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Support For Those Quitting Prolia
Osteoporosis & Bone Health | Last Active: Oct 2 7:15am | Replies (136)Comment receiving replies
Thank you very much for your explanation. I got the conversion part. Is the corrected calcium level a better indication of calcium deficiency (or overage)? If so, whats the reference range?
Overall I'm still not quite getting how a blood calcium level would indicate whether or not a person is calcium difficient. It's said that our own PTH, if at normal functional level, would fine tune our blood calcium level to normal range for vital functions such as nerve, heart and muscle. And the biggest reservoir in the body for calcium is bone. That is, if we are truly difficient in calcium, our bones will be sacrificed to maintain a normal blood calcium level. How do blood level of free calcium ion, albumin bound calcium or other calcium salts reflect whether or not a person is actually difficient of calcium, if at all?
Replies to "Thank you very much for your explanation. I got the conversion part. Is the corrected calcium..."
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Yes, the corrected calcium level is a better indication of calcium level and it uses the same range as total calcium listed on your calcium test (high-low range). The Mayo Clinic Calcium reference value is 8.8-10.2 mg/dL for people over 60.
Great job on your explanation of the calcium control system. You are spot on. Your body will do everything it can to maintain a set point your body wants to be at. However, if your body cannot get calcium from your bone fast enough (like when your on a drug like Prolia or alendronate) then you need to ensure you are getting enough from your diet. For me, I'm on Prolia and have hypercalciuria (peeing out too much calcium), so I really have to be consistent on calcium intake. Prolia just go a new block box warning for hypocalcemia for kidney patients for this reason I believe.
The corrected calcium number really only comes into play if you have an albumin problem and your calcium numbers look off, or if you are investigating hyperparathyroidism. Most people don't have to worry about corrected calcium. Perhaps I should not have mentioned it without a better explanation.