About 15 years ago, my Dad was discovered to have had an overactive parathyroid. (He’s fine now.) It was causing his memory to fail big-time. Now, the job of the parathyroid is to produce hormones which maintain the balance of calcium in our body between the bones (storage) and the bloodstream where calcium is used.
In my Dad’s case, his overactive parathyroid gland was producing too much of the hormone which takes the calcium out of the bones - combating the counterpart hormone which puts the calcium back into the bones. Hence, his blood had a high level of calcium in it. Somehow, this was affecting his memory…esp short-term.
I wonder: How could I find out if this has ever been explored as a link to the cause, prevention, or a way to minimize the effects of Alzheimer’s or senility? I wonder if the medical profession has ever explored the possibility of a potential link here? - Jinx
My Dad had an overactive thyroid also. He was also diagnosed with Alzheimers because of the short term memory loss. The doctor told me it was hard to distinguish which one it actually was. He increased the synthroid medicine my Dad was taking and it helped for awhile. But he later found where my Dads’ leg muscles were deteriating was aslo a symptom of Alzheimers. Needless to say the alzheimers won in the end. I didn’t know until much later that a person with alzheimers also has mini-strokes that get worse as the disease progresses.
The only medicine used to slow the progression of alzheimers is aricept, (there may be other medicines for it by now) and doctors also recommend taking vitamin E for it. The aricept needs to be started at the earliest possible time with alzheimers.
If you suspect someone with Alzheimers then seek treatment quickly, it’s very nerve racking and heart wrenching to watch someone fade away with this disease.
One of the imitators of dementia, of Alzheimer’s Disease, is in fact an elevated level of calcium in the blood. So, every person who has unexplained symptoms that seem to indicate the presence of Alzheimer’s, should have their calcium level checked.
Generally, there are a number of metabolic conditions that can mimic Alzheimer’s Disease. The list includes abnormalities in the blood levels of thyroid hormone, calcium, magnesium, glucose, vitamin B12, and sodium, as well as impaired function of the kidneys and liver.
In terms of a more fundamental link between parathyroid hormone level and Alzheimer’s Disease, I am unaware of any evidence to support, or suggest, a connection.