Does any know why the blood calcium levels rise when there have no bony mets involved, Is it just the dieseas progressing?

thanks

Hey Moira...

I'm clueless to answer your calcium question, but suggest you direct it to Dr. Joshi by name. (He probably would have addressed it already had he seen the post.)

Are you doing okay the last few weeks? I am once again exploring statistics! (Seems I can go for a short while without worrying about numbers, recurrence rates and the like... but then get right back into that mindset again!) Oh well... Maybe one of these days my poor brain will settle down a bit!

Later,

Melanie

Hello Moira

Hypercalcemia (high levels of calcium in your blood)is associated with 10 to 20% of cancer patients (usually seen with lung cancer, breast cancer and multiple myeloma). The cause of hypercalcemia is when cancer spreads to or invades the bones (local erosion or mets) and when malignant cells release certain factors that cause calcium to be released from the bone. This causes bones to break down faster than they are being rebuilt, resulting in an increase calcium release into the blood stream.

When blood calcium is too high, the cancer patient might show tiredness, confusion, unstable gait, constipation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, decreased appetite, increase urination and bone pain. If hypercalcemia is not diagnosed it can lead to more serious complications like heart problems, convulsions and even coma. Some of the symptoms of hypercalcemia like nausea, vomiting or constipation can worsen hypercalcemia! They should be treated and managed immediately.

The advice is that if a cancer patient feel any of these symptoms or if family members or friends notice signs of the above, arrange to see the doctor immediatel to check for hypercalcemia.

Best wishes
Vinod

p.s. good question, - why did you ask?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dr Vinod K Joshi,

Hi Dr Vinod,
Thanks so much for the reply, I actually just found it. Seems like I am still finding my way around this site.!

I was curious as to why the hypercalcaemia, as my husband suffered this along with his neutropenia, MRSA and so on... He was never diagnosed as having bony mets. To be honest I do not even know the staging of his cancer. But he had the confusion, aggitation and unstable gait as you described. Pretty awful to see on top of everything else...

thanks again
Moira