What happens when we have a lack of calcium?

lack-of-calcium-abloomnova.net_-1600x1067 What happens when we have a lack of calcium?

We all know what happens when we have too much calcium in our blood. This blog post has gone over and over the many things that can cause it, the symptoms and the dangers. But what happens when we have a lack of calcium? Can it be just as dangerous? Could calcium levels drop too much to function anymore? And how does the body behave when we do experience low levels?

In this post, we’ll look at three interesting conditions that happen when the blood calcium levels drop. Some are obvious, and some are just plain strange…

Osteoporosis

Of course, the Big O. Osteoporosis is something we are all trying to avoid as we get older. Calcium supplements are munched, milk is swigged and chia seeds thrown in to countless recipes to stave off depleted calcium stores in our bones.

The main signs of osteoporosis are the common ‘old people’ look (as unfair as that sounds – just look at a road sign warning a motorist that old people live near, what does it look like?). These signs are a loss of height and excessive curvature of the spine. With increasing age comes the risk of developing the disease-related osteoporosis. Keep calcium levels up to the right amounts to reduce this risk.

Pica

Pica is the eating of non-nutritive substances. There are plenty of documentaries covering people – normally women for some reason – eating things like coal, chalk, deodorant sticks and other items not meant for consumption.

While this is seen in infants under the age of two or thereabouts, it is also surprisingly common in pregnancy, in young women and also people suffering from mental illness. Often it is just a sign that their calcium levels are low, but could also be a sign of general malnutrition and possibly iron, zinc, vitamins B1 – thiamine, B3 – niacin, C and D deficiency.

Facial twitching

A manoeuvre to check for calcium deficiency is a thing called Chvostek’s sign. This is when the facial muscles twitch when tapping on the facial nerve in front of the ear. (Chvostek’s sign) This is usually the way to check for hypocalcaemia due to hypoparathyroidism.

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