Hello, I am 30 years old and have been diagnosed with CKD
Posted , 4 users are following.
I got some blood tests done in September, they said everything was fine except my GFR. It was to low for my age. 3 months later I did another blood test and it was about 77. Another 3 months later I did a test and got a CT scan. My GFR was steady and CT scan was clear.
I also did a 24 hour urine test and they found no protein or blood. They did some other tests to check blood cells count, anemia and calcium. I passeed those too. The nephrologist said everything looked good and I will check back again in septembre.
I am looking for a cause. Can anyone explain why my GFR is low? The nephrologist said she didnt see reason for a biopsy. I keep thinking I have some horrible undiagnosed disease like multiple myeloma
0 likes, 7 replies
marj01201 worrier79572
Posted
Worrier,
My nephrologist emphasizes over and over again in my appointments that the eGFR data is NOT particularly accurate. He bases his analysis of my renal function on my Creatinine as well as other data like my electrolytes, my hemoglobin (I've got severe anemia) and so forth. He literally never pays attention to my eGFR data.
Your other data looks pretty good; thus, your nephrologist isn't concerned. If it were me I'd trust my data as well as my nephrologist's interpretation of that data.
Marj
worrier79572 marj01201
Posted
marj01201 worrier79572
Posted
Yes, that's what my nephrologist says too. But there is something helpful about knowing the cause.
Marj
matt66 worrier79572
Posted
Hiya, I just have to say I am not a medical pro, but have years of being a liver and kidney patient and when youre in hospital for a long time with nothing to do, you listen to the docs and ask lots of questions!!
Well, I just wrote a whole load of stuff and for no reason it just deleted off my screen so Ill try to recall it. P****D OFF NOW.
Right, so as Marj said, Creatinine deteriorates over time at different rates with different people so it is always kind of a moving, unpredictable target. Did you manage to get the Creatinine reading in the blood tests? You will see that the Creatinine and GFR are intertwined, eg a massive spike in creatinine would make the GFR drop, because the kidney filters out the creatinine to the 2 ways we expel unwanted stuff from our bodies (1s and 2s).
The GFR calculation is more of an algorithm as it takes into account age, sex, and body size, deterioration with age, serum creatinine and cystatin equation in the complete calculation. As you can see, there is a lot of input factors to the calculation so it could be any one that could produce abnormal numbers. The usual culprit is Creatinine not filtering out (if you look carefully at the GFR result, it should say GFR xyz "ML/MIN/173m2.....the ML per MIN implying the amount it filters per minute. Hence if the Creatinine is high the GFR will lower because it is not effectively processing enough MLs per MIN.
Did you get your creatinine result back with these tests? If you're in the UK, the normal female GFR is 60 and above, but seeing as you're still only 30 it should be a bit higher.
Its a question of blurred boundaries. Look at the diagram below, and you'll see 77 is in the G2 category, "mildly decreased function". However, look along the top columns as well.....if your A1 is good, then you'll fall into one of the 4 green squares which means that although your in CKD2 stage, its not a bad place to be due to the A1
Finally, creatinine can be a by-product of muscle damage. I hold my hands up and say I don't know what kind of damage.....could it be a bruise, torn muscles, a virus attacking muscles??? I have never got round to looking up and studying more on that effect, but it is a common theme when asking about high creatinine...…..muscle damage.
I had a new kidney in Feb and it was hovering between 60 and 80 for the first few weeks, then 1 night it dropped from 67 down to 52 and I was really worried. Couldn't find anything that would cause a sudden drop. Over the last 6-7 weeks, it has creeped up slowly and Im now back at 61 and stable. Just an example of drops can happen.
I sure hope its all going to be fine for you, my own personal view is its not bad at all and just a degradation that we all go through due to age.....even if only 30, its still been "used well" for 30 years. Basically, if you want to be strict, you can say anyone as 89 is CKD stage 2. It's trying to find the balance between a proper drop that could keep dropping, or just a degradation and 77 is where you find yourself. Certainly think you've got a fair way to go before it would impact on your lifestyle, as long as you're sensible.
Hopefully from Marj's good advice and my stuff above we've put your mind at rest.
Good luck with it all, We're here if you need anything.
M.
worrier79572 matt66
Posted
I never looked at it that way in the picture. My albumin is well in the normal range so that puts me in the green area. My creatinine is 1.2 mg which is in the upper range of normal. Only my creatinine is elevated
matt66 worrier79572
Posted
Sorry, I just need to clarify that the actual GFR calculation doesn't use age, sex, body size.....but are factors that need to be considered when looking at the result. It was late last night so might not have been crystal clear!!
All the best!
josparks worrier79572
Posted
I've been looking for answers for years and have given up! At 39 I had egfr 61, I'm now 44 and it's at 51 with creatine around 101. I'm not overweight, have normal
Blood pressure and no diabetes or family history of ckd. I've never had kidney infections and have had a scan to show I do have 2 kidneys!
I want to know why in 5 yes I've dropped egfr as I eat a balanced diet, exercise, never smoke and only occasionally drink but am just fobbed off with no real answer. It could've been the fact I had pre eclampsia with my 3 pregnancies I was told. Unless ur at stage 4 or 5 I think your just left to get on with it and to me I feel like it's just 'let's hope for the best and treat you if it comes to it'. Not a nice feeling and don't like bashing the NHS as an ex employee but good luck getting answers!!