Thanks! What I meant to say was I have been thinking of seeing a geneticist. I just wonder if this is something genetic. Since my sister has Crohn's disease. My sister who passed had RA. My father always complained of leg pains. My uncle had neuropathy but they thought it was alcohol related. I think I remember my father saying his father had leg pain.

My fathers family all had something that caused them all to have heart disease also. Many heart attacks and strokes at very young ages.

I've been wondering if this is all related. No one ever thought to look for any genetic link.

Just a thought!
Hopeful

--but for a very specific reason; since I had hyperparathyroidism, and surgery to remove the offending enlarged parathyroid glands showed hyperplasia in multiple glands rather than a secreting benign adenoma (the most common cause of primary hyperparathyroidism), there was some talk of the possibility of multiple endocrine neoplasia syndromes, the genetic markers of which can be tested.

Doesn't seem I have those, but the Columbia Presbyterian people are interested in that I may have an isolated familial parathyroid syndrome--my mother, some years ago, also had hyperparathyroidism (though she had a gland with a secreting benign adenoma removed).

Since this was referred through my primary care physician and my endocrinologist, and since the doctor involved is primarily a gastroenterologist who is on my insurance who heads the genetic team at Columbia, the consult and tests were covered.