I was referred to a nephrologist because I’ve been worried about my creatinine creeping higher; comes with a diagnosis of “Chronic Kidney Disease Stage 3A”, where 4 is severe kidney disease and 5 is kidney death i.e. dialysis.
Prior to the visit I found a long article in UpToDate (the standard online reference work for physicians) on The Aging Kidney.
It told me that my level of creatinine, or calculated “glomerular filtration rate’—GFR, in the absence of protein in the urine, hypertension, or diabetes, is just your kidney aging. We all lose nephrons—the little microscopic parts of the kidney that do the filtering of urine—at the rate of 110,000 per year after age 70. But despite that, if you have just Aging Kidneys the chances of requiring dialysis in your life are very small.
That’s good to know, I would be really bummed out escaping heart attacks, strokes, cancer, dementia only to end up on a dialysis machine.

The nephrologist, a bright, cheerful and friendly young woman born in China but without any accent at all, and about 5’9”, told me I had nothing to worry about. In fact, she said, my kidney function is still good enough I could be a kidney donor! I’ll take that.

I thought this issue common and important enough to pass it on to the SigForum gang. If you suspected a lot of people are being diagnosed with frightening conditions—pre diabetes, chronic kidney disease—and often unnecessarily, YOU WERE RIGHT.

I have aging everything. It sucks getting old.

Thanks for that info – I didn’t know of this. I just checked MyChart and my latest bloodwork reports my CREATININE at 0.67, the bottom end the normal range. I’m solidly into senior citizen status.

Normal range: 0.67 - 1.17 mg/dL

BTW – MyChart is wonderful for seniors. It’s linked to my healthcare provider.

Keep in mind also The more muscle you carry the higher your creatine level will be. That creatine level is factored into the EGFR. It’s why there was a different chart for African-Americans then for whites. African-Americans typically carry more muscle mass, hence the different chart.

Thanks for that info Doc and great to know. At age 72 I never had an issue with my creatinine level until I started doing strength training early 2023 and also increased my protein intake substantially and taking creatine supplement daily. If i know I have a blood test coming up I take a break from all three that for about 5 days or so ahead of time and then my creatine level is only slightly high.

Supposedly the Cystatin C test can be done also to check on kidney function as kind of a second opinion if the validity of ones creatinine levels is uncertain.

https://factdr.com/diagnostics...od-tests/cystatin-c/

BTW my chart used to show I had Polycystic liver disease because I have cysts on my liver and some are pretty large but I have regular yearly scans of my abdomen (for neuroendocrine tumors) and they have been relatively stable in size for years. Supposedly my mother had the same.

I went through this a few years ago. My guy, who was great, said it was a combination of NSAID use and poorly controlled hypertension. Got off the NSAIDs and got serious about my blood pressure meds and the problem went away.

I have CKD. Lost one kidney a year ago September. Now I have to be very careful about diet as only one kidney has to do the work of two. Stage 3a. I have already made up my mind I'm not going to do dialysis when conditions deteriorate to that level. My brother died from it and he was on dialysis for about six miserable months. Hopefully that won't be for a few years yet. I live 3 months at a ti,e between tests/ So far, so good.

Nosticks, very sorry to hear that—-BUT 3a is not really that bad. I’m 3a.
Pipesmoker: you know of course that a LOW creatinine either indicates that you have excellent kidney function, or that you’re a frail old woman.

Regarding the calculation for blacks—the DEI idiots did away with that because it was “racist”.

A few years ago I frequented a restaurant and noticed my favorite waitress was gone for about 3 months. She later returned and told me her and her husband went to India so he could get a kidney transplant. She said it was about the price of average car and that there are companies that make all arrangements. He had CDK and been on wait list in USA for a couple years. Probably not as easy as it sounds but worked-our for them.

quote:

I thought this issue common and important enough to pass it on to the SigForum gang. If you suspected a lot of people are being diagnosed with frightening conditions—pre diabetes, chronic kidney disease—and often unnecessarily, YOU WERE RIGHT.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Thank you. When my PCP diagnosed CKD at least he mumbled that I was a long way from dialysis.

I was diagnosed with CKD about 10 years ago at around 50 years old. I was on the path to needing dialysis.

My nephrologist told me he believed it was caused by my frequent use of ibuprofen. I improved a stage when I went cold turkey. The only thing effective for my frequent headaches and lower back pain- be damned!

I’ve found an article in PubMed, a prospective trial of change in creatinine pre- and post- transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
The mean creatinine went from 1.8 to 1.1.
Since I have BPH, I’m going to ask my urologist to go ahead with a procedure she recommended called ReZume, and see what happens. My worsening of kidney function was temporally associated with worsening lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS).

High blood pressure/ no where near enough water killed one of my kidneys.
My other kidney is at 47 % function as of this week.

1 liter of distilled water every six hours has worked for me, oh and six pills a day.

Nephrologist is mandatory.

Every year now my annual physical starts with the question, how have you been feeling lately.
My normal answer, compared to what?