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How Do I Treat Calcium Deposits?

Christina Edwards
Christina Edwards

Calcium deposits can occur when calcium that is not absorbed into the bones forms a mass in the soft tissues. This is often referred to as calcinosis, and it can be quite painful. You can treat this condition at home by applying an ice pack to and exercising the afflicted area. Severe cases may need medication or surgery.

Applying ice is one of the most common home treatment methods for calcium deposits. The cold temperature can help relieve inflammation, including pain and swelling. To avoid damaging the skin, the ice or ice pack should be wrapped in a towel before applying it to the skin. You can then apply it to the area for around five or ten minutes at a time.

The area of the body affected with calcium deposits should be exercised on a regular basis.
The area of the body affected with calcium deposits should be exercised on a regular basis.

If the calcium deposits have formed in your joints, not moving or exercising the area can lead to stiffness and more pain. To prevent this and improve your range of motion, the affected area should be exercised on a regular basis. Doing this on a regular basis can lead to less inflammation, thereby less pain. Many doctors recommend performing these exercises on a daily basis, at least.

An over-the-counter pain medication can also be helpful. Pain relievers like ibuprofen or naproxen are also anti-inflammatories. These can also help relieve swelling.

Over-the-counter pain medications may help relieve swelling and pain associated with calcium deposits.
Over-the-counter pain medications may help relieve swelling and pain associated with calcium deposits.

Some calcium deposits can either become very painful or very large. In these cases, it is advisable that you seek medical attention. There are a few things a doctor can do to eliminate a deposit. He may use medications, for instance, or possibly surgery.

Certain oral medications may help reverse calcinosis. Some doctors may prescribe anticoagulants, for example. These medication help prevent the blood from coagulating, or clotting, and can decrease the size of some calcium deposits. This type of treatment usually only works with small deposits, though.

Ice packs may help treat calcium deposits.
Ice packs may help treat calcium deposits.

Large deposits may require surgery. Laser surgery, although more expensive than traditional surgery, can help dissolve small and large calcium deposits. These can also be removed using traditional surgery methods. Very large deposits, however, may need to be removed a little at a time, since the trauma of the surgery can cause calcification.

Some vitamins and minerals can help increase the absorption of calcium, and help prevent calcium deposits. Vitamin C and vitamin D, along with lysine and magnesium are essential for the absorption of calcium. Except for vitamin D, which is most easily produced from exposure to sunlight, these can often be found in over-the-counter supplements.

Discussion Comments

anon984043

Following you will find the treatment that I had on my shoulder two years ago. After a year year of extreme pain, I opted to try this treatment at the beginning of 2013 as an alternative to surgery even though the surgeon told me that I had so much calcium in my shoulder and that anything else was just hocus-pocus. I had a total of three treatments. These treatments should be at one or two week intervals. Three months later, X-rays showed that the calcium had completely disappeared. I have now been without pain for 2 years and can even play badminton and don't even feel the slightest twitch. I can highly recommend this treatment.

Note that it is the focused high energy shockwave treatment you are looking for, not the radial shockwave treatment. You can tell by the shape of the therapy gun which they are using. The radial shockwave therapy has pointy topped therapy gun and the focused high energy has a rounded top.

The machines are very expensive so the doctors here in Germany tend to share a machine and send it back and forth between offices. So you have to make sure that they have the machine at least every two weeks so that you can stick to the recommended intervals.

Some doctors have cheaper machines in their offices which are not ultrasound guided and not as strong and good. In addition to the treatment I took magnesium to help the body absorb the calcium. You really have to make sure you find a doctor who is properly trained and has access to the right machines. I went through 3 doctors before I found the right one.

Here in Germany, there is a shock wave therapy organization with a web page that lists the doctors who they trained. The second doctor I saw was on the list but he wasn't using the expensive machine anymore. He had a cheaper machine in his office which was a combination of radial and focused shockwave treatment. I became skeptical when he wanted to treat my shoulder on the basis of an X-ray which was over a year old.

I contacted the organization and they asked me to report him so that they could give him a warning. They said that they had to localize the calcium directly before treatment and if he didn't do so I should not continue treatment there so I then went to see a third doctor who knew the second doctor who had formerly shared the expensive machine which he was using but then had decided to leave the group and said he wasn't doing this treatment anymore. So you really have to make sure you get someone who is doing the treatment the way it should be done.

Unfortunately, not all doctors are doing it the way it should be done. So it's no wonder why insurance companies are not willing to pay for this kind of treatment, even though it is much cheaper than surgery.

Ultrasound-guided, high-energy extracorporeal - shock-wave treatment of symptomatic calcareous tendinopathy of the shoulder.

Jakobeit C1, Winiarski B, Jakobeit S, Welp L, Spelsberg G.

robin123

My sister has been suffering from a calcium deposit in her leg for the past eight months. She has severe pain and swelling. Please advise some good treatment.

anon322345

My sister has been suffering from a calcium deposit in her upper lung for the last six months. The doctors suggested some tablets only, and she is having severe pain. What is the treatment?

anon291149

I have a calcium deposit in my upper lung and air way the size of a plum. I'm scared to death it is already connected to an artery. Wish me luck.

Perdido

My cousin developed painful calcium deposits on her face. Her kidneys weren't functioning as they should because of a genetic disease, and they were unable to filter out the extra calcium. She got lumps on her face, and she became ashamed to go out in public.

At first, her doctor gave her cortisone shots and told her to ice the area. When it became apparent that this wasn't working, she had surgery to remove them.

Unfortunately, they will continue to form, so until she gets a kidney transplant, she will have to live with recurring calcium deposits.

candyquilt

@fify-- Your doctor is so right about not waiting to see the doctor about calcium deposits. Some people don't take it seriously for a long time and it just keeps growing and growing.

Have you ever seen pictures of Kim Il-Sung's calcium deposit? He used to be the President of North Korea until he died and had a calcium deposit the size of a baseball on his neck. He actually couldn't have surgery for it because it was in a dangerous place, but it's a good example of how large a calcium deposit can get if it's not treated in time. It's pretty scary!

turquoise

@fify-- I had a cortisone injection once for a calcium deposit. It did relieve some of the pain at first but unfortunately, it came back after a couple of weeks. I might have gotten another one but my calcium deposit was so large that it was pretty certain that I had to have surgery for it.

I ended up getting the surgery and I'm doing much better now. If your calcium deposits aren't large though, you wouldn't want to get the surgery because it does take a long time to heal afterward and leaves a scar also.

I think the best route to take is regular exercise and ice application and then cortisone injections if necessary. I hope you'll respond well to these treatments so that you won't have to have the surgery.

fify

I have two calcium deposits on my shoulder. I went to my doctor about it two weeks ago and he's given me some exercises to do. I'm doing the exercises but I also have a lot of pain. The problem is that I think I waited too long to see the doctor about this and he said that waiting generally aggravates it. He said he could do cortisone injections if I don't find any relief after the exercises.

Has anyone had cortisone injections for calcium deposits? Does it help?

wavy58

My mother had calcium deposits a few years ago. She knew that was what they were, because her sister is a doctor, and she said all the symptoms fit.

She used an unconventional method to dissolve the calcium deposits. Her aunt was well educated on alternative remedies, and she had one for this condition.

My mother soaked a piece of brown paper bag in some apple cider vinegar. She then put the paper on her arm and wrapped gauze around it. She did this for three days, and by the end of the third day, the deposits had disappeared.

Oceana

My friend recently went into the hospital for kidney stones, and his doctor told him that they were actually calcium deposits. He had been consuming a lot of calcium-containing antacids for his heartburn, and they could have contributed to this.

He was in severe pain, and the hospital staff got him some medication right away. They had to go in and bust the deposits up so that he could pass them through a catheter.

The bad thing is that they didn't get all of the stone at first. They sent him home, and he came back the next day in worse pain. They found that they had missed the bulk of the stone, so they had to bust it up again.

I have heard that this type of calcium deposit is more painful than childbirth. The stones have spikes on them, and if they are big enough, they can keep you from being able to urinate.

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    • The area of the body affected with calcium deposits should be exercised on a regular basis.
      By: william87
      The area of the body affected with calcium deposits should be exercised on a regular basis.
    • Over-the-counter pain medications may help relieve swelling and pain associated with calcium deposits.
      By: Sandor Kacso
      Over-the-counter pain medications may help relieve swelling and pain associated with calcium deposits.
    • Ice packs may help treat calcium deposits.
      By: pixelrobot
      Ice packs may help treat calcium deposits.
    • Laser surgery can help dissolve some calcium deposits.
      By: mkrberlin
      Laser surgery can help dissolve some calcium deposits.