Because I was ill for a long time.

Starting in 2000, I suffered from recurring kidney stones (12 in total), which required hospital stays and urological operations to remove them when they didn’t pass naturally. In addition, at some point during this period, I had two slipped discs, which required surgery and resulted in corresponding limitations. As a result, I gradually grew weaker, became increasingly obese, developed ever-worsening muscular problems in my back, buttocks and thighs, and found it increasingly difficult to walk. This was accompanied by increasing pain in the aforementioned areas. I dragged myself to all sorts of doctors and received diagnoses and treatments that were more or less satisfactory. But nobody put it all into context.

Until, at some point, my GP (at this point, a special thank you to Dr Christian Röntgen from the General Practice Group Cologne – Südstadt) referred me to the German Clinic for Diagnostics (DKD for short) in Wiesbaden.

That’s right! Referred! GPs and specialists present patients with their symptoms there, and a panel of doctors advises on whether and to what extent the patient is a case for the selected in-house specialists. Ideally, as a patient, you are then accepted and undergo a two-day diagnostic assessment across the relevant specialist departments. In the best-case scenario, this results in a well-founded diagnosis and recommendations for further treatment.

In my case, it was a diagnosis of hyperparathyroidism, a condition I had not been aware of until then. It is a disorder of the parathyroid glands. In short, the four parathyroid glands – which are about the size of a lentil and sit behind the thyroid gland – monitor, among other things, the calcium levels in the blood and release parathyroid hormone. This subsequently regulates calcium balance by drawing calcium from the bones and releasing it into the blood. You can find a really good german explanation of the parathyroid glands and the interaction between parathyroid hormone and calcium here.

However, after three unsuccessful parathyroid operations in the following years, the problem was still not resolved. I continued to deteriorate, gained more and more weight, and the parathyroid hormone in my blood was still too high.

All in all, the situation was becoming increasingly stressful for me, as it was impossible to predict how it would develop and whether and how the increasing physical decline could ever be halted.