An antibody that binds to the calcium sensor in the parathyroid gland has been discovered in the blood of patients with autoimmune hypoparathyroidism. The element magnesium is closely related to the action of calcium in the body. When magnesium levels are too low, calcium levels may also fall. It appears that magnesium is important for parathyroid cells to make PTH normally. Once recognized, this is usually very easy to fix.
Chronic alcoholism is a frequent cause of low calcium and magnesium levels.
This section is placed here for completion sake only. There have only been a few cases of this syndrome ever reported, but one can see that if the PTH which is produced is actually a defective hormone, it would not have the same biologic strength as its normal counterpart. Even if PTH is given to them in their veins, they do not respond to it. Treatment of Hypoparathyroidism Vitamin D and calcium supplements are the primary treatments for this disease regardless of the cause. The only exception is when the inactivity of PTH is due to hypomagnasemia which is readily treated with magnesium supplementation.