Creatinine

[10gingercats]

I have had a problem with high potassium. It has now come down to a normal level after several high readings but my creatinine remains high.I do not have any obvious signs of kidney problems and have started to drink more water and no coffee or tea etc. but i have read that kidney problems can be insidious so wondering if my GP is being a bit laid back and ignoring it/taking the easy way out by not acting .Any ideas would be appreciated.

[estesbubba]

I lost my right kidney and had part of my left kidney removed, so know more about kidneys than I probably want to 🤣 High potassium can damage kidneys and a high creatinine is a sign of your kidneys not working to full potential. Use this calculator to estimate your GFR:

davita.com/tools/gfr-calcul...

Drinking a lot of water is good for your kidneys, and if you don't want to give up coffee, drink a glass of water between cups - that's what I do. Now that your potassium is down, I would get your creatinine checked in a month to see if it comes down. I would also check your current meds as some can be hard on kidneys.

[10gingercats in reply to estesbubba]

Thank you. I do not mind giving up coffee and tea and am happy on warm water.I plan to see myGP if pos. fairly soon to discuss the creatinine issue. I do take small doses of furosimide on prescrition so I will ask my cardio. who prescribed this to review, if i can speak to her nurse it may help to create the right 'atmosphere' when i see my doc.

[Maggimunro in reply to estesbubba]

i’ve just tried to use the GFR calculator but in the UK our results are in umo/l (don’t have the correct symbol for mu) with a range of 44-80 umo/l

Can anyone do the conversion into the units used in the calculator?

[10gingercats in reply to Maggimunro]

I had a call from the cardiac nurse this morning.A whole lot better 'service' than the GP. Apparently, the EGFR factor in the creatine measurement is the critical factor.So even if the overall factor is higher than the expected for a man or woman respectively this EGFR is the one to watch. I did not get that on the results that came to me only the overall factor of 109 which is high. The nurse was able to see the analysis.Potassium also important of course and mine took a while to come down. It may be due to meds but they are loathe to jiggle with them unless the pot. goes up again and my weight goes up. At the moment it is normal for my height and age.This might help others which is why I have written out the details here.

[etheral]

Furosimide is a loop diuretic that can lower your potassium but also can cause or exacerbate kidney failure.What is your creatinine? Do you know your BUN?

Does your urinalysis show any protein or other abnormalities? What is the specific gravity?

In any case it seems that further investigation and some explanations of your

renal function would be in order by your GP. If any serious abnormalities are found a referral to a Nephrologist would be warranted.

Do you have any other conditions such as Diabetes Mellitis that may predispose you to renal failure? In any case it seems worth pursuing as early kidney disease may have few symptoms but if unchecked can be serious.

Best, etheral

[ETHEL103 in reply to etheral]

What a fab response Etherel.

[Ppiman]

This is extremely unlikely, but have you had covid, perhaps? One fortunately very rare effect of covid infection can be to cause kidney damage as part of a more general autoimmune reaction. It's happened to a friend's daughter and has taken the family by surprise as it was many months before she was diagnosed. It also affected her blood cells and iron levels.

Steve

[10gingercats in reply to Ppiman]

Thank you.No I haven't had Covid.

[Ppiman in reply to 10gingercats]

I think trusting your doctors is generally a good idea and that's the only way I can cope with things. They know your current condition and your history, and those are likely to be unique to you. I take the view that they have such a wide knowledge and experience of things that they will know what is serious and what isn't. The one doctor I have struggle trusting is Dr Google simply because he or she has no idea about me.

That said, questioning your GP or specialist just to be sure that they are accounting for all of the many things that have occurred to you in the past and which might be relevant seems a good way forward.

Steve

[mav7]

Check with your doctor. Your medications for AFib may be causing increased levels of Creatinine and can be adjusted if needed.

I experienced an increase with Metoprolol but not yet over acceptable levels. Doctor thought that was the issue perhaps along with other meds I take.

[10gingercats in reply to mav7]

I do not take that much in the way of meds. even though 'classifed' with heart failure. I take 20mg Furosimide to eliminate fluid from heart and lungs. I have recently stopped Spironolactone due to high potassium blood test. I also take 3.75 of Bisoprolol in 2 doses daily for fast Afib control and Apixaban plus Thyroxine. Prescribed calcichew and Magnesium,both small doses. Taken these for years. I also take Mirtazapine for anxiety.These are all pretty small doses.

[10gingercats in reply to 10gingercats]

Sorry. This reply was to etheral.Thanks for excelleny info.

[Tapanac]

the hospital stopped my furosemide as it was effecting my one and a half kidneys. They then started me on Co-amilofruse which apparently is much kinder. Touch wood all the blood tests I have since have been ok

Hope you get on well

[Autumn_Leaves]

If you were only slightly above range there’s probably not much to be concerned about and if your eGFR is good then that’s going to be in your favour. I have low serum creatinine which occasionally peaks just into the lower range of normal. No explanation as to why that is but the various -ologists I’ve seen over the years have never been concerned. eGFR always >90 as per the lab report. Have you had this result only recently or has it always been on the high end of the range? It’s sometimes difficult to know that whether “what’s normal for you” is something that needs further investigation or not. As long as you have regular or semi-regular blood tests to keep an eye out for any changes to spot any potential trend.

[10gingercats in reply to Autumn_Leaves]

It has happened over recent months. and potasium was high too but now back within range after 3 spurious tests. Seeing another doc. in my practice next Monday so hoping he may be able to throw light on it. He is bright eyed and bushy tailed

[Autumn_Leaves]

It’s worth pursuing. Even if it’s back to normal now it’s better to keep an eye on any emerging trends. Good luck with Dr Bright Eyes 😉