'Routine surgery left me with horrific tingling pain that's ruined my career - doctors told me it was normal'

'Routine surgery left me with horrific tingling pain that's ruined my career - doctors told me it was normal' EXCLUSIVE: When Lydia woke up from surgery, she knew instantly that something was not right, despite staff reassuring her that her symptoms were normal and would resolve by the time she left hospital A young nurse has been left battling a chronic health condition after what was meant to be a routine surgery. Lydia, 28, from Blackburn in Lancashire, now lives with “unpredictable symptoms” that affect every part of her life after undergoing thyroid surgery six years ago. A trained nurse, she’s used to caring for others – but now suffers from extreme fatigue, muscle cramps, brain fog and low calcium levels which have derailed her career ambitions. Lydia underwent surgery for an overactive thyroid after medication failed to help. She recalls the risk of low calcium being presented as small and temporary, something that could be managed with calcium tablets and would soon resolve. What was never explained to her was that damage to the parathyroid glands could result in a permanent condition. But when she woke up from surgery, she knew instantly that something was wrong. She said: “I was feeling tingles, and thought: ‘That's not right’.” Staff reassured her that the symptoms were normal and would resolve by the time she left hospital. She was given calcium drips and reassured that once she was healed “it’ll have gone,” but symptoms continued. “They were constantly saying: ‘Oh, it'll go away, it's really short term’.” At first her symptoms were mild, but they soon progressed. Lydia experienced a strange buzzing sensation, comparing it to when your washing machine is on a full cycle. “It's going mad. You put your hand on it, and it kind of vibrates up your arm. That's the sensation.” She added: “It mainly starts in your feet, and then as it gets worse, it travels up to your legs. It might start in your hands, your face, and then you can get cramps and things. At the beginning, it was mainly just the fizzing, tingling sensation.” Lydia ended up in A&E several times and needed a second surgery due to complications. Even after discharge she found herself back in her local hospital with low calcium again requiring treatment. “When I was needing the admissions and infusions, I thought, ‘This is not right. There is something going on’.” She began to do her own research, and six months after her surgery was diagnosed with chronic hypoparathyroidism (hypopara), a condition in which the small glands in your neck that control the level of calcium in your body do not work properly, causing debilitating symptoms and problems with the bones, nerves and muscles. According to Parathyroid UK, permanent hypoparathyroidism is a recognised complication of thyroid surgery, affecting around one in 10 patients. “I was lucky with the diagnosis because I was diagnosed with a temporary hypoparathyroidism pretty much straight away. So by the time it got to six months and I was still getting the symptoms, the chronic diagnosis was obviously very easy because we knew the cause.” Hypoparathyroidism is the “only endocrine condition that is not treated by replacing the hormone that's missing”, Lydia explained. Instead, she relies on calcium and vitamin D tablets. “I take seven calcium tablets a day, which is a lot. There's the long-term risk of that, not all of that calcium is being absorbed into the bloodstream and getting where it needs to go,” she said. “You get extra deposits long-term, so it might end up in your kidneys and your brain and could ultimately crack your bones. I'm 28, within 10 to 20 years of this treatment, I could have kidney stones. When you look at the long term, it is not sustainable treatment.” Her symptoms have devastated her nursing career. She needed time off for hospital admissions and realised she couldn’t go back to working in wards. “I just couldn't sustain the long shifts and physically demanding ward environment,” Lydia explained, instead finding a compressed-hour role in a community-based position. “I love where I am right now, but I've always wanted to progress. I've always wanted to go through the stages, and really improve myself, improve my knowledge.” Lydia has found a lifeline through the hypopara support group on Facebook. “Knowing that you're not alone, community groups are absolutely wonderful at any support, any advice, they are an absolute lifesaver.” She added: “The main thing is knowing that you are not alone. That the consultants and nurses and whoever else may not understand your symptoms completely, but some of us will, and we can tell you that you're part of us.”