Calcium Deficiency
What is calcium?
Calcium is a mineral in the human body required to maintain bone, teeth, heart, nerves and muscle health. It can be derived from dairy products like milk, yogurt , cream, butter and cheese. Some green vegetables like peas, spinach, turnips and kale are also rich in calcium.
What is calcium deficiency?
An average individual requires 1000-1200 mg of calcium in a day. This requirement of your body can be easily fulfilled if your diet contains enough calcium rich foods. But if your diet lacks calcium there is a chance that your body will become calcium deficient.
Calcium deficiency is a serious problem because calcium as a mineral helps maintain bone and teeth health.
What are the complications that calcium deficiency can cause?
Calcium deficiency may seem like a minor health problem to many but if left untreated it can lead to causing serious complications whose effects may last permanently. Examples of those complications are as follows:
- alterations in the pattern of how your brain works
- permanent dental changes
- cataracts
- osteoporosis (a bone disease)
What causes calcium deficiency?
As we grow old our chances of becoming calcium deficient increase. Other than age these factors may also play a part in causing calcium deficiency:
- Malnutrition or poor calcium intake which means consuming a diet that lacks calcium
- Hormonal changes in women
- Consumption of medications that may decrease calcium absorption in your body
- Low vitamin D levels in the body
- Renal failure
- Pancreatitis
- Septic shock
- Suffering from hungry bone syndrome
How can calcium deficiency be diagnosed?
If your body is deficient in calcium it will start showing symptoms like:
- Extreme tiredness and fatigue
- Difficulty falling asleep at night (commonly known as insomnia)
- Lack of focus and confusion
- Lightheadedness
- Hairfall
- Weak or broken nails
- Sore muscles
- Numbness of hands and feet
- Depression
- Hallucinations
If you are suffering from any of the above mentioned symptoms you must immediately see your General Physician. They will take notes of your condition and if the need be they will prescribe a blood test to measure calcium levels in your body. A normal range of calcium in the human body is 8.6 to 10.3 mg/dL and any level below that indicates that you have calcium deficiency.
How can calcium deficiency be treated?
The treatment for calcium deficiency is quite simple as it involves adding more calcium rich foods to your diet and taking calcium supplements. A list of some calcium rich foods is as follows:
- Milk
- Yogurt
- Butter
- Cheese
- Broccoli
- Avocado
- Okra
- Kale
- Collards
- Spinach
- Soybeans
- White beans
- Flat beans
Certain fishes like salmon, sardines, rainbow trout and perch are also great sources of calcium.
If your calcium levels come out low you must visit the Best General Physician in Islamabad and let them prescribe you a regimen to fix the problem. Because if you start self medicating yourself to treat calcium deficiency there is a very high chance you will do more harm to yourself. Excess calcium in the human body can cause kidney stones, interfere with heart and brain functionality and weaken your bones.
