Help and advice with EFGR results please?

Hi there.

Was wondering if someone has similar experience or can advise me in any way regarding EFGR results. I'm a (generally) healthy white female, aged 47. I had a routine blood test and scan as I had developed what I considered to be bursitis (good old Google!) For the past year I've been upping my fitness levels and have lost over 3 stones. I'm now only a couple of pounds over my ideal weight range. It was after a gentle run that I developed pain in my hip, just before Christmas. Assuming I'd pulled it (I'm not in my 20s anymore!) I simply carried on and it was several weeks before I went to the GP. Scan results and bone density etc came back normal but blood tests showed my EFGR was 66 and my creatinine levels were quite high. GP roughly explained what this meant. Urine was a normal colour and no proteins found. Again, GP told me that exercising, taking ibuprofen (because of the bursitis) eating more protein and being dehydrated could be the cause of the result. This all rang true, especially fluid intake. I'm generally shocking at drinking water or any type of liquid. Some days I have hardly any, doesn't help that I generally don't get thirsty!

So, over this last 6 weeks I've not exercised, drank a minimum of 4 pints of water a day, as well as nettle tea, barely had any alcohol, taken no painkillers at all and read as much as I can about keeping kidneys healthy (I don't smoke or do drugs, never have).

My results today showed a dip in the EFGR, down to 62, which I was actually quite shocked about! When the nurse did my blood test last week, she told me it was something I shouldn't worry about and that anything over 60 is normal. She said the filtration rate was "on the cusp" at 90, (not that I understand as such) again, she said this was normal and it sounds like it was a temporary dip?? She said it was likely that the next test would improve. But it hasn't!

Today, my GP said it looks like there is an underlying issue but was very sketchy with answers because I have no symptoms, my blood pressure is "perfect" (it always is) and there's no protein in the urine. He is sending me for a scan and is sending a letter to a nephrologist, who he said may, or may not want to see me. He told me not to worry (but I am!)

The one thing he did say was that it could be scarring of the kidneys due to infections, and gave me water infection as an example. I have been treated quite a bit for water infections over the last 20+ years as after having children I seem to get them quite a bit. I was always given cephalexin (until they stopped prescribing it) and then macrodantin. Not had an infection for maybe 2 years or more but why would old scarring reflect on recent tests??

While I wait for my scan, is there anything I should or should not do to improve my kidney health? Foods that are a definite no no, should I be avoiding alcohol like the plague? I'm happy to do anything, although I've been very careful over the last 6 weeks and the result has gone down!!?

He told me that my last test was done 10 years ago (no knowledge of this) and my result was 88 then. This is why it's hard for them to gauge whether it's an ongoing trend.

Any help or advice at all will be very much appreciated!

Thank you.

0 likes, 0 replies