to say very odd. He swore he wasn't taking Vitamin D supplements and he was off all drugs at the time, except those IV drugs needed to balance his electrolytes. Its possible he had disseminated MAI at the time, based on symptoms, although the blood tests for MAI (which are designed to be not very sensitive - since most people don't have MAI) were negative.

So HIV or its interaction with the body can infrequently do something really peculiar with the metabolism and storage of calcium. I've subsequently heard of similar odd hypercalcemic event in people with HIV.

Doing a Medline search of HIV hypercalcemia currently returns 55 published reports etc. Most of these reports associate people with HIV experiencing hypercalcemia with: the onset of an opportunistic infection, lymphoma, tuberculosis, or treatment with a retinoid for KS, antifungal drugs or drugs for CMV.

There's something very interesting to learn from this, but I've never met anyone who knows for sure what that is.

Based on all of this, if I experienced hypercalcemia I'd assume it was some infection we needed to treat - mostly because that's fixable. Beyond that you're mostly dealing in an uncharted land of the unknown.

[Guest guest]

I have reposted a reply from June 5 which applies to your situation. Hypercalcemia of various types is not that unusual with HIV and often indicates the presence of MAI or other problems.

>> Six weeks of nausea and a trip to my doctor led to the finding of a calcium buildup in my > adrenal gland. Initial suspicion was TB. A skin test was performed and came back negative. > One month has gone by since the finding and I will finally get to see an endocrinologist this > next week. I'm interested in feedback any of you may have regarding this. I'm basically in > the dark about what's going on and what is in store for me. The only info I have thusfar is > what I've googled, and none of that information is comforting at all!> > Thanks,> Rick

My Doctor at the time eighteen years ago, when there were not many drugs to be on, had a patient who experienced hypercalcemia. He had extreme pain in virtually of of his joints and a rapidly plunging T cell count and percentage. Over a period of weeks many specialists did tests and gave their assessment - none with a good idea of what was going on.

Then, when his T4 count was down to around 20 and he had been on the hospital for a few weeks, his hypercalcemia suddenly resolved over the course of one week. His T4 count rose back to the 700's where it was prior to the hypercalcemia and the bone spurs and other calcified deposits which had shown up on all of the x-rays and scans dissolved away over the next couple of months. Needless to say very odd. He swore he wasn't taking Vitamin D supplements and he was off all drugs at the time, except those IV drugs needed to balance his electrolytes. Its possible he had disseminated MAI at the time, based on symptoms, although the blood tests for MAI (which are designed to be not very sensitive - since most people don't have MAI) were negative.

So HIV or its interaction with the body can infrequently do something really peculiar with the metabolism and storage of calcium. I've subsequently heard of similar odd hypercalcemic event in people with HIV.

Doing a Medline search of HIV hypercalcemia currently returns 55 published reports etc. Most of these reports associate people with HIV experiencing hypercalcemia with: the onset of an opportunistic infection, lymphoma, tuberculosis, or treatment with a retinoid for KS, antifungal drugs or drugs for CMV.

There's something very interesting to learn from this, but I've never met anyone who knows for sure what that is.

Based on all of this, if I experienced hypercalcemia I'd assume it was some infection we needed to treat - mostly because that's fixable. Beyond that you're mostly dealing in an uncharted land of the unknown.

[Guest guest]

I have reposted a reply from June 5 which applies to your situation. Hypercalcemia of various types is not that unusual with HIV and often indicates the presence of MAI or other problems.

>> Six weeks of nausea and a trip to my doctor led to the finding of a calcium buildup in my > adrenal gland. Initial suspicion was TB. A skin test was performed and came back negative. > One month has gone by since the finding and I will finally get to see an endocrinologist this > next week. I'm interested in feedback any of you may have regarding this. I'm basically in > the dark about what's going on and what is in store for me. The only info I have thusfar is > what I've googled, and none of that information is comforting at all!> > Thanks,> Rick

My Doctor at the time eighteen years ago, when there were not many drugs to be on, had a patient who experienced hypercalcemia. He had extreme pain in virtually of of his joints and a rapidly plunging T cell count and percentage. Over a period of weeks many specialists did tests and gave their assessment - none with a good idea of what was going on.

Then, when his T4 count was down to around 20 and he had been on the hospital for a few weeks, his hypercalcemia suddenly resolved over the course of one week. His T4 count rose back to the 700's where it was prior to the hypercalcemia and the bone spurs and other calcified deposits which had shown up on all of the x-rays and scans dissolved away over the next couple of months. Needless to say very odd. He swore he wasn't taking Vitamin D supplements and he was off all drugs at the time, except those IV drugs needed to balance his electrolytes. Its possible he had disseminated MAI at the time, based on symptoms, although the blood tests for MAI (which are designed to be not very sensitive - since most people don't have MAI) were negative.

So HIV or its interaction with the body can infrequently do something really peculiar with the metabolism and storage of calcium. I've subsequently heard of similar odd hypercalcemic event in people with HIV.

Doing a Medline search of HIV hypercalcemia currently returns 55 published reports etc. Most of these reports associate people with HIV experiencing hypercalcemia with: the onset of an opportunistic infection, lymphoma, tuberculosis, or treatment with a retinoid for KS, antifungal drugs or drugs for CMV.

There's something very interesting to learn from this, but I've never met anyone who knows for sure what that is.

Based on all of this, if I experienced hypercalcemia I'd assume it was some infection we needed to treat - mostly because that's fixable. Beyond that you're mostly dealing in an uncharted land of the unknown.