maaaaaaaaaaaan, 4 little glands can cause a whole lotta k-rap!!! my mom has had a high blood calcium level for awhile and has had kidney stones several times now.
the last time she went to her internist, he remarked on her calcium level being a 12 (starting to be in the worrisomely high range, if 'worrisomely' is even a word...) and he had the level repeated along with some other tests done. one of the other labs taken was a parathyroid hormone level (PTH), since the parathyroid glands control the calcium level in your blood, and my mom found out today that her PTH is 120, which is almost double the upper limit of the normal range- yikes!
i'd say she's definitely got hyperparathyroidism, which is definitely the cause of her high calcium level, and most likely the cause of her hypertension, gastroesophageal reflux disease, kidney stones, and all the other problems that have surfaced since she has had this problem.
now we've gotta find an endocrinologist and a surgeon that performs parathyroid surgery. the first will be the easy task, the second not so easy- but supposedly there's a surgeon at moses taylor?

if anyone out there has/has had/knows anyone with hyperparathyroidism, please contact me, this is quite uncharted territory for us, even though my mom and i are both in the medical field. thanks.........