Low potassium low carbon dioxide, is this a sign for chronic kidney disease?

That test hasn't been done yet... just told to go back Monday for more test because of the low labs... wasn't told what was going on... is low potassium and dioxide strong signs that it's chronic kidney disease?

I would not say strong signs. A strong sign would be high potassium.

I guess there are always different cases, but I would say strong signs are high creatinine, high potassium, and protein in the urine.

Thank u, I'll keep u guys updated.. tomorrow the doctors office.

This is happening to a family member.. also had kinda high blood pressure... he's 24 male... the night before he gave blood work he drank 4 bottles of water and 1 bottle of water the morning he saw the doctor...

I would hope that somehow he deluded his eclotroylytes, causing the low potassium... just wish full thinking...

I'm worried.

Had some blood work yesterday and got a call back today that he needs to go give more blood work tomorrow.

It can't be good at this point .

Good luck, but I would say if they are doing more rest it probably is not kidney disease. It is pretty easy to figure out if there are issues with your kidneys from blood/urine tests. There is pretty much one panel they can do to know and from that they may do a biopsy or something, but not more tests.

Thanks for the super quick response.

Idk if I mention this but it relates to a family member and I'm really worried for him.

Just to be clear so I can make sense of this.. He went in for a physical for school at a clinic, first time there and new doctor... They call him saying he needs to redo test, he made it sound like there was some error with the tests.. I asked redo or just do more labs?.., he couldn't remember, I think he went back for further testing.. Yesterday he goes in and today he gets results has me thinking it was stat for a reason and him getting called today to go back tomorrow just worries me... Sorry for basically repeating myself.

My guess is they aren't thinking it is kidney related.

Thanks again for your feedback.

I'll keep u/everyone updated.

He just got back from giving more blood work, he asked the lady getting the blood wgat was going in and she said a lot of stuff are not normal, that some things are high... That tomorrow he will get about the results and for him to come in to get his blood pressure done so I'm guessing he is finally going to talk to the doctor and see what this is.

Yeah, keep us posted.  I am not sure where you live or if it is allowed, but I always get my doctor to put copy to patient on labs so I can see what is going on.  

I know there are a million cases all different, but typically with kidney disease there is not too much stuff that is not normal.  Especially in early stages.  I am in stage 4 out of 5 and the only things off for me are creatinine and protein in the urine.  I am taking medication for it, which threw a few other things off, but those are the only two.

I live in California.

I think I remember reading that with ckf your electrolytes would be off?... Also he never did a urine test, is the urine test the only way to check for protein or bun and creatnine in your urine?

By urine I mean in your body.

Yeah, I think in most cases you start to see a lot of electrolytes, hormones, etc off toward end stages.  

Creatinine is a blood test.  They can also check for it in a urine test, but most times they won't do that test until they know you have the issue.  

Most labs can run that test in a few hours so if the doctor thought it was kidney related they would have that info by now.  If it is high that means your kidneys are not functioning correctly, which can mean an acute issue or a chronic issue.  

I spoke to my sister and she was told it was high potassium... So the lab results I don't know for certain but she is a nurse and believes that it is kidney related

If it's chronic kidney disease is dialysis inevitable?.. The disease just progresses?

He looks great rightnow and shows no symptoms, he's 24.

Yeah, high potassium is not good if the other markers for kidney issues are not good too.

It could be acute (a one time thing) versus chronic.  

I havent made it to dialysis yet, but I think it is kind of inevitable, but they act like that and transplants are not that big of a deal these days.

How would we know it's acute?.. Wouldn't acute mean u have the symptoms and chronic u wouldn't have any early on?

I don't know how they figure it out. My guess is the way you respond to treatment. Acute is like once I got pneumonia, which caused my kidneys to almost stop working. Once they treated the pneumonia my kidneys bounced back. Chronic is ongoing. For me my immune system is constantly attacking them.

Are u saying u first had acute kidney failure from the pneumonia and it professed into chronic kidney failure.

I understand if u have acute and u respond to treatment it shows it's not chronic.... I came across this here explaining some of it.

Acute kidney injury (AKI)

Making the distinction between AKI and CKD can be very difficult. A history of chronic symptoms of fatigue, weight loss, anorexia, nocturia, and pruritus all suggest CKD.

The history and examination will provide clues, but renal ultrasound will provide the most important information. Renal abnormalities on ultrasound, such as small kidneys in chronic glomerulonephritis or large cystic kidneys in adult polycystic kidney disease, will almost always be present in patients with CKD.

He doesn't have any of those chronic symptoms, it could be acute but he urinates normally and looks very healthy except he does have high blood pressure. But I also worry that since he's only 24 and caught this problem during a random physical that maybe he didn't have time to present with those symptoms above.

How did u get diagnosed and did u have those symptoms above?

For me it was two total different things. I was in the hospital and they ran a blood test to know my kidneys were struggling. They bounced back and I got the ckd about 10 years later.

I went to the doctor for another issue and they ran blood tests and saw that my creatinine was high. They ran a few more tests that all matched to ckd and then they did a biopsy to assess the extent of the damage.

I see... Fair to say that u did have acute and then it progressed to chronic?..

Also is it common for a 24 year old to get ckd?.. How old are u if u don't mind me asking?

It did not. The cause of the chronic was totally different. I got ckd when I was 32 so I am guessing it is possible to get it that young.

Update.

I went to the doctor with and got good news.. According to her the potassium was a lab error.. He was tested 3 times for it, I didn't really understand what she said on how there could be a error while taking the blood/testing for it... It was 5.4 the first and second time, the third time is was 5.0... She said to come back in 2 months to retest for it... She said the kidneys and liver were fine.

5.0 is the high limit but should we worry about that?

I wouldn't worry about it. I would find out if creatinine was high. That is the main marker.

I mentioned that I was worried about his creatine and his kidneys this whole time and she siad they were fine, I'm assuming the creatnine level was fine.

I think you are good.

Glad to hear it all worked out.

I think so too, I'm sure if someone says ur kidneys are fine that they have the labs to back it up.

Thanks for everything.