Question:
Hi,

My 3-week-old great-nephew, Keenan, was admitted to the hospital when he was about six days old with hypocalcemia. At the time, his parents were mixing his formula with fluoridated water as per the instructions of the nurse when they left the hospital to take him home after he was born. I had told my nephew that I didn't think it was a good idea to use the fluoridated water, but they went ahead anyway, and then Keenan came down with the hypocalcemia. What brought their attention to it was that he was having seizure type episodes with jerking of his arms, and I think his legs, and kind of bouncing or rolling of his eyes.

After it was determined at the hospital that his calcium was low, and after a battery of other tests to make sure everything else was functioning properly, including heart, kidneys, brain, etc., they sent him home on calcium supplementation. I told my nephew to ask the endocrinologist at the hospital if the fluoridated water could have caused the problem, to which the endo replied that he didn't think with the amount of fluoride in the water or the amount of time that it took for the seizures to occur that this was what had caused the problem; however, he did tell them to stop using the fluoridated water (which, to me, almost sounds like an admission without really admitting it!) They then told my nephew and his wife that they thought he was probably born without parathyroid glands, but they were awaiting the blood work results that had been drawn while he was in the hospital and which had to be sent out. I really didn't believe that he didn't have any parathyroid glands, and still felt it was because of the fluoride, and my concern then was that with calcium supplementation, if indeed the fluoridated water had caused the problem in the first place, his calcium would become too high, which it did on subsequent blood tests over the ensuing days.

They then told them to stop the calcium and when he saw the endo for a follow-up his calcium was basically normal (and, by the way, they told them that he does have parathyroid glands!) and now they are going to try weaning him off the calcium supplementation.

My question to you is - Do you think that the fluoridated water that was used to mix the formula could have caused the hypocalcemia? I'm still going with that theory, but my family still thinks I'm kind of nuts. I'm the aunt with the crazy ideas and am always going against the traditional medical community!

Thanks for your time - Molly

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