Hypoparathyroidism is not a condition most people have heard of until they are living it. The parathyroid glands, four tiny structures resting against the thyroid, quietly regulate calcium and phosphorus every minute of your life.

If you have landed here, there is a good chance you have already felt something the standard advice does not quite name: the tingling around your lips and fingertips that comes and goes, the muscle cramps that arrive without warning, the twitch under your eye, or a lab report that simply says your calcium is "a little low" with no real explanation of why.