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Information on Too Much Calcium in Blood

High blood calcium, also called hypercalcemia, has several causes and can produce problems when it is unregulated. Once diagnosed, it is treatable, but treatment depends on its cause.

  1. Physiological Processes

    • When your blood calcium is too high, your thyroid gland secretes calcitonin. Calcitonin inhibits calcium loss from the bone and decreases calcium reabsorption from kidney. This helps lower blood calcium.

    Causes

    • Hypercalcemia's main cause is hyperparathyroidism which causes the body to excessively breakdown calcium in the bone and release it into the blood stream.

    Problems

    • High blood calcium can depress neural and muscular functions, and cause cardiac arrhythmias, kidney stones, or depression.

    Treatment

    • If high blood calcium is caused by an overactive production of PTH (a parathyroid gland regulator of calcium), then a possible treatment is the removal of the parathyroid gland or glands.

    Prevention/Solution

    • There is not anything that you can really do to prevent hypercalcemia. However, not consuming more calcium than your body needs can help.

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