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Jean,
Thanks for posting the link to the article. I am on a high protein diet due to my weight loss surgery. Thank goodness my surgeon has at least two nutritionists on his staff to help me evaluate my lab results to make sure I am getting enough nutrients from my food and vitamins.
kidney and creatinine score
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Hi Jean,
Thanks for taking the time to pull and post the Robb Wolf article. It is very helpful. I'm going low protein, low carb and high fat. I'm also continuing with my stinging nettle tea--2 cups per day.
I have another renal blood test next week and then another 4 weeks later. I'm going to reread my Wahls book and order the Dr. Richard Bernstein book.
I am going to request a Cystatin C blood test. It is supposed to be more accurate than the creatinine test and is used for athletes.
Robb mentions the creatinine is the least important of the kidney tests. My other four kidney tests are all in the normal range as of blood test number 3.
There is something about lifting weights that raises the creatinine output. It doesn't mean that your kidney is failing it means that your kidneys are processing the changes in your muscles. I mentioned to both docs that I lift weights three times a week but the conversation went nowhere because I look like an average middle aged woman. I think if I was a 25 year old male with high creatinine and bulging muscles the docs would tell the male that the creatinine is high due to lifting weights not kidney failure and not to worry.
Jean, again thanks for posting the Robb Wolf link. The only forum on the web that has active on kidney disease is owned by a dialysis company.
The recipe section is truly shocking. Think 500 recipes heavily based upon processed foods submitted by registered dieticians around the country. One recipe I clicked on used "cheez wiz". Uggggg. This recipe was approved by a registered dietician. Truly shocking.
Thanks for taking the time to pull and post the Robb Wolf article. It is very helpful. I'm going low protein, low carb and high fat. I'm also continuing with my stinging nettle tea--2 cups per day.
I have another renal blood test next week and then another 4 weeks later. I'm going to reread my Wahls book and order the Dr. Richard Bernstein book.
I am going to request a Cystatin C blood test. It is supposed to be more accurate than the creatinine test and is used for athletes.
Robb mentions the creatinine is the least important of the kidney tests. My other four kidney tests are all in the normal range as of blood test number 3.
There is something about lifting weights that raises the creatinine output. It doesn't mean that your kidney is failing it means that your kidneys are processing the changes in your muscles. I mentioned to both docs that I lift weights three times a week but the conversation went nowhere because I look like an average middle aged woman. I think if I was a 25 year old male with high creatinine and bulging muscles the docs would tell the male that the creatinine is high due to lifting weights not kidney failure and not to worry.
Jean, again thanks for posting the Robb Wolf link. The only forum on the web that has active on kidney disease is owned by a dialysis company.
The recipe section is truly shocking. Think 500 recipes heavily based upon processed foods submitted by registered dieticians around the country. One recipe I clicked on used "cheez wiz". Uggggg. This recipe was approved by a registered dietician. Truly shocking.
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Brandy,
I'm glad you are finding it useful. Acceptable ranges in tests are often based on what's "normal" rather than what's optimal under various conditions. The only person more invisible and dismissed than a middle aged woman is an "elderly" woman such as I apparently am. Sometimes I feel like an anachronism, as if I am too old to have anything useful to say (I'm fast approaching 69).
Conventional dieticians are to be avoided at all cost. Big Pharma and big food have corrupted much of medicine and its auxiliary professions. We are left to think outside of these conventional boxes. It turns out that thinking outside of a conventional box has me avoiding doctors unless there is an acute issue that needs their attention. That hasn't happened in years.
Dr Bernstein's book and Dr Wahls's book have both played a big part in my recovery from all the things that ailed me. Conventional medicine not so much.
It sounds like you have a handle on all this and that it is probably much ado about nothing. I certainly hope so.
Jean
I'm glad you are finding it useful. Acceptable ranges in tests are often based on what's "normal" rather than what's optimal under various conditions. The only person more invisible and dismissed than a middle aged woman is an "elderly" woman such as I apparently am. Sometimes I feel like an anachronism, as if I am too old to have anything useful to say (I'm fast approaching 69).
Conventional dieticians are to be avoided at all cost. Big Pharma and big food have corrupted much of medicine and its auxiliary professions. We are left to think outside of these conventional boxes. It turns out that thinking outside of a conventional box has me avoiding doctors unless there is an acute issue that needs their attention. That hasn't happened in years.
Dr Bernstein's book and Dr Wahls's book have both played a big part in my recovery from all the things that ailed me. Conventional medicine not so much.
It sounds like you have a handle on all this and that it is probably much ado about nothing. I certainly hope so.
Jean
Guess what, I'M NORMAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Latest creatinine .99
EGFR 64
Bun 11
This drops me from level 3 kidney disease to level 2 kidney disease. Level 2 is considered normal.
My protocol before the last blood draw: I only ate chicken as protein 4 weeks prior. I went lowerish protein. I ate lower protein, low carb, lotta veggies and high fat. I went vegan 4 days before the draw. 1 gallon of water per day. I stopped lifting weights 5 days before the draw. I two cups per day of a stinging nettle/green tea concoction.
I have another blood draw in a month. Going vegan 4 days before the draw was very difficult. I'm going to go vegan only 2 days before the next draw, stick to chicken or fish this month, continue water regimen, stop weights 5 days before and continue with the stinging nettle/green tea concoction.
I'M STILL CONVINCED THE WEIGHT LIFTING HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE HIGHER CREATININE.
I messaged the Nephrologists office to request labs for Cystatin C to be run. This test takes the effect of muscles out of the equation and is supposed to be more accurate than creatinine. Did not hear anything after a week. Called the nurse. She had my request and was checking with the doctor but she was mean to me.
GUESS WHAT, I WAS ABLE TO ORDER MY OWN LAB WORK ON LINE. I paid $112 for the test to be ordered. Lab choice was Lab Corp or Quest which are both reputable in Florida. I walked to my Quest lab and had the blood drawn today. NO HASSLE! I'm hoping to have the Cystatin C results in a couple of days.
Kidney renal panel tests online were $18.00 as a reference.
Thanks to everyone for the support!
Latest creatinine .99
EGFR 64
Bun 11
This drops me from level 3 kidney disease to level 2 kidney disease. Level 2 is considered normal.
My protocol before the last blood draw: I only ate chicken as protein 4 weeks prior. I went lowerish protein. I ate lower protein, low carb, lotta veggies and high fat. I went vegan 4 days before the draw. 1 gallon of water per day. I stopped lifting weights 5 days before the draw. I two cups per day of a stinging nettle/green tea concoction.
I have another blood draw in a month. Going vegan 4 days before the draw was very difficult. I'm going to go vegan only 2 days before the next draw, stick to chicken or fish this month, continue water regimen, stop weights 5 days before and continue with the stinging nettle/green tea concoction.
I'M STILL CONVINCED THE WEIGHT LIFTING HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE HIGHER CREATININE.
I messaged the Nephrologists office to request labs for Cystatin C to be run. This test takes the effect of muscles out of the equation and is supposed to be more accurate than creatinine. Did not hear anything after a week. Called the nurse. She had my request and was checking with the doctor but she was mean to me.
GUESS WHAT, I WAS ABLE TO ORDER MY OWN LAB WORK ON LINE. I paid $112 for the test to be ordered. Lab choice was Lab Corp or Quest which are both reputable in Florida. I walked to my Quest lab and had the blood drawn today. NO HASSLE! I'm hoping to have the Cystatin C results in a couple of days.
Kidney renal panel tests online were $18.00 as a reference.
Thanks to everyone for the support!
Brandy,
I think you're right that the problem is with the tests, not you. Almost all medical tests are geared for so-called "normal" people, and for anyone who falls outside the test boundary conditions, the tests may or may not work to varying degrees.
It seems that the medical establishment's greatest fear is becoming a reality — they are slowly being phased out of many people's health care plan, or downgraded to a less dominant position. They once had a stranglehold on health care, but now many people are beginning to take charge of their own health. Obviously this has happened for a reason — people are becoming informed, thanks to the Internet. Informed people demand accuracy and they expect to be a part of the decision-making process when their own health is at stake. The ability to order the tests you need is very liberating.
Tex
I think you're right that the problem is with the tests, not you. Almost all medical tests are geared for so-called "normal" people, and for anyone who falls outside the test boundary conditions, the tests may or may not work to varying degrees.
It seems that the medical establishment's greatest fear is becoming a reality — they are slowly being phased out of many people's health care plan, or downgraded to a less dominant position. They once had a stranglehold on health care, but now many people are beginning to take charge of their own health. Obviously this has happened for a reason — people are becoming informed, thanks to the Internet. Informed people demand accuracy and they expect to be a part of the decision-making process when their own health is at stake. The ability to order the tests you need is very liberating.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Yup, I think I was out of the range of the tests. A 56 year old woman would have some kind of kidney decline compared to a 20 year old woman.
My hypothesis is that if a 20 year old woman lifted weights, was dehydrated, and ate a lot of protein she would most likely still test in normal range but if a 56 year old woman with a slightly aged kidney did the same the testing would throw her out of the normal range because she started with an aged kidney.
Yes, I had no idea I could order my own tests on line and have them done at lab corp or quest.
My hypothesis is that if a 20 year old woman lifted weights, was dehydrated, and ate a lot of protein she would most likely still test in normal range but if a 56 year old woman with a slightly aged kidney did the same the testing would throw her out of the normal range because she started with an aged kidney.
Yes, I had no idea I could order my own tests on line and have them done at lab corp or quest.
Great result Brandy. I agree, neither your diet or your activity is "normal" so the tests no doubt do not apply. People on ketogenic diets often have the same problem when ketones show up in their urine. Normal production of ketones from eating a low carb diet is a perfectly healthy thing but some doctors only know ketones from diabetic ketoacidosis, a condition the only effects type 1 diabetics so they assume all ketones showing up in urine are bad.
Jean
Jean
OK I did a kidney retest and tested about the same as Nov 2017.
nov 2017
Quest labs
creatine .99
egfr 64
bun 11
bun creatine ratio 11
sep 2018
Quest labs
creatine .98
egfr 64
bun 12
bun creatinine ratio 12
Normal range
creatine .5-1.05
egfr bigger than or equal to 60
bun 7-25
bun creatinen ratio 10-20 (optimum 15)
I'm happy with my results as they are about what they were 10 months ago. I'm still on the high side of normal (Level
2 kidney disease). I found a good study on line The Nijmegen Biomedical Study which listed the mean egfr for female age
57 to be 70. So my kidneys are not as good as the average woman age 50 but I am maintaining.
Supplements taking since Nov 2017:
Jarrow D3 1000 iu daily
Thorne Methyl Guard 1 capsule daily
Drs Best curcumin 1000 mg daily
K2MK4 3 mg daily
Mag glycinate 400 mg daily
Ltheanine 100 not daily as needed
I drink a lot of water daily, still having nettle tea around 5x per week and have cut protein back (HARD). I'm eating
about 40 gram of protein a day.
nov 2017
Quest labs
creatine .99
egfr 64
bun 11
bun creatine ratio 11
sep 2018
Quest labs
creatine .98
egfr 64
bun 12
bun creatinine ratio 12
Normal range
creatine .5-1.05
egfr bigger than or equal to 60
bun 7-25
bun creatinen ratio 10-20 (optimum 15)
I'm happy with my results as they are about what they were 10 months ago. I'm still on the high side of normal (Level
2 kidney disease). I found a good study on line The Nijmegen Biomedical Study which listed the mean egfr for female age
57 to be 70. So my kidneys are not as good as the average woman age 50 but I am maintaining.
Supplements taking since Nov 2017:
Jarrow D3 1000 iu daily
Thorne Methyl Guard 1 capsule daily
Drs Best curcumin 1000 mg daily
K2MK4 3 mg daily
Mag glycinate 400 mg daily
Ltheanine 100 not daily as needed
I drink a lot of water daily, still having nettle tea around 5x per week and have cut protein back (HARD). I'm eating
about 40 gram of protein a day.
Thanks for the update Brandy and I’m hanging on to this thread because I may be in that same boat sooner rather than later. I also appear to have reduced kidney function.
Thanks
Carol
Thanks
Carol
“.... people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou
It may just be a coincidence, but so many of us are beginning to show up with this issue (among people who have had MC for at least 6–8 years) that I'm beginning to wonder if it might possibly be a long-term symptom/side-effect of MC. It's pretty common for old codgers like me to have compromised kidney function, but obviously those of us with kidney problems aren't all old coots.Carol wrote:I also appear to have reduced kidney function.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Another update:
I'm still normal!
My recent bloodwork:
egfr 64
creatinine .98
My testing procedure was as follows:
Monday am. lifted heavy weights, light physical activity rest of day
drank a lot of water
went vegan all day (no animal protein)--ate almond butter and some legumes
Tuesday drank a lot of water
vegan all day (no animal protein)--ate almond butter and some legumes
no physical activity, no long walks
Wednesday woke at 4:00 am (unplanned) started chugging water
kept chugging water
had fasting bloodwork at 7:30 am.
Post test....ate some animal protein.....yea!
I'm still normal!
My recent bloodwork:
egfr 64
creatinine .98
My testing procedure was as follows:
Monday am. lifted heavy weights, light physical activity rest of day
drank a lot of water
went vegan all day (no animal protein)--ate almond butter and some legumes
Tuesday drank a lot of water
vegan all day (no animal protein)--ate almond butter and some legumes
no physical activity, no long walks
Wednesday woke at 4:00 am (unplanned) started chugging water
kept chugging water
had fasting bloodwork at 7:30 am.
Post test....ate some animal protein.....yea!
Thanks for reminding me to update my last post in this thread, Brandy.
I discovered the cause of my reduced kidney function. It was due to the fact that my GP cut my thyroid treatment in half. This resulted in arrhythmias (my heart was skipping multiple beats at random), which resulted in my stroke a few weeks later. It took me about a year-and-a-half after the stroke to figure out (find the research) that confirmed that undertreated hypothyroidism can cause compromised kidney function (low EGFR), and compromised kidney function can cause arrhythmias. I pointed this out to my GP and he agreed to restore my thyroid treatment. Sure enough, my EGFR is now fine (my first EGFR result after making the change was 68). I never cease to be amazed by the issues that undertreated hyperthyroidism can cause, and they're obviously not even on most doctor's radar. The interesting part is that I didn't notice any of the typical hypothyroidism symptoms while I was taking the 1/2 dose of Armour.
Here's the thread where I initially posted about it after I received my first test result:
Brandy, and Anyone Else Who Might Have Kidney Issues
Tex
I discovered the cause of my reduced kidney function. It was due to the fact that my GP cut my thyroid treatment in half. This resulted in arrhythmias (my heart was skipping multiple beats at random), which resulted in my stroke a few weeks later. It took me about a year-and-a-half after the stroke to figure out (find the research) that confirmed that undertreated hypothyroidism can cause compromised kidney function (low EGFR), and compromised kidney function can cause arrhythmias. I pointed this out to my GP and he agreed to restore my thyroid treatment. Sure enough, my EGFR is now fine (my first EGFR result after making the change was 68). I never cease to be amazed by the issues that undertreated hyperthyroidism can cause, and they're obviously not even on most doctor's radar. The interesting part is that I didn't notice any of the typical hypothyroidism symptoms while I was taking the 1/2 dose of Armour.
Here's the thread where I initially posted about it after I received my first test result:
Brandy, and Anyone Else Who Might Have Kidney Issues
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.