CKD stage 3

[netie54]

I have just been told by my doctor, quite out of the blue, that following a routine blood test I have stage 3 CKD.  I am struggling to find foods that will help me increase my kidney function. Can anyone suggest things I should be eating.

[phillen]

Just follow a normal healthy diet unless you have been told otherwise you can do more harm than god by changing & missing out stuff if you don't need to for instance my hubby on dialysis has no problems with potassium so can still eat plenty of food that contains it as your body needs it where as phosphates he has trouble with so has phosphate binders with his food as the problem is its high amounts in dairy meat etc which he needs a certain amount of! so keep hydrated, plenty of fruit & veg cut down on salt keep a healthy weight & bp & exercise gentle will do you don't need to go like a bull at a gate hope try not to stress about it makes things worse my hubby was stage 3 for about 15 years & ate normally something else caused the rapid decline at the end! hope this helps

[Hardworkthisbeingpoorly in reply to phillen]

Sorry my phone is not working too well and it posted before I'd finished. 

So yeah if you eat vegetables make sure you boil the hell out of them to remove basically the best tastes, sounds crap and yes I hated it but it helped me preserve my kidneys there are lots of websites available that are very informative about potassium this one is an American based website I used to use a lot davita.com/kidney-disease/d...

Also take a look at the NKF website which is fantastic and based in the uk.  I had my transplant last year and I've been great since but have a lot of experience about it from a patient point of view. Message me anytime and I'll try help if I can 

[Matt_R]

Hi, I was in your position about 7 months ago. What Phillen has said is exactly what I've been advised. Plenty of water (2-2.5litre a day), cut down on salt as much as possible, eat healthy, bit of exercise and keep going. I was shocked at first but doing better now in terms of health and getting my head round things.  I was eGFR 42 and falling but now, having lost a bit of weight am about eGFR60. Insist on more tests, ultrasounds for the kidneys and repeat bloods. I was told that it would be a nephrologist who would diagnose after a period of results rather than a one off blood test. Good luck and take care!

[netie54 in reply to Matt_R]

Thank you all for your very helpful replies.  I have been panicking and felling the end is nigh !  I am going abroad for a while but as soon as I get back I'm going back to the doctors to ask for some further tests.

I have been using Ibruphen quite a lot but I have now thrown them away so

Nobody else in the family gets to use them either !   My GFR is 50 at the last blood test, a week ago.  Has anyone managed to improve from that point

by changing diet and exercise etc ?

[cmcginily]

Hi there

Great advice from phillen and Matt the only thing I would add is do not take any anti-inflammatories at all for example Ibuprofen, Diclofenac, these have a very bad effect on the kidneys. Limit alcohol, cola's and coffee. Keep blood pressure under control 120/70 is the aim. But most of all don't panic stress just makes everything worse. We are all here to help with any questions or worries.

Best wishes Christine

[bellefrank in reply to cmcginily]

Hi Christine hope you are well, did you have a wonderful time on your cruise ? We had a magical 3 weeks in Gran Canaria, amazing weather came home brown as berries my fair hair turned white.  Had my usual tint and turned orange....poor hairdresser back to wherever she buys the tints.....wrong tube in correct box.  However she put a brown tint over and I was just a bit dark but after a couple of washes my hair lightened to its usual colour... My husband said it was the lst holiday in goodness knows how many that he did not have a pain in the world.  In the past it was a pain in his toe, his ankle, his foot, his knee.   so the dreaded gout has gone with the help of 300mg allopurinol daily Had the usual round of blood and urine tests to-day, see the nephrologist this Friday 1st. April... feeling confident...Saw the cardiologist last week and he was very happy with his brisk walking, his happy and relaxed manner, BP, weight, the diltiazem controlling the atrial fibrillation so no need at present to consider the av ablation...I put it all down to dancing with me for 21 nights. ha ha.. Hope your sister is doing OK.             Chat soon...... Love Belle xx

[cmcginily in reply to bellefrank]

Hi Belle

I am over the moon to hear you had a great holiday with no appearance from our worst enemy Mr Gout!

I am glad to hear you have got your hair sorted must have been a nightmare for you. We had a great cruise really enjoyed all the Caribbean Islands. We went to Hell literally haha it is in the Cayman Islands where a strange rock formation has been given the name Hell!! We had a Red stripe beer in Jamaica, the only alcohol that passed my lips the whole cruise.

The only thing that went wrong was a lost case on the way off the ship to go to Kennedy Space Centre and then to the airport. We think it may have been found but it has been a little frustrating! My heart is doing ok just getting palpitation still in the evening. My ankles were very swollen on the return journey home but are back to normal now.

Caroline is doing really well, she has finished her chemo and will continue on target therapy for a year. We get the 'big' results on the 5th of April so keeping fingers crossed til then.

Stay well and keep in touch

Love Christine.

[bellefrank in reply to cmcginily]

Lovely to hear from you Christine and so pleased you enjoyed your trip. We have not done that one although our American family would have loved us to join them. I guess they are home by now so no doubt hear all about it very soon.  We hope to do our usual American family meet up in Spain where we hope to spend the month of May. Husband sees our nephrologist to-morrow Friday so hopefully the news will be OK. He was happy when we saw him last saying GFR stable in the 30s is nothing to worry about could stay there for 10 years but of course would like it to be 45...think that's more of a hope than anything else. Its good to hear your sister doing OK also, will be thinking of you particularly on the 5th. In Gran Canaria think husband had 2 glasses of wine and pink champagne on Valentines night....it was rather nice...Keep well, chat soon Christine and Caroline. Love Belle x

[trf1960]

You sound like you have gone through the same shock as me Netie54.   Like you I was told I had CKD3a after a check up on another problem and immediately went into overdrive looking up websites and scouring the net for any information I could get on kidney disease (most of which calmed me down and made me feel a lot better I have to admit).  What everyone else has said - eat healthily, cut out salt or use sparingly, keep fit and check your blood pressure regularly but other than that chill out !  Keep well away from any form of NSAIDS as they are very bad news to your kidneys.   Consider yourself lucky you have been informed of your kidney health by your GP as most consider anything around EGFR 60 and slightly above as 'normal'.   Apparently 1 in 6 of us have some form of kidney damage but don't know it.  Your GP sounds good so if you are concerned tell him you would like to be referred to a nephrologist - other than that I am sure he/she will put your mind at rest.  Good luck.

[Hardworkthisbeingpoorly]

Hi sorry to be the bearer of not so great news but your kidneys won't get better the game plan is now to prevent further damage to them which is achievable like you suggested by eating the right foods. 

I went through all this during 5 years of my life  when I was on dialysis as I had progressive diabetic kidney disease.  My diet was pretty good and I ate the usual things I enjoyed.  Keep off height potassium foods like beetroot and bananas as your doctor will tell you they are the two highest in oats

[Matt_R]

Yes, my eGFR was 42 in August, now back to 60ish. If you've been unwell or taken some antibiotics this can cause a drop in eGFR. Don't panic is the best advice. Everyone's problems are caused by different things, don't assume that it's a quick or slow decline to transplant, none of us know if that's the case. My limited experience is positive, I feel better for knowing  as I have a plan to stay healthy. Enjoy your holiday!!!

[netie54 in reply to Matt_R]

That's really good news.  Have you done anything specific to get it up to 60ish ?

[Matt_R in reply to netie54]

Thank you. I lost about 25lbs from eating well, cutting out salt and running 3 times a week. I don't drink fizzy drinks or alcohol anymore but I wasn't the biggest drinker in the world anyway. My Nephrologist's advice was live your life but make good choices. There's lots of others who are in the same situation as me, managing CKD without too much impact. There's stats that say only 1% of people progress from stage 3 to 4 so there's a lot to be positive about. Hopefully we'll both be stage 3 well into our 90s😀

[netie54 in reply to Matt_R]

90s that would be great Matt. You have given me some real inspiration.  im going abroad until July so im going to do my very

utmost to improve my reading by the time I come back. 

Thank you for the statistics that has cheered me up.

Im rather bemused by the news really as my blood pressure

is alaways on the low side and my diet isn't that bad either so

I have been struggling with what it could have been.

Thanks for all you support.  Ill keep you updated on my progress.

[Matt_R in reply to netie54]

Sometimes antibiotics can cause dips in GFR as can just being generally unwell. I think you need more tests to confirm you do actually have CKD. Enjoy your travels!

[MRLN]

Well in my experience,  most of the fruit and vegetables will help, but in my case, I drink cranberry juice daily since 1982,, it keeps the pipeline clean, no kidney stones to complicate anything,  now struggling to increase my gfr, since the science dos not offer any solution besides cortisone, I am currently using Dr Reckeweg  R64, it's a Homoeopathic formula for Albuminuria, wich I a so have, it's improving slowly, also added a 1,000 pill of chitosan daily to help lower creatinine and improve kidney function,  working slowly, but working, hope this helps,,Danny

[netie54 in reply to MRLN]

thanks for that.  Im not sure about taking any supplements as I would not know where to start.  Ive read that potatoes and bananas are not good foods to eat, and only have a glass or two of wine at weekends. I am hoping to get my GRF up to 60 at least but I don't know if this is possible.

[aadd4444]

I think you should follow a vegetation diet and eat more fresh vegetables and fruits. Limit your protein, salt, sugar and try to control your blood pressure. I think walking briskly and doing some physical activities are beneficial. I wish you health.

[bellefrank]

Just seen the replies from Phillen and Christine, they were so helpful to me some months ago.... Nothing extreme needed my husband went from 56 down to 27 GFR within a few months. Now steady in the 30s eating all things in moderation, keeping hydrated but not drinking water to excess as it makes him vomit... His BP and weight are fine and he is really active, feels well, enjoys holidays and life in general.... hope it will be the same for you.   Our last visit to the nephrologist was so encouraging as we were told husbands kidneys would be OK for probably another 10 years...Best wishes, try not to worry and live life to the best of your ability. best wishes. love Belle x              

[netie54]

Thank you Bell  At GRF of 50 I was thinking my life was over.  Its good to know that your husband is enjoying life to the full.  im going to start my power walking 3 days a week so I can get my heart pumping and start getting fitter than I am.  When I was at

work I used to walk around the college a lot but now we are retired we don't do much exercise apart from taking the dog for a walk (slowly) !!.

this site has made me feel a lot more confident about the future.  Thank you all.